DC who don't eat meat

[AmericasTorturedBrow]

DS (5yo) used to eat chicken, sausages, ham and beef mince, now won't eat any, DD (2yo) despite eating everything in sight during weaning, turned 14months and became stupidly fussy and won't eat any meat at all

They both eat fish though and I serve tons of beans for protein

Does it matter? Should I make an effort to keep putting it in front of them? As a family we don't eat much meat anyway but I don't think they eat enough veg, legumes etc to make up for it - or should I just do more research into vegetarianism and encourage veggie variety?

It does not matter. Let them choose from the variety you already usually make. As for rest of his diet, Whole grains & green veg are good for iron, as is breakfast cereal and bread.

If they eat fish, eggs, cheese, beans and milk I would think it is ok and in fact quite healthy...

Different but ds went through a phase when he ate a predominately pig based diet (sausage, sausage rolls, pork pie, gammon ...). He's much better now

DS (5) has never eaten meat, or fish and I've been vegetarian for 15 years.
We're perfectly healthy. We eat beans, pulses, diary, some quorn type things, and lots of veg, of course.

Yes thankfully they eat eggs, cheese, yoghurt, beans in abundance and I put frozen chopped spinach in basically every meal (DD otherwise subsists on a beige food only diet)

I flirt with veganism but I eat every vegetable going and don't know enough about nutritional content for children to impose this on them and hoping the vegetarianism is ok? We barely eat meat because I only buy stuff I absolutely trust from a welfare POV so can't afford it very often but happy for them to make up their owns minds so just wondering if I should keep putting meat in front of them anyway?!

I think I might be making too much of this and not enough about DD eating nothing but egg, cheese and beans

I've been veggie for most of my life and am bringing up my daughter (2.5) as a vegetarian. I did a bit of research about nutritional needs of little ones to ensure that my DD was getting enough of everything she needed (e.g. protein, iron) I'm more than happy that she has a balanced diet and children vary so much in their eating habits that I think that so long as they have a balanced diet (whether veggie or not) then they'll be ok.

Love the NN btw OP.

Thanks perplexed

Maybe I should research more in vegetarianism and understand which veggies are good to replace iron etc - I'm perfectly happy with a predominantly veggie (to be honest mainly vegan) diet but want my children to make that decision themselves.

But while we're here - PP's what are your too fail safe vegetarian meals for your young DC?

I wouldn't worry about the meat personally, I would just ensure they ate a range of proteins. Pulses, eggs, cheese, dairy, nuts (whole, ground, flaked), nut butters, seeds...

Have you tried your children on quinoa? It's a complete protein and my DD (2) LOVES it. Just boil for about 10 mins, drain and serve as you would rice/cous cous etc. Lovely with a knob of butter stirred through. DD's favourite is cheesy quinoa, which is cooked quinoa with grated cheese on top, and cucumber & tomatoes alongside. So easy

Yeah they do actually. All the foods you list they do eat plenty of so that reassures me - I suppose I feel stuck in a pasta pesto rut!!