The KInd Life Community Forum

I have 3 young children ages 8, 7 and 5 and we, as a family, became vegan 11 months ago. It has been an adventure, mostly good. I told the kids the truth about what I was learning about our food, where it comes from, what the consequences are and the choices we have. They were all enthusiastically on board. They are amazing little people! It is tough watching them handle being different, the school has a dietician drill them each week on the food pyramind, to which I told them to turn off their ears when she's discussing the "other" food groups And then the school has a monthly pizza day and pushes a milk program... their are birthdays every month with cupcakes and ice cream... and then their are my friends and other good meaning parents, even health professionals who out right tell me what I'm doing is extreamly harmful and down right dangerous:( Sometimes I just want to take my babies and move to our own desserted corner of the earth:( I have done nothing but research health and nutrition for the past 10 months, I feel like I'm covering all of the nutritional bases and looking at the information from all sides. I haven't blindly jumped into this and I would never put my childrens health in jeapordy. Is their a pro vegan professional I could seek out to back me up and put my mind at ease? I feel extreamly passionate about our decision, I guess what I'm looking for is some stregth, some advice on how to defend this path I've chosen for my little family.

Hi Lainey,

I don't know that I have much to offer in advice but just know you're not alone. I've gone through the same thing to some degree with some family members. Luckily I found out after finally admitting to my pediatrician we were vegan, she was 100% on board with it. I was worried she would completely disagree with me but I decided to be honest and make sure she was looking at my daughter with that perspective to make sure she was healthy looking. Even though I do believe a vegan diet is SO healthy, my kids don't always eat so healthy themselves (although eating meat and dairy wouldn't make them eat healthier). I don't know where you live but maybe you could shop around for a supportive pediatrician. Funny enough, lately I feel like we're attracting like minded individuals. My ob/gyn isn't vegan herself but is very supportive, my daughter's teacher last year was vegetarian and very vocal about her love of animals, one of her teachers this year is vegetarian (I just found this out the other day) and her art teacher outside of school is vegan now and was raised vegetarian and her parents rescued farm animals. How cool is that?

Anyway, you might be surprised and find some supportive folkds out there! Good luck!

Good for you Lainey!

I've recently switched to a vegan diet from a vegetarian diet, my son is 9 months old so I didn't have to "switch" him because I hadn't introduced him to milk or eggs. I've had a lot of over- opinionated people including my family give their unsolicited advice but I'm used to that.. I've been getting that since before he was born. I keep getting comments like "but he needs amino acids", "my son went to school with a vegan boy, he was always sick".. etc, etc. I try to explain to people that if done properly, veganism is the healthiest diet there is but they just don't want to hear it. My son is going to a birthday party next week, I've decided to make him vegan cupcakes to take with him. When he's in school, if they do anything like pizza parties, I'll send him to school with his own vegan pizza. I'll give him alternatives to everything there's an alternative to and hope that he never feels left out. It must be difficult to send your kids to school knowing that someone there is someone trying to tell them that they "need" meat, dairy and eggs, not sure what I'm going to do when that time comes! just try to remember that your kids are probably the healthiest kids there and try to take comfort in that! you're doing a great job.