Talk to me about raising kids as vegans? Yay or nay?

[Lemonysnicketts]

We are mainly vegetarian, not religiously so I would add, and attempting veganism in a slow way. My kids are little, and I'm naturally cautious about it. My 3 year old is a self-proclaimed veggie anyway and has been since weaned, he will not eat any meat or fish and that's that. He's very fussy anyway though and lunch is a nightmare, I struggle to get him to eat unless it's crisps or chips, neither of which feature heavily in our lives.

Can I have tips, charts, ideas etc for kids?

I joined a couple of vegan Facebook groups but they were so judgy of beginners and so scathing of anyone who so much as looked at meat I couldn't hack it and have hidden them on fb.

As "new" as this will make me sound, my one area of trouble is cheese. I haven't had milk in years, and I don't much care about missing meat, but lots of dishes do taste better with cheese in / on top and they request it and the vegan cheeses are awful imho.....however I have a bigger issue with dairy than meat as the repeated abuse of cows to obtain the milk is worse than death frankly.

So to recap....fussy kids, they love cheese, one is a herbivore (though a very very fussy one), the other a complete carnivore .....

If you've got a fussy child then I really really wouldn't unless you want a battle each meal time.
One thing you could do is treat it a bit like a weaning process. Assume the children are getting what they need from their old diet and then gradually introduce new vegan foods - if they don't eat it then fine but they may (especially if you present it as a special treat only really for adults!) try it and get used to it. Once they are happy eating a range of non animal based dishes you can gradually reduce the dairy

I'm a die hard vegetarian because that's my choice. My husband and 2 dc are not because that's there choice. It's easy I cook the same meals which are mainly vegetarian but if they would like real meat added then I just add it, can't you do something simula regarding cheese ect?

That's a very sensible approach pink and along the lines of what I'm thinking. DH was a vegetarian when we met and is keen to return to it. I think vegetarianism is more practical than veganism with little ones, just wish I could buy ethically sourced cheese.

I don't think you need to worry about the label the diet has. Just eat, cook, serve what you enjoy and what will nourish your children. If it happens to be vegan or vegetarian then so be it but don't avoid thing just to retain 'veggie or vegan status'

The stuff friends are sharing and liking on FB seems to suggest that partial vegetarianism is better than none - so introduce some meat free days. So on that basis, partial veganism is better than none.
Why not have some vegan days, some vegetarian days, and some meals that your omniverous child(I assume it a complete carnivore, or the veganism bit might be hard!) has some meat protein added.

Yep, redsand that sounds very sensible too. And atleast I don't really want a label so that's a good point, I don't want to feel bound by it - a bbq in the summer is not going to be an issue for me and I can't face weaning my youngest on a vegan diet without being absolutely certain I'm not missing anything major which in a sleep deprived state is possible