Getting Going
Raising and feeding children is a challenge, but raising vegetarian children in a meat-eating society is a particular test for your vegetarian resolve. Problems will probably come up once little Susie is old enough for playmates and playdates and she gets offered a hamburger or chicken fingers by a well-meaning mom. Or maybe she helps celebrate a friend’s birthday party and the group goes to a fast-food place. What is a mom or dad to do?
When you can, you should certainly tell others—from friends to child care providers—about your dietary preferences, but without making your child seem peculiar or freakish. And you can help your child make independent and healthful food choices when she is just beginning to eat solids, and continue to enforce right choices in the following years.
By talking in an upbeat way about the foods you choose and the reasons you or your family is vegetarian, you can help instill the same attitudes in your child. Keeping mealtimes relaxed—and preferably, eating together as a family —underscores the pleasures of the table. And by permitting some food explorations, you will make vegetarian eating not seem forbidding and foreboding.
School Times
You may encounter more serious obstacles and objections once your child starts school. Despite the government’s efforts through its National School Lunch Program (NSLP) to raise the quality of school lunches, many schools nationwide are still serving lunches and offering snacks that are high in fats.
But the good news is this: more school districts are making healthier choices, getting rid of offending vending machines, incorporating parents into lunchtime menu-planning decisions, and even offering some healthier choices and some vegetarian options such as salads on the menu.
Essential
You can use the school lunch menu as an opportunity to reference healthy vegetarian eating and to make good food choices by reviewing it together with your child. Suggest selecting pastas, fresh fruit, salads, and whole-grain breads at lunchtime; even a slice of cheese pizza could be a wise choice. But if you feel unsure about how your child will face the lunch line or even how meat-free the menu options are, consider packing lunch instead.
The Vegetarian Resource Group writes that an increasing number of school lunch programs are including soy meat alternatives and vegetarian dishes more often on the menu. While economics plays a role in making these changes, at least some school districts view adding such vegetarian dishes as a way to improve child health and to meet the USDA’s nutritional guidelines. Interested vegetarian parents can petition their schools to join in and follow these guidelines.
