6yr old insisting on being vehetarian - help

[ForcesSweetheart]

She's determined she doesn't want to eat any meat or fish. I don't eat it much myself but have always tried to ensure she had a wide variety. I'm concerned if I let her do this at her age she'll miss out on some essential nutrients. Please advise.

Lots of people will be along shortly testifying how they eschewed eating meat age 5 and have never gone back. However, I know plenty of kids that decide they don't like eating any vegetables and, funnily enough, no-one takes them them seriously. :) Does she say why she doesn't want to eat meat or fish? Keep offering a wide variety of foods, plant and animal-based, and try not to make a big deal out of it. If it's a phase, she'll grow out of it. If not, you'll find out eventually.

Spot on CogitoErgoSometimes. Best not to make a big deal of it, you'd only be making her dig her heels. She may well change her mind soon, otherwise she could well be a conscious, if young, vegetarian and it would be wrong to force her to go against her principles.

Besides, as long as she has eggs and dairy, she's not missing on an awful lot is she?

I'm not vegetarian but I sometimes imagine how appalled I would be if I was expected to eat dog or horse. Yikes.

My eldest is 4 and is going through an "I love ham" stage, he's not that keen on other meats at the moment so who knows...

Dd refused to eat any cute liddle animals at that age

she ate a lot of baked beans Irrc

I started reintroducing meat sneakily via mince and chicken nuggets ...

She's now 8 and her favourite meal is a very rare steak....

She won't miss out on nutrients if you give her a proper vegetarian diet. As to whether it's permanent or not, a lot depends on her reason for not eating it - if it's a dislike of the taste she may well be tempted back by a different meat she does find appealing, if it's a not-eating-animals thing she may well be veggie for life. It does happen, and I think any age can decide they don't want to eat animals.

Mine tried tried this after Auntie told them that it's not nice to kill animals so that we can eat them

Depending what she likes to eat you could try a few tactics here. Mine where aghast at the prospect of eating eggs and beans every day and horrified that they would be giving up the burgers and hotdogs that their classmates always have at parties.

I'm not against children having a vegetarian diet, if that's what the parents feel is best, and I know that you can get most nutrients and a varied diet without meat. It's just not for me or mine, so I laboured the fact that eggs are super nutritious, as are beans and nuts etc - concentrating on the things they dislike.

Does she like things like ham sandwiches, or pizza with ham or pepperoni? You could explain why she won't be having those anymore.

Good luck, I know how wilful DCs can be at this age.

Thanks folks. It's purely down to the animal issue. She says the thought of eating a dead animal makes her feel sick. While she is happy enough with the taste of meat she isn't so fond of anything that the thought of going without is likely to tempt her back. I don't eat a lot of meat myself purely due to not liking the taste so much so I have tended to cook a wide variety of veggie meals (doing meat and oily fish a couple of times a week for the kids) which I guess has shown her she won't miss out taste-wise. She eats pretty much everything else thankfully so I guess I'll just go with it. Only thing I'm slightly concerned about is iron, as she recently had blood tests (all fine) due to easy bruising and nosebleeds. Might give the gp a bell and see if she'd recommend a supplement. Quorn, red lentil, new potato and green pepper curry for tea tonight! Thanks again for the advice.

I think it's best to support your DD's wishes. By adapting your cooking you can easily ensure she's not missing out on vital nutrients.

My own DD decided she didn't want to eat meat at Easter this year but for her it isn't down to animal cruelty. We have agreed that whilst i'll cook vegetarian at home, she'll be flexible when we're out (we can't expect everyone to cater for her).

It's worked really well for us and there have been no complaints from DH & DS. Incidently i was vegetarian for nearly 10 years but it was only recently during my meat eating days that i had problems with low iron levels.