Raising kids vegan

Even though I am vegan, my child will be bought up vegetarian. This is a compromise between my partner (soy milk drinking vegetarian) and myself.

In our house we call soy milk "milk", vegie sausages "sausages", and so on. I know that this may pose a problem once my daughter is at kindy/school so a discussion will be had with her once she can understand that our sausages are "special". This would/could no doubt cause further confusion for a child raised as vegan as this can lead to confusion about "cheese" and "ice cream" etc. At home the child knows they can eat whatever they want, but in the real world they won't learn this for sometime (until they can read labels for example?). I don't think there really is a way to stop them from eating anything non-vegan unless you send them with a backpack full of treats everywhere. The hard part for me, even with a vegetarian daughter, will be lollies (the whole gelatin issue obviously). I know a lot of vegetarians who aren't strict on this front, but my partner is. How do you explain to a 5yr old that they can't eat those snakes/frogs/whatever it may be...

Even though she will be a vegetarian, I will still monitor her nutrition closely. I feel as a well educated vegan who has learnt alot about supplements and ideal nutrition levels in the past few years, and especially throughout my pregnancy (as I become anaemic thanks to my daughter mooching all my stores haha) I will know how to ensure that she is getting enough of what she needs every day.

If I was raising her vegan, being a vegan myself, I wouldn't see any issues with her diet. However I would ensure that my GP understood that I was raising her this way and to work with me when it came to certain things. (I'm fairly lucky that my GP is understanding of my diet anyway, but not everyone has this luxury!).

A lot of people have asked me "will your daughter be vegan?" usually in a condescending tone. When I say no, just vegetarian, it almost throws them. But most people who know me well enough know that I would never feed anyone in my house meat, especially my child. Yes they poke fun at me, blah blah blah, but hey whatever. If you need to poke fun at someone elses diet/lifestyle you have bigger problems to deal with.

Sorry if I haven't touched on your questions 100%.

i have a two year old vegan toddler, so i haven't had to deal with the school issue and the like yet.
But i am very confident in what i feed my daughter on a vegan diet she is growing putting weight on and is a very smart little miss.

I think studying up on vegan children is not only great for piece of mind if you get negative comments from people you know but also when you receive questions you will alway have an answer.

There is a growing community of vegan parents these days as people are realising its healthy to raise children vegan.
here are a few links for you to check out if you are interested.

http://www.veganparents.org/ (these guys are on facebook also)
http://spawnbetter.com/
http://www.vegfamily.com/
http://vegansaurus.com/tagged/happy_veggie_kids

i also have a vegan parents section on my blog
http://sarah-moo.blogspot.com/p/vegan-parents-feature.html

There are also a few other discussions on this topic if you search

Cass, if you plan on putting your bub in childcare/kinder (even part-time) they'll follow any special diet requirements you ask them to. There's a bunch of kids in each age group in the centre I work in who drink soy milk, don't eat eggs, don't eat meat - the cook just makes a seperate meal for them and it really isn't a big issue. I guess primary school will be a bit different though. But the kindy kids defenitely know what they aren't allowed to eat because they're constantly asking "is this soy cake?" "can I have some soy baked beans" it's rather cute

^^ Oh that is way too adorable

I am actually doing a big assignment atm for a TAFE course I am doing, basically to see how good you are at collecting data, but I am doing it on the pros and cons of raising a child vegan. Clearly there won't be any cons hehe but am really looking forward it sinking my teeth in. Also, my boyfriend (an omni) is of the assumption that a child would die a terrible death if it was deprived of animal derivatives. Stupidest thing I ever heard, so would love to show him my assignment once I am done.

if you don't mind, you should post up a link to it when you've finished- i would love to read it! (i'm sure many others would too!)

p.s- i feel your pain, my bf is also an omni (unfortunately!)- though he doesn't mind us raising our future kids vegetarian (as he hopes to one day be 'strong' enough to turn vego)but suggests that we give them free choice when they're at friends places or out with relatives etc... rather than having to keep worrying about what and how they eat when they're not with us! :S

above^^^^ i think this is a good compromise letting them choose but allowing them to eat as they wish with friends or relatives. being vegetarian or vegan should be a choice I hope when I have kids that they have the same views as i do.

I don't have children so I have no answers to your questions but I came across this site a while ago of Vegan children and their stories

http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/realveganchildren

I grew up with vegetarian dad, stepmum and sister. I ate only vegetarian home cooked meals, was well educated on meat, milk, etc and where it all came from, and to never buy puppies and always adopt, composting, environmental awareness blah blah.

What I appreciate most was that my family NEVER pushed their beliefs on to me or tried to restrict me from making my own choices, especially outside the home at sleepovers, school canteen etc. If we were at a larger family gathering and I chose to eat meat, there was never any "No you aren't allowed", I was free to make my own choices, while my family maintained a vegitarian home, and then later in life I made the commitment to be 100% vegetarian entirely of my own volition.

I sure will If nothing else, just to pursuade omnivore partners to lighten up a little hehe I hope to give my future kiddies free choice and enough information for them to made a conscious decision. Oh my boyfriend is the opposite haha he is like "animals were given to us to eat" "we are the dominant species", one of THOSE ones :/ All I can do it try to show him our world as best I can I guess