vegetarian children

[vipper]

My daughter is vegetarian (3 and a half) and always has been. She can be a little militant about it - especially when people around her are eating meat. And once in a halal food shop.

There will come a time when she wants to eat meat, I expect. We've decided to take the stance with her that we don't eat meat in the house however she can do what she wants outside it.

 

[ShiftyBagLady]

well its interesting how different families adapt to it. for example, i have decided to go vegetarian too. mainly because we already have the routine of preparing, making and eating our food together, its a hugely important part of our homelife actually, and i wouldnt want to say you have this i'll have that as i think theres something rewarding and satifying about sharing and eating together, a throwback to cavemen bondoing over the kill perhaps, maybe i'm just weird!
so i decided to go veggie too bar the surreptitious bacon sandwich every now and then

 

[Cloud]

Ah common everyone knows all you vegetarian nazi's brainwash your kids

 

[subversplat]

My daughters friends parents are vegitarians so naturally their kid is too. It's pissing me off that their veggie propoganda is now rubbing off on my own offspring. She has started to question everything she eats and has to take veggie sandwiches to shool to be in with this friend. I wouldn't mind but this kid is as thin as a twig and looks like a ghost.

I'm going to have a barbacue this summer and spike them all with beef.

You could invite some local muslim kids over too and spike them with pork for added hijinx

 

[Maggot]

my son wont take nuts to school anymore because theres a girl in his class who made a big thing about not sitting near him because he had nuts. fair enough because shes allergic but now he doesnt want to bring them which sucks because they are good stuff

It's not fair enough! She's not gonna have a reaction just from being near nuts.


Well done shifty, sounds like you're handling this well.

 

[Crispy]

they don't taste as good as the real ones

 

[ShiftyBagLady]

well i understand that shes allregic, fine, but some childnre are allergic to strawberries so should i also leave strawberries out? frinakly i dont see why i should. the school didnt give me any guidelines about the lunches and teh teachers havent spoken to me about it so i will quite happily put them in.
surely its up tot he child who is allergic to know what they can and cannot eat rather than for them to tell my child he is not allowed to bring nuts or to sit near her when he does packed lunch politics
i do sneak them in though when he has oatcakes with peanut butter and honey yum

thanks maggot, suburban has been great actually lots of extra info and support. i heart this place

 

[jusali]

I asked my mum if I could go veggie when I was six, and thankfully she let me. I was always very grateful for her support, and the effort she put in to my separate meals. She was very enthusiastic about my choice, and that made me feel great, like my choice was important and meant something!!

I suspect that if I'd been forced to eat meat against all my wishes and gut instincts, that I could well have grown up with a serious eating disorder, tbh. It certainly would have damaged the trust between me and my mum.

My mum was all about empowering us, and part of that meant having control over what went in our bodies.

Shifty - I have to say, from what you say of your friends reaction, it sounds like he doesn't like children very much, and suspects they aren't capable of making their own moral choices. If you treat a child like an animal, then you will get a child who acts like an animal. Politely tell him his child-rearing advice is not needed!!

That's really Lovely! I hope we can be the same with our children when they're old enough to make their own choices!

 

[Chairman Meow]

well i understand that shes allregic, fine, but some childnre are allergic to strawberries so should i also leave strawberries out? frinakly i dont see why i should. the school didnt give me any guidelines about the lunches and teh teachers havent spoken to me about it so i will quite happily put them in.
surely its up tot he child who is allergic to know what they can and cannot eat rather than for them to tell my child he is not allowed to bring nuts or to sit near her when he does packed lunch politics
i do sneak them in though when he has oatcakes with peanut butter and honey yum

thanks maggot, suburban has been great actually lots of extra info and support. i heart this place

The thing is though that peanut allergy can be extremely dangerous, even fatal, especially for little kids. There are two kids (brothers) at my sprogs school who are severely allergic, and the school has banned nuts from the whole school because any contact whatsoever with peanuts (even touching them) could kill them. I think its fair enough really, allergy to strawberries is hardly the same.

