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?

So your child has a diet of fresh fish, freshly roasted meat, only wholegrain carbs and never eats anything processed?

We have two families around here on that diet.

I don't eat milk because of lactose intolerance an no gluten because of celiac disease so I serve these kids a dish based on vegan cooking.
We do eat meat but not at their visits.

There's a middle ground between vegan, gluten free and a diet full of processed crap.

Yes I'd report them to the school....the DC clearly aren't happy with their diet if they're eating like this as soon as they are out of their home. Also...I'm less bothered about the vegan aspect than I am about the gluten free aspect. Obviously if there are allergies and intolerances that's understandable...but the op said there weren't. So why would a parent just cut gluten out of their child's diet? It's weird behaviour. Too many parents with food issues end up inflicting them onto their own DC.

"A lot of vegan food is just sugar".

Rices, vegetables, pulses, legumes, spices, free from pastas + bread... that's all vegan food...

This reads like someone who has never eaten dairy free meat free food.

Am I imagining it, or are there a lot of anti vegan threads recently?

Maybe the parent has celiac?

Cutting out gluten isn’t that big of a deal.

I eat rice, potatoes, gluten free pasta and bread.

I have celiac disease but thank heavens for the increase in population who don’t eat gluten because gluten free food has gotten so much better!

This!

I know they eat well at home. I don't think they are starved. But they clearly crave 'normal' food.

As soon as they come here, they say they r hungry. I don't think it's hunger but greed. For things they aren't allowed at home.

I've caught one of them stealing and binge a whole box of biscuits )which would have lasted us a week or two).

I honestly can’t say I’ve ever met a child who’s vegan in the house and a meat eater elsewhere. Im pretty sure this isn’t a thing

Not your imagination, and yes it’s weird.

It’s not just recently. These threads have always been around and they come in waves. So obvious.

No, you're wrong. 'Vegan Food' is special weirdy UPF crap manufactured in factories from chemicals and only suitable for and attractive to vegans.

Apparently....

So this is one particular family? Stop serving meat when they come over if you’re concerned about how much it’s costing you. If you’ve stopped inviting them over then I’m not sure what the problem is?

To be honest it wouldn’t bother me. I don’t know if it’s the same now but when mine were younger around 2010 -2015 it was more likely in my area that kids got to eat what they liked at home and them there were very performative parents who insisted on dietary restrictions for parties, play dates etc because they wanted it very much to be seen by others. I’m obviously not talking about genuine allergies here obviously. So that was the way of it - they could come to the party but they’d need x y z excluded from their food or they’d make a big deal of bringing their own food and making sure everyone saw… then you’d be round their house Friday afternoon when they were on the wine (I was too so no judgment) and the kids would be eating everything and anything! No that annoys me. To me what these parents are saying is that they eat a certain way at home but they don’t expect others to cater for that lifestyle choice which is fair enough to me. Veganism isn’t my choice and wouldn’t have been right for my children and it would be a right pain to have to cater for children who were strictly vegan but I would do it because it matters to them. It the parents were performative about it I wouldn’t take it out of the children, but I would actively try and ovoid the parents. I’ve had to restrict my own diet massively in the past due to an autoimmune condition so I really do understand the issues around it.

Sometimes kids can't help being " vegan " or fussy ! My daughter is allergic to dairy and soya gives her the shits if she has the smallest amount as it does me to, she chose to be vegetarian. Sometimes it's not Just " fashion "

My brother's kids aren't veggie but boy are they fussy. They'd eat pasta at every meal and junk snacks given the chance. You do need to take care with any diet. The whole 'varied diet' emphasises a bit of everything to at least cover the bases. I've seen some vegans eat very badly and others very well, not that I'm singling them out. I've witnessed omnivores live off packet food. And have visited relatives that only had tomato ketchup in their fridge as a vegetable option. Party food is kind of in a league of its own. There are healthy options though that would work for most dietary requirements.

I've experienced similar actually - dd's two friends who were vegan used to beg me to give them sausages etc when they came for a play date! At dd's birthday party it was a buffet style with vegan and non vegan options and I noticed they ate more of the meat stuff than the vegan food. I turned a blind eye!

Its up to parents whatbehey feed their kids but I always thought these two children in particular looked very skinny and pale and I wondered about them getting all the nutrients they needed. Their parents were very skinny and pale too and looked like they may have had issues around food 🤷‍♀️

My mum didn't let us have sweets and I had a friend, Natalie, who had a treat box in her fridge. It was literally the only reason I was friends with Natalie... sorry Natalie.

@eqpi4t2hbsnktd this has made me laugh 😂😂😂

But also if kids r deprived of certain things at home, then I understand why they are so obsessed with things like meat and pasta and bread.

So by that token, if I never cook beetroot or sprouts at home so my dcs never have them, I’m an awful parent for doing so? Do you think my dcs have ever being obsessed with eating beetroot because of that too?

Come on.
I don’t know that family but more likeky what’s going on is tyat they’ve tried pasta and thought it was nice. Or they have meat at grand parents. And then parebts have made a huge song and dance about not eating that. That’s why the children are keen. Same than parents restricting sweets and making a huge thing of it (not at until the weekend and no you can’t have any if the sweets from school now. You have to wait). It’s forbidden therefore it’s good.

Nothing to do with them being vegan.

My parents were the same! I'd go a bit wild eating all the biscuits when at parties or other events!

If they eat everything out side of the house then that's just parents giving choice.

Snatching is something else entirely.
All kids will eat non stop if you keep offering them food. Why are unlimited snacks even part of a playdate? We offer something like a biscuit, toast, sliced veg. They can eat as much or as little as they want. Are you really losing sleep over this?

Is it because a vegan diet can be quite bulky to get all the calories, if it's not junky? So they have a different sense of portion sizes? A bit like when I go to a fancy restaurant and the portions look tiny but there's lots of meat so it does fill you up?

All kids will eat non stop if you keep offering them food

No...this is really not true of all children.

How are these children eating meat when they come to yours for a play date , OP ? And if you 'caught one of them stealing a box of biscuits' , how did they manage to binge the whole lot ? Surely you would have stopped them ?