To be annoyed at ex encouraging ds2 to be a vegan

[theduchessstill]

Ds2 is 10. He has decided to become a vegan/vegetarian (veers between the two) and is being egged on by ex. I know it's a good thing to do and we don't eat that much meat anyway but this is making my life harder and I'm annoyed at almost having it foisted upon me by ex, who dips in and out of these crazes with regularity because he's a dick.

Ds can be on the fussy side anyway so this won't help and I work about 50-60 hours a week atm (teacher) and have the dc 5-6 nights per week, so this will mainly fall on me. Ex has been on at him about making cheese out of carrots, protein powders and mayo out of something or other that's not egg. I've done a big shop including pancetta, prawns & mince for ds's favourites: carbonara, other pasta and shepherds' pie, only for ds to announce this.

AIBU to be pissed off - I have not the time, inclination or money to make this massive lifestyle change or to be cooking separate meals and it's not helped by ex being a lazy sod who makes no financial contribution to the dc's lives and has used this another opportunity to criticise me to the dc by telling them there are plenty of other protein substitutes and I'm lazy.

Ds is mainly motivated by his apparent knowledge that Ariana Grande is vegan.

AIBU?

Tell him that starting next week you’ll cook him vegan food, explain why you can’t do it this week. Just cook a vegan base recipe then add cooked meat for yourself and tofu/beans for him. If he’s too fussy to eat the vegan stuff then offer some of yours.

Much though I hate it when people say this to grown adults, I'm also going to throw the nutrition card in the ring. Kid has nutritional needs for his growth and development and they are harder to achieve while eating a vegan diet than vegetarian or meat eating. It needs to be researched and for him to understand and comply with eating lots of things that he might not enjoy.

I agree with others that the ex makes the fancy cheese and mayo and sends it over weekly, or any attempts he makes to guilt you get shut down with a prompt "your idea, you do it." Repeat.

Do people really expect 10 year old children to cook there own food?? I mean at 10 they are very much a child still. Some parents do seem rather harsh on here like as soon as they are out of nappies they aren’t treated as children anymore. Fine to get them helping out in the kitchen but cooking your own food at 10 🙄

Lots of dc decide to be veggie/vegan about this age 🤷🏻‍♀️ It’s really not unusual

Shepard’s pie, use lentils instead of mince

Curry sweet potato and chickpea
Quorn do a vegan range so you could use that chicken/mince
Apples, bananas, oranges, carrot sticks, hummus cheap snacks
Lots of Dark chocolate is

I am not vegan or even veggie myself but we do eat a lot of veggie/vegan food and it’s not all that difficult to adapt recipes really

Maybe get your ds involved in taking half an hour to meal plan before the shopping gets done

Why don’t you get any maintenance? You should go to the child maintenance people even if his on a low income and your only get a token amount. It’s the principle!

@sashh Seriously?! Get more kitkats in?

Thank goodness my Mum was more supportive of me when I went veggie at FOUR after visiting a farm and seeing some of the horror for myself.

It's easier than ever to be vegan and you'll be doing him a massive favour by helping him with the transition. If you spend just five minutes reading the science on Nutritrionfacts.org, you'll see how beneficial going plant-based will be for his health. The only diet ever shown to reverse heart disease.

The only diet ever shown to reverse heart disease.

I'd like to see a paper that states that. And I'd like to know which type of heart disease.

Congenital - nope
Congestive - maybe
Repairing myocardium - not possible
Shrinking an atria or two - not possible

*Shepard’s pie, use lentils instead of mince
Curry sweet potato and chickpea
Quorn do a vegan range so you could use that chicken/mince
Apples, bananas, oranges, carrot sticks, hummus cheap snacks
Lots of Dark chocolate is *

Why should the dietary choices of one child in the household dictate that every meal must be vegan. Shepherd's Pie without mince, and curry with sweet potato sounds shit, genuinely shit.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5466936/

www.pcrm.org/health-topics/heart-disease

@sashh Here you go.

Dr Caudwell Esselstyne and Dr Dean Ornish have both reversed heart disease using a plant-based diet. There is no other diet proven to do this.

Of course this means whole foods, not vegan nuggets and pizza.

Whether he's going vegan to give him a chance with Ariana Grande or not is irrelevant- he's still improving his health and saving the lives of many animals who are worth more than 30 seconds pleasure for your taste buds.

Lentil cottage pie is very far from shit, it’s delicious.

If your DS really wants to become veggie/vegan it's difficult to ignore him and I say that as an omnivore whose 6yo decided to become veggie (two years later she is still veggie and I have joined her). Will he compromise with veggie rather than vegan? If he were to become veggie it's relatively easy to 2-3 veggie meals for everyone every week and 3-4 meals with meat as optional.

So, for example, you can do curries, risottos, pasta sauces, stir frys etc. and either add meat to half of the sauce or cook in two different pans. Lentils and soya 'mince' are good alternatives to minced meat for bolognese, Shephard's pie, lasagna, etc.