 

[Yetman]

Fair play to ya, I decided I wanted to be vegetarian when I was six. My 4 year old sister went with it as well - and even though my mum wasnt, she catered for us (and made others who would feed us do the same) to the best she could, and did a great job, especially as I dont like vegetables

 

[Chairman Meow]

Fair play to ya, I decided I wanted to be vegetarian when I was six. My 4 year old sister went with it as well - and even though my mum wasnt, she catered for us (and made others who would feed us do the same) to the best she could, and did a great job, especially as I dont like vegetables

You don't like meat OR veg? Freak!

 

[ShiftyBagLady]

The thing is though that peanut allergy can be extremely dangerous, even fatal, especially for little kids. There are two kids (brothers) at my sprogs school who are severely allergic, and the school has banned nuts from the whole school because any contact whatsoever with peanuts (even touching them) could kill them. I think its fair enough really, allergy to strawberries is hardly the same.

i know MrMeow, allergies can be very serisou indeed but my point is that people can be allergic to a host of different things and you can develop anaphylaxis from things that most people eat frequently without concern, as a parent surely the onus is on you to educate the child (which the mothe rin my case clearly had done) and take appropriate measure to minimise risk. perhaps it would be better if the school ran a nut free kitchen and the child had school dinners rather than packed lunches, thereby minimising exposure....
the thing with school lunches is that they get a short amount of time to eat them, and its such an important meal in the day in terms of energy and concentration and also all roun d nutrition (when kids are growing every meal counts!)so you want to give them foods which are dense in nutrients, nuts are fantastic for this. in this school they've not so much as mentioned that nuts are banned
but i do empathise with the parents because im sure its worrying

 

[Chairman Meow]

i know MrMeow, allergies can be very serisou indeed but my point is that people can be allergic to a host of different things and you can develop anaphylaxis from things that most people eat frequently without concern, as a parent surely the onus is on you to educate the child (which the mothe rin my case clearly had done) and take appropriate measure to minimise risk. perhaps it would be better if the school ran a nut free kitchen and the child had school dinners rather than packed lunches, thereby minimising exposure....
the thing with school lunches is that they get a short amount of time to eat them, and its such an important meal in the day in terms of energy and concentration and also all roun d nutrition (when kids are growing every meal counts!)so you want to give them foods which are dense in nutrients, nuts are fantastic for this. in this school they've not so much as mentioned that nuts are banned
but i do empathise with the parents because im sure its worrying

Ahh but here in sunny Ireland my sprog's primary school (built in 2004) has no, yes, NO school kitchen, hence no skool dinnaz. So, the alternative for these particular kids is a totally nut free environment, or home schooling I guess. I know nuts are a great food, but I can give them to my sprog at home and give him other stuff at school, its no biggie. I think they're a wee bit young to be self policing about nut exposure at age five! I can live with the nut ban though, they can't- poor little sods. And while perhaps you can get anaphalaxis from strawberries, the teachers led us to believe that its specifically nut allergies that are quite so risky, maybe thats bollocks though, I dunno.

BTW I think its great that your kid is so interested in vegetarianism. Although I don't understand why you are perhaps not so supportive of a parents food 'choice' for their child which may have much more serious consequences? Although I agree you certainly should have been informed formally if there was a serious nut allergy, I probably would have thought the same as you if we hadn't been quite to well informed on the potential seriousness of nut exposure for these kids (we were even given a suggested reading list on the subject!).

 

[felixthecat]

your lad will be fine - good on him to make the choice. My son has never eaten meat - he spat it out everytime he had meat as a toddler and has not eaten it since. He simply didn't like it or possibly (likely knowing my son)was too damn lazy to chew.

He's a healthy strapping 6'2" 13 1/2 stone rugby playing 17 year old now, so it didn't do him any harm. He eats a wider range of food that most lads his age so being veggie sure as hell didn't make him faddy either.

 

[ShiftyBagLady]

i dont disagree but....

i dont think five is too young, if the allergy is that serious then the child really must be aware.

well i appreciate the reasons why and the importance of it, i dont think im being unsupportive for wanting to give my child the most balanced and nutritious meal possible. the problem i have is that the staff at the school havent spoken to the parents, the parent of the child hasnt spoken to me(if i were so concerned then i would), and this girl made my child feel really bad for bringing nuts to school.

i have issues with school diners ANYWAY because i just dont think they eat regularly enough. they get forty minute smax to eat their lunch, have only one meal during the whole day and the reason my boys usually tired and grumpy by four oclock is because he hasnt eaten since twelve!
i wont go on, but i really really could.....

