To let DD be veggie??

[Catsandcannedbeans]

Recently, she has expressed consistent interest in it. Asking questions, telling me she doesn’t want to eat animals ect. I am pregnant and have done my best to accommodate, but honestly right now I can’t be cooking two dinners everyday. She’s been pretty understanding for a 6 year old, and will eat fish fingers/fish, she’s had some chicken too. She is persistent in not wanting to eat animals and to be honest I don’t want to force my child to eat meat.

DH says I’m being silly pandering to it, but I don’t like making her distressed, and she is starting to get genuinely distressed when served meat.

I was veggie for 7 years, so I can do the cooking stuff. She eats a lot and will eat pretty much anything, so I’m not super worried about protein and nutrition. I feel like DH has a point, but also she seems to genuinely be upset with the idea of eating animals. She has even asked if the cat can be vegetarian - I have explained that she is a carnivore and she accepts this by the way. Don’t worry I’m not feeding our cat quorn.

I know this is a contentious issue, but I would like advice. I was thinking pescatarian first and then if she keeps it up we can look at vegetarian. Obviously if we do this I will ensure she has b12 ect. I do feel is is young, so maybe a better option would be to wait till she’s bit older?

YNBU - proceed with caution and let her explore this
YABU - DH is right and she will get over it

My 3 year old son became veggie for about 9 months after he found out where meat came from.
I had a chat with him to ask if he wanted to stop eating meat, fish and all animal products and he said yes to not eating any animal products . I went along with it because eating meat is a choice that I made for him and I didn’t want him to develop food issues.
He’s now an adult and eats meat but it makes a smaller percentage of his diet compared to his siblings who never had a veggie phase. He also likes a lot under variety of vegetables than them so easily hits his 7 a day target.

It’s not that we would force her to eat meat long term, it’s just he is a bit concerned about nutrition ect and now is a bad time. I am pregnant and the smell of a lot of things is making me gag/throw up so our dinner options are limited. I did not have this with her or DS so I am struggling with it.
DH cooks on weekends and does batch stuff as he can, but most days I’m cooking dinner for the kids because he is working. She is happy enough now, and hopefully this sickness stuff will pass and I can actually accommodate for her better. So right now I’m just going to do pescatarian always and veggie as often as possible for her.

How about Dad cooks meat dishes three times a week, you cook a fish dish twice a week, and you all have veggie dishes twice a week? You could batch cook and freeze portions of the veggie dishes for your daughter to have on the meat days. Great that your daughter eats well - good luck!

Cross post!

The Vegan Society sell a supplement that supposedly provides all the vitamins that a vegan diet might be lacking. I sometimes give it to my vegetarian teens (when I remember). And you can get plant-derived omega 3 capsules that should replace what they're not getting from fish.

My now adult child said they didn't want to eat animals in about 1987.

This was a bit difficult then (biscuits, sweets, Ice cream and so on) but it's what they wanted, and I made it clear that I would honour this, but that they couldn't be veggie on the days they didn't like what was cooked, but could be the next.

I was sure they meant what they said. 48 or so years later, they have never eaten meat or fish again.

These days, it's so much easier. Restaurants usually have at least one veggie option, eating at home is a doddle..

If your child, like mine, has made an ethical decision, I'd honour it.

I was about 7 when I decided to become vegetarian. My parents didn't try to stop me. I've been vegetarian ever since (50 now) and DD has been veggie her whole life.

We have been raising our 3 kids vegetarian. Our eldest is 7. She understands when she's a bit older we will leave the wider decision on it to her (as we will obviously have to in line with her increasing independence and rightly so). At the moment she is adamant she doesn't want to eat animals anyway. Our middle one is 3 and whilst too young to have an opinion, already understands where meat comes from and that we don't eat animals in our family etc. The youngest is a baby being weaned.

In terms of adequate nutrition the protein is really a non-issue, its extremely easy to meet protein requirements with virtually no effort. The only thing I confess we havent always succeeded at has been iron, sadly. Id recommend focusing on getting her enough iron and her taking a daily supplement too ideally with orange juice for absorption.

@LegoHouse274 I am also iron deficient. Even with meat I still need to supplement so I assume she will be the same especially once she has her periods.

Hi @Catsandcannedbeans

Link below just something for your husband to watch. It's a documentary by James Cameron about how elite athletes upped their game by becoming plant based, and deals with the common concern about not getting enough protein. I think there's an associated website with ideas for things to eat too.

Thought it might help :)

I also hope you feel less nauseous soon xx

I think your daughter is awesome. A lot of empathy for one so young.

My SIL has been veggie since about age 8 and vegan for decades. She found it hard that her parents didn't believe she really cared that much about animals at her age. I say do what the child wants, and if it isn't serious, it will pass. I know six or seven children who have stopped eating meat between ages 7 and 10 and they haven't changed their minds.

My son has been a veggie from aged 8 now 39

Dd chose to be veggie at 6 - in year 1. She said didn't want to eat it if it used to be an animal. First she didn't eat meat/fish. When she was a but older she understood a bit more and would ask me to check if it was vegetarian first. Still vegetarian 8 years later, and I think always will be.

I know she cares deeply about animals. She once pushed her brother because he squished a bug on purpose. I worry she will be chaining herself to the gates of an animal testing factory in ten years time lol. My main concerns are health related. I feel much better with everyone saying this is a normal age to have these feelings though. I don’t know anyone who was veggie this young so I thought it was weird.

Not at all weird. My kids have been veggie since birth. We’re all veggie in my house

I wouldn’t let her become a vegan, would she compromise and be a pescatarian? She needs iron, b12, choline and protein, I would track those things.

As long as she agrees to eat a variety of veggie foods (green veg, cruciferous veg, beans and pulses), it isn't hard to get all the required nutrients (except B12 unless you use a lot of nutritional yeast). If she has yoghurt, always put some ground flaxseed in it. Just as with meat eating, if her diet is limited to processed, high fat foods, she will not be able to get all the nutrients she needs.

Not at all weird. My brother became vegetarian as a child and stuck with it until he about mid 30s.

Even if she does ‘get over it’, which is an awful way of putting it as it makes it seem like a silly fad, then so what? Go with it, else she’s going to feel like her voice is very unimportant. I’m not a veggie btw.

This isn’t coming from a whim but from compassion and responsibility. Don’t praise or blame her but accept her choice and find ways to make cooking as easy as possible. If the rest of you are eating meat with vet, give her grated cheese with veg or a tin of beans.