We asked some moms for their advice about raising children as a vegan. This can be one of the most challenging parts of veganism for many people. Not because raising vegan children is inherently difficult, it isn’t. But often times it is because other people, especially family members can be very judgemental and not very good at keeping their opinions to themselves.
“I have also found mock-meats to be really useful as they enable a vegan diet to taste extremely similar to their old diet, which means that the boys enjoy what I cook and are now even cooking with these alternative foods themselves.”
Family occasions can become fraught and tense quite quickly when not handled carefully. Chloe Ventura, a mom of two children under 5 and a teacher, has these words of advice.
“Block out the negativity as much as possible and focus on you and your family. You know that you are doing the right thing by your children and that a vegan diet is healthy. I have taken both my children to the doctor and he says that they are some of the healthiest children he has seen – they are both right where they should be in terms of growth and development – so that is what matters to me. I let my relatives know this when they voice their concerns and I try not to take criticism from well-meaning family members to heart.”
In many ways raising a baby as a vegan is pretty straight-forward. As they are weaned you introduce all of those tasty fruits, vegetables and whole grains and that is what they grow to have a taste for and like. What can be much harder is managing a change of diet when you come to veganism when your children are older. You realize how unhealthy your previous diet was and how unethical and you want to help your children to make the switch for their own health too. Scottish mum of four boys, Elaine Bryan, has this to say about raising teenagers:
“Yes it can be hard work trying to encourage teenagers to take onboard a new healthy diet, especially teenage boys who have grown up eating a traditional meat-based diet for a number of years. However, it is possible to make large gains with a bit of patience and a lot of good humour. For me it has been about having a laugh with my lads and allowing them to make fun of my ‘new-fangled’ diet to start with. But then using this humour and banter to have decent conversations around what is actually happening to the animals. I have also found mock-meats to be really useful as they enable a vegan diet to taste extremely similar to their old diet, which means that the boys enjoy what I cook and are now even cooking with these alternative foods themselves.”
The basic message from both of these parents is to keep going and stick with your principles. With a well-planned vegan diet having the seal of approval from the American Dietetic Association and the National Health Service in the U.K, parents have the comfort of knowing that their healthy, balanced plant-based diet is not just good for them, but for their kids too.