 

[Maggot]

The thing is though that peanut allergy can be extremely dangerous, even fatal, especially for little kids. There are two kids (brothers) at my sprogs school who are severely allergic, and the school has banned nuts from the whole school because any contact whatsoever with peanuts (even touching them) could kill them.

I find it hard to believe that someone can die just from touching nuts.

 

[Poot]

i dont think five is too young, if the allergy is that serious then the child really must be aware.

well i appreciate the reasons why and the importance of it, i dont think im being unsupportive for wanting to give my child the most balanced and nutritious meal possible. the problem i have is that the staff at the school havent spoken to the parents, the parent of the child hasnt spoken to me(if i were so concerned then i would), and this girl made my child feel really bad for bringing nuts to school.

i have issues with school diners ANYWAY because i just dont think they eat regularly enough. they get forty minute smax to eat their lunch, have only one meal during the whole day and the reason my boys usually tired and grumpy by four oclock is because he hasnt eaten since twelve!
i wont go on, but i really really could.....

I think you're paving the way for your child to have a healthy attitude to food and to understand the importance of what he is eating and where it came from.

As for the nut allergy, I must say that my cousin is allergic to nuts and if anyone even breathes on him after they've been eating nuts they could kill him. There have been several near misses. A nut allergy is very very serious indeed. It's quite reasonable for a five-year-old whose parents panick about her nut allergy to make a fuss when she's sitting next to someone who's eating nuts, although I'm sorry it was your son who bore the brunt.

 

[lillia]

I was raised pretty much veggie - my Mum just didn't like meat so didn't cook it - she just made old favourites like spag bol, shepherd's pie etc with pulses - lentils, beans, chick peas to get some protein in to our diets.

Also something that might be useful - She used to make flapjacks - which your son could get involved in - but packed with pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds poppy seeds and loads of dried fruit - apricots/sultanas/dried pineapple etc. She put nuts in as well, but you could leave those out of school snacks...

I've carried on to cook like she did really - a book that I find invaluable - filled with simple vege meals - is the Cranks basic recipe book (Not their entertaining one - which is far too involved!) There's loads in there - homity pie, moussaka, risotto, quick cheese and lentil slices (good for lunchboxes) - really quick and easy and most of them freeze-able.

Hope this helps - good luck!

 

[ill-informed]

.......lentil slices.......

what are they?

 

[Wookey]

The thing is though that peanut allergy can be extremely dangerous, even fatal, especially for little kids. There are two kids (brothers) at my sprogs school who are severely allergic, and the school has banned nuts from the whole school because any contact whatsoever with peanuts (even touching them) could kill them. I think its fair enough really, allergy to strawberries is hardly the same.

You know in the old days they just would have died and we wouldn't have all this bother.

Nut allergies aren't that lethal, otherwise we'd have lots of people dying from them, and we don't we only have a handful in the past 20 years. And a nut allergy is actually more dangerous for adults than it is for childrem, iirc, they have a far higher chance of dying than those under 10 or so.

That said, even that 'higher' chance is still miniscule, compared to the risk of dying in an accident.

 

[scifisam]

Some people with nut allergies can have a reaction just because there are nuts in the room, bizarrely enough. But if this kid's reaction is that severe, the school should warn all the parents, not rely on a five-year-old to tell her friend, so perhaps the kid's just so used to being careful that she's over-cautious.

(Nut allergies have become way, way more common over the past twenty years or so, like most allergies have - although this one's largely down to us havign more nuts in our diets and eating them whilst pregnant).

Peanut butter sandwiches are one of the easiest options for veggie kids, though. Could you maybe check with the school just how severe this child's allergy is?

 

[madzone]

My kids aren't allowed peanut butter in school which kinda pisses me off. How does the kid with the allergy cope when they're out and about? They're also not allowed kiwi fruit as one boy gets eczema from kiwi fruit

 

[newharper]

They're also not allowed kiwi fruit as one boy gets eczema from kiwi fruit

I know about the nuts, but I'm having difficulty with the idea that a kid can get eczema fron being in the same room as a kiwi fruit.

Bet the parents take him to the supermarket.