The 5 Biggest Pitfalls of Raising a Vegetarian Kid

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When I was about 9, a classmate informed me that she was a vegetarian, and that the choice had been hers. I was flabbergasted. “But what about chicken?” I’d asked her, uncomprehendingly. “What about steak?” By college, though, I’d had my own vegetarian epiphany, and years later I would decide to go all in — vegan — eventually passing on that way of eating to my daughter, now 6. If I’ve learned anything between that revelatory childhood conversation and now, it’s that a person’s choice to cut animals or animal products out of a diet — particularly his or her own child’s — is one that can be deeply personal, highly charged, and, for many people, downright confusing. But what helps parents on this path is that the whole idea has become less shocking.

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“Back in the day when I first started talking about raising vegetarian children, part of the party line was that it was fine for adults, but that you had to be really careful with kids,” Reed Mangels, a pioneering dietician in the field of childhood vegetarianism and a lecturer with the University of Massachusetts Amherst Department of Nutrition, tells Yahoo Parenting. “Now it’s more acceptable, there are more products out there to make it easier, and there’s a lot more child-initiated vegetarianism.”

An endorsement from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetic Association, as well as (somewhat tepid) approval from the American Academy of Pediatrics, may make it easier for parents to strengthen their resolve around raising a veg kid, no matter whose idea it was. Cutting out animal products is safe and healthy for children, Mangels adds, “as long as it’s done mindfully.”

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As Robyn Moore, the founder of RaisingVegKids.com and a certified plant-based nutrition counselor, tells Yahoo Parenting, “Not only do veg kids not miss out on any nutrients, many of them get more than their peers who typically subside on the Standard American Diet of chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, burgers, and pizza.”

Still, vegetarianism/veganism is a way of eating that some kids (and parents) can find hard to stick to. But that issue, according to Mangels, can often be boiled down to at least one of five easy mistakes:

1. You remove the meat. Period. “Probably one of the most common pitfalls is just taking the meat off the plate, and typically this happens in a family that has been very meat-potato-vegetable–oriented,” Mangels says. But a dinner of a baked potato and handful of broccoli won’t fly for long. Why? Because without a drop of protein, children (and adults, too) are going to wind up hungry and cranky. The best way around it, she suggests, is to try more “combination dishes,” like ethnic stews and casseroles that incorporate beans and lentils. In addition, lookalike meat proteins — including soy and gluten-based items such as Gardein Crispy Chick’n, Tofurky Deli Slices, and Field Roast Sausages — can be “super convenient,” Mangels notes, adding, “They can also be a big help socially if they want to look like other kids.”

2. You serve too much fake meat. On the other hand, she warns, “There can sometimes be an over-reliance on processed convenience foods.” While those faux chickens nuggets and sausages can be great in a pinch (see above), an overload can be unhealthy, as they tend to be sky-high in sodium and lacking in fiber.

3. Your kid eats nothing but pizza and bagels. “We’ve probably all met someone who says, ‘I am a vegetarian but I don’t want to eat vegetables, just carbs. This is the bagel-pizza–eating variety of vegetarian,” Mangels notes. To get your kid off of the largely non-nutritious onslaught of bread and cheese, she says, “some effort needs to be put in,” which can mean anything from offering raw veggies cut into fun shapes to cooking them, just enough, and pairing with various dipping sauces. It’s also smart to monitor B12 levels (a vital vitamin found only in animal foods) and add in either supplements or plenty of fortified items, such as soy or almond milk.

4. You give your child more responsibility than he or she is ready for. This can happen when a child makes the decision to go veg and the rest of the household is not onboard. “I’ve heard of a 10-year-old being told, ‘Okay, you don’t want to eat my cooking? Make your own meals then,’” Mangels says. And while it’s fine to encourage your kid to be self-sufficient in the kitchen, pushing her in there with no guidance whatsoever can lead to her subsisting on a diet of PB&J (or worse).

5. You serve nothing but vegetables. This one may be a bit of a surprise. But, Mangels notes, “A vegetarian or vegan diet doesn’t mean you just eat vegetables. It means you eat a plant-based diet, so it includes beans and grains and nuts, too, which can help you feel fuller.” Also, she says, while adult vegans will sometimes cut all high-fat foods out of their diets, because they believe it will lead to optimal health, some fat helps with satiety. “Plus kids do need fat for calories, which helps with growth,” she says. So bring on the almond butter, coconut oil, and avocado.

The bottom line, Moore notes, is that getting veggie or vegan kids to eat healthily is really no different than it is with any other kid: “The common pitfalls that parents face when trying to feed their veg kids are surprisingly the same pitfalls that all parents face, veg or not — trying to limit our kids’ consumption of the processed, sugary, junk food that’s prevalent in our society.”