Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
So tonight my son started crying...he was upset that we kill so many animals just to eat them. He's never been a big meat eater (won't touch pig or chicken products) so this isn't a huge surprise. And thankfully he's a great fruit/veggie/grain eater. He's also decided he's okay with milk and cheese so he doesn't want to be vegan.
Any suggestions on recipes? Are vitamin supplements of any kind necessary? And since he'll still have yogurt/milk/cheese in his diet, I'm assuming his protein intake will be fine (he doesn't like eggs).
At 5, my child wouldn't have that many choices. Here is dinner, a balanced, nutritional meal, sit down and eat. And if you don't eat dinner there will be no dessert or snacks. I would just tell my child when he is self supporting and grown up he can make his own decisions and eat as he pleases. When I pay for everything, he gets what I prepare. And no, I'm not making one meal for you and something else for the rest of the family. We don't always get what we want.
And almost everyone should take a multivitamin.
At 5 where would he even get an idea like that? I'm sure I would have preferred to live on cake and ice cream at 5 but my parents had to be parents and say no.
Last edited by yellowsnow; 08-15-2014 at 07:18 PM..
So tonight my son started crying...he was upset that we kill so many animals just to eat them. He's never been a big meat eater (won't touch pig or chicken products) so this isn't a huge surprise. And thankfully he's a great fruit/veggie/grain eater. He's also decided he's okay with milk and cheese so he doesn't want to be vegan.
Any suggestions on recipes? Are vitamin supplements of any kind necessary? And since he'll still have yogurt/milk/cheese in his diet, I'm assuming his protein intake will be fine (he doesn't like eggs).
Thanks in advance.
Your son sounds like a sweet, empathetic boy. For now I would indulge this - some kids are not big meat eaters anyway and they do just fine. A good multi (not Flinstones, lol) certainly wouldn't hurt. He may grow out of it as he gets older, or he may stick with it a long time.
Get a few good vegetarian cookbooks to expand your offerings, and good luck!
Moonbeam...thanks for the cookbook recommendation.
Yellow snow...Like you, I only cook one meal. Usually he just eats the vegetable portion of dinner. He will eat seafood and some red meat such as meatballs and burgers. But I'm not sure he will even eat those now. I make him pita with hummus or tomato sandwiches for lunch. But I'd like more vegetarian options for the family. I have no issues cutting back on the families meat intake. And even with his current diet, he is 76lbs and over 51" tall.....so he's a big kid.
I'm not a vegetarian, and I don't like picky eaters, but for goodness sake, some folks just don't like meat, and there's nothing wrong with that.
My only suggestion is not to lean too heavily on cheese as his protein -- make sure you keep plenty of nuts and seeds around to sprinkle on stuff and remember that dried beans + grains = a complete protein. So rice and beans, pasta fazzoule, hummus on pita, etc., are all good protein sources.
Last edited by Beretta; 08-16-2014 at 10:15 AM..
Reason: quoted post was deleted
Trying to educate myself about seitan for our protein source. No gluten issues in the house and it seems more palatable than soy...I'm just not a soy fan.
For protein, he'll do nuts, hummus, beans, kefir, yogurt, cheese, milk.
Also, as Moombeam said, there are plenty of cookbooks out there.
FWIW, I hated meat as a kid, myself. My father would tell me I couldn't leave the table until I ate everything on my plate, and an hour later my mother would come into the kitchen to find me sitting there, everything but the meat gone. She would just scrape it into the trash and say, "Don't tell your father."
This was better than what my eldest sibling did, which was to surreptitiously spit it into a napkin and then store all the napkins with her half-chewed meat in her toybox until one day there was this unholy smell...
If kids don't want to eat meat, they shouldn't be punished or forced. That's a great way to screw up their relationship with food.
And now, from the mouth of a really cute kid:
Last edited by Beretta; 08-16-2014 at 10:15 AM..
Reason: quoted post was deleted
Try visiting Dr. John McDougall's website. He's a shoot-it-from-the-hip medical nutritionist who has been practicing for over 30 years. The McDougalls raised their sons as vegans. One, now an MD, successfully incorporates this approach in his HMO practice in order to help fight disease.
I would also suggest getting a free subscription to a highly informative newsletter (often with a brief 3-4 minute video) developed by Dr. Michael Greger. Dr. Greger reads thousands of peer-reviewed medical articles in order to publish the must current nutritional information.
Dr. Dean Ornish's book, The Spectrum, also offers a variety of healthy meal options; colorful photos included. I believe he raised (is raising?) his son on a vegetarian diet.
Try YouTube for additional videos respectively developed by Drs. McDougal and Greger; as well as by other medical nutritionists.
BTW, I love your son's caring spirit. Ignore the TOS violating meat-pushers.
And to think that some parents have problems getting their kids to eat their peas and carrots!
Not a parent, but I'd say invest in it while you can. As an adult, I find veggie eating a lot more economic. I consider myself an operational vegetarian......at times. I still eat meat, I just don't need to eat it at every meal.
My most delicious veggie meal? My version of "Moors & Christians" (although by wiki, how I cook it is not really that). Brown rice, black beans, black eyed peas. It cooks up pretty quickly and to me, is pretty tasty, even without a lot of spices. I think I use olive oil and garlic with it, tend to use those two with everything I wok cook. Mixture of components to taste.
I moved away from white rice a few years ago to brown rice because I was told it was healthier. It is, though, harder to cook.
But then again, there's about a factor of ten between my age and that of your child.
So tonight my son started crying...he was upset that we kill so many animals just to eat them. He's never been a big meat eater (won't touch pig or chicken products) so this isn't a huge surprise. And thankfully he's a great fruit/veggie/grain eater. He's also decided he's okay with milk and cheese so he doesn't want to be vegan.
Any suggestions on recipes? Are vitamin supplements of any kind necessary? And since he'll still have yogurt/milk/cheese in his diet, I'm assuming his protein intake will be fine (he doesn't like eggs).
Thanks in advance.
It is too bad, at his young age, something or someone has brought this to his attention. I am sure he didn't just lay in bed one night and decide we are all mean for killing animals so he won't be part of our Plot. That being said, I am sure there are many families, those who are vegetarians that raise their kids with no meat products and the kids are healthy and happy. You just have to be very aware of what foods will give him all the protein he needs. It might also be a good idea to explain to him, he might have problems in school when the other kids notice he doesn't eat the pizza or the hot dogs at lunch time for instance.
I have a problem with allowing a 5 year to decide exactly what he will eat but that is your business and not mine. I am sure most little kids get upset with the idea of Bambi being killed by a hunter for instance. Do you think he really realizes how many products have meat in them? It isn't just the burger you have for dinner or the bacon for breakfast. When you go to a fast food restaurant what does he expect to eat?
I am sure the vegetarians on this board will have a totally different attitude to this than I have. But let me make it clear, I am not putting vegetarians down, I just wonder if a 5 year old really understands what this means? For older children who decide to adopt a vegetarian eating policy they can better understand or if a child is raised in a vegetarian home that is different, but I just have my doubts about a 5 year old, raised in a meat eating family becoming a vegetarian.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Ignore the TOS violating meat-pushers.
