Tanya and vegan treats

[Guest guest]

Tanya,

I really sympathize, and though my baby is only 7 months old, so I can't offer

any personal experience, I just wanted to say that I always hate to hear of our

diets and ethical

beliefs causing separation instead of togetherness. It would be a shame if your

family's attitude made you decide to avoid them during holidays, since that's

not what veganism's

outcome should be. The only advice I can give is to bring as many dishes of

your own to share and eat, and just keep gently reminding them that your child

can eat whatever they

make if they can just avoid adding animal ingredients (like, say, mashed

potatoes with soymilk instead of cow milk). It's difficult if they choose to

take that as a personal

attack, but all you can do is try. I try to just show up with alternatives and

yummy dishes, but like I said, the kid's diet has not been an issue yet for me.

 

I also wanted to second Tanya's note that sometimes an unhealthy but vegan

alternative is crucial in helping your kid to feel like s/he's not being

deprived. If you can feed

your kid a frozen tofutti pizza so that s/he feels like everyone else at a pizza

party, then it's worth it. It's not a staple in the kid's diet, but the

occasional treat might

make a big difference socially. I like the idea of " trading " in non-vegan foods

for special vegan treats that are brought out only for those occasions. You can

even mail-order

special decadent things around halloween and such times.

 

Leena

--

" Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child as it

is to the caterpillar. "

Bradley Miller

 

All beings tremble before violence.

All love life.

All fear death.

See yourself in others.

Then whom can you hurt?

What harm can you do?

-The Buddha

 

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