Guest guest Posted October 20, 2005 Report Share Posted October 20, 2005 Hello, my name is Shelly and I am a new vegetarian, working towards complete veganhood. What got me started on this path in my life was PETA. One evening i was reading the MSN homepage and came across an article by Martha Stewert talking about why she no longer wore fur. I clicked on the accompanying video, which was a PETA video on the fur business. I was so horrified that I explained " OH GOD!!! " so loudly that my daughter came running into the room thinking that something terrible had gone wrong. I did not let her look at what i was seeing. Supper was ready at that time, it was baked chicken. I could not handle looking at it, much less eat it. I watched my children eating and i felt ashamed that I had led them into such ignorance. The remainder of the evening was devoted to learning more about animal cruelty. I said to myself: " how can one care about these animals and still eat them? " That is when i seen a link to " goveg.com. " It was pretty much a no brainer at that point. We are now a vegetarian family. If it was not for PETA, I would not be typing up this message right now. My partner thinks I am a freak and does not support this. He will not even look at anything to do with animal cruelity or vegetarianism, not even well-respected journal articles by reputable researchers. He says all vegans are idoits. It is a good thing that I buy the groceries. I did catch him sneaking the kids meat, my oldest who is mentally handicapped took it, as she does not seem to make a good connection between babe the pig (her understanding of what a pig is) and bacon. The youngest who is two, ate a shrimp her father gave her against my wishes, but otherwise she does not seem to miss it at all. My middle daughter was vegetarian last year and fell off the wagon. I did let her see the video on factory farming and on the " meatrix " and she is a vegetarian about 90% now. She has a little bit of milk here and there, but has some pretty strong convictions about animals. I joined this group to meet other parents and to learn from them. We live in a rather isolated Canadian community with few vegetarians/vegans. Does anyone have any tips on how to best deal with this situation or are there others dealing with some of the same issues as we are? I am relearning how to cook and one recipe that i recently learned was vegan chili and I have to say it is one of the best things I have ever tasted. I guess that is it for now. ~Shelly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2005 Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Hi Shelly, Where do you live Shelly? I am in Canada too. I live near Sydney, Nova Scotia. Vegetarians are pretty rare here too. Vegan meals in restaurants are pretty much unheard of. I used to live in Halifax and it was very easy to be veg there. Jacqueline > > " joychild72 " <joychild72 > 2005/10/20 Thu PM 04:15:19 EST > > In responce to the comments about PETA > > Hello, my name is Shelly and I am a new vegetarian, working towards > complete veganhood. What got me started on this path in my life was > PETA. One evening i was reading the MSN homepage and came across an > article by Martha Stewert talking about why she no longer wore fur. I > clicked on the accompanying video, which was a PETA video on the fur > business. I was so horrified that I explained " OH GOD!!! " so loudly > that my daughter came running into the room thinking that something > terrible had gone wrong. I did not let her look at what i was seeing. > Supper was ready at that time, it was baked chicken. I could not > handle looking at it, much less eat it. I watched my children eating > and i felt ashamed that I had led them into such ignorance. The > remainder of the evening was devoted to learning more about animal > cruelty. I said to myself: " how can one care about these animals and > still eat them? " That is when i seen a link to " goveg.com. " It was > pretty much a no brainer at that point. We are now a vegetarian > family. If it was not for PETA, I would not be typing up this message > right now. My partner thinks I am a freak and does not support this. > He will not even look at anything to do with animal cruelity or > vegetarianism, not