To be fed up with 'vegan' kids?

[bakingmads]

We live in an area where it's become fashionable to be vegan gluten free. We know a few kids who are allowed to eat whatever outside the house. I've noticed these kids have an unhealthy relationship with food. They seem obsessed! They never stop eating and if they see meat, it's insane to watch. I've even witnessed a child stealing food from other's plates!

I think if they follow such a strict diet at home because they believe that it's healthier, then why let the kids eat meat outside the house?

It's got a to point where we don't invite them for play dates because they don't seem to want to play just eat.

Not sure if I should mention something to the parents. Is it normal for a child to eat non stop?

But the kids eat everything when they are out of the house so this is not an issue in this example. They aren't vegans, they just eat one diet at home and another when elsewhere.

Well they aren't vegan. My children have been raised vegan and aren't gluten free. If they ever went to someone's house I would provide food. Mine are all older (youngest is 13) and very passionate about veganism.

This 😁

Or even, we ourselves are gluten-free and vegan therefore our kids will eat the same food as us at home. But we think it should be our kids choice whether or not they want to eat meat and gluten so they're free to eat what they want outside of our home.

Most (all?) kids go through periods when they can't stop eating. I still have days like that as an adult. Are you sure it's not that you have a disordered idea of how much food kids need and just aren't feeding them enough. If your kids are consistently underfed they could well be used to it, making even a normal appetite, let alone one preceding a growth spurt, surprising to you

Our PTA now gets complaints if we don't provide a vegan option at the carol concert/summer fair/bake sale etc. We already do vegetarian, kosher and halal as well as the usual offer - all peanut free. Some halal people recently complained because the halal option was the same as the vegetarian option and they want a meat option too. The people who complain (regardless of food preference), it should be noted, never volunteer to help out.

Everyone is baffled why no-one wants to join the PTA.

We had kids coming over and wanting to eat the whole time too. They hadn’t even got past the front door when they were asking for food I know they would never be allowed at home.

They acted incredibly greedy and I couldn’t bare to have them in my house anymore so I stopped them coming over 😂

I actually think this is “the way”. It’s one thing for parents to make a dietary choice for their children at home, vegan, kosher, etc, because they are really making a choice for the household and kitchen. Outside of the house, they don’t have the right to impose a philosophical belief about eating on anyone, even their own children.

I'm not vegan and don't believe kids should be vegan...but ...I can't get too het up about that.

What would really bother me is the gluten free aspect if there's no allergies or intolerances. Why would you cut food out of your children's diet in that way? What would be the reason?

Personally I think it's a red flag if any child is stuffing their face as soon as they're out of their home environment ...

I'm fed up of people saying they're vegan when they're not for starters. Veganism is ethical it's not a health thing. Although yes it is 100% doable to be healthy on a plant based diet at any stage of life so do your research to those who want to slag it off and act like they care about the kids. Clearly from some posters you just don't like vegans. Probably because they're right 🤔

My vegan children didn't behave like that.

I’d put on a huge plate of bacon and sausage rolls, let them eat what they like and then they can play. When they are full they will be able to concentrate so much better. Poor kids. It’s very difficult to do vegan and gluten free properly and hats off to those that do because you need to eat a lot more and I think a lot more willpower needed. My brother and I were raised on almost sugar free diet, we loved going to other friends houses for all the delicious snacks and cakes. Take it as a compliment and don’t exclude the kids because of it.

why don't their parents buy gluten free pasta and bread?

bacon and sausage rolls are literally the worst things to choose, so many people avoid pork for religious reasons and processed meat isn't great in and of itself

I don’t know ANY vegan children. The kids I meet all seem to consider vegetables as the enemy - unless it’s chips. I would love to feed them vegetable stir fry with rice noodles or pasta with vegetable based sauce, but I would get total shock. I ask their parents “what will they eat that’s healthy” and they say “well not much but they might try some spaghetti bolognese”. I made it with Quorn once and you’d think the world had stopped turning from the reaction.

I had a Vegan Christmas dinner two years in a row cooked by son's partner- it's lovely!
{I'm not even a Vegetarian as do eat fish and chicken}

Quorn mince is really lovely - much nicer than actual beef or lamb mince.

No fat for starters.

I remember going to college with a really nice bloke who had been raised vegetarian, and of course when he was away from home let loose and went to McDonalds. It's in part forbidden fruit.

I took a vegetarian child to a birthday party picnic, and it was very difficult to police. She ate sausage rolls like there was no tomorrow, then spent the afternoon in pain with stomach problems. I remember apologising to the Mum profusely. They said don't worry and had given up on being strict outside the household as it's just really difficult to keep an eye on. Plus you get extended family that refuse to comply whatsoever: Oh they are vegetarian, I think it's wrong, they'll have whatever I cook when in my house mentality. It's exhausting.

my kids have friends who'd eat me out of house and home, but it's never occured to me that they're being starved at home.

I also find the vegetables are the enemy comments difficult to understand. I remember infants and young children drawn to vegetables and fruit, but repulsed by meat. I think most tastes are acquired it just needs some positive association. The body finds it hard to refuse fats and sugars. Milk and meats contain opioids (mimics) so once hooked there's that battle.

Yep same here. My kids friends have very strict diets at home, but they're allowed to.eat/drink whatever outside. One girl drank 2 cans of coke from my garage, and asked for a third! She went crazy when she saw our chocolate/sweets/crisps boxes in the garage too! I had to calm her down and remove her from the garage! She wanted to binge eat everything! It's not right to severely restrict a child's diet when there's no allergies. She asked my daughters how they didn't want to eat/drink everything?! One replied, "because we get pop every Saturday and a treat every day. It's no big deal?!" I'd rather have balanced children than ones with uncontrollable urges. Those kinds of kids will binge eat and end up severely overweight later on.

Does it really matter when you're feeding other peoples children? Surely the main aim when feeding others is to give them something they'll enjoy and be aware of allergies.
Mine would love a vegetable curry or stir fry but would struggle with quorn bolognaise, it's a texture thing for them quorn often has a really odd texture.

Why can’t vegans eat pasta and bread?

Dear God! They probably do it because people are so bloody judgemental.

It always irritates me that noone bats eyelid if your child only eats processed meat and fish. But youll report a partial vegan diet as a safeguarding issue to school?! Maybe report the people who send their children to school with just cold chicken nuggets and a Petit filous, instead.

Or maybe one or both parents are vegan and/or GF and it's simpler for all the family to eat the same food at home? But outside at home the children can eat whatever they want. And it's probably a bit like not having sweets/chocolate at home - when they can have it somewhere else they shovel it in 😄

I’ve noticed this too. They are obsessed with food, it’s like they are constantly hungry. A lot of vegan food is just sugar so no wonder they don’t feel full for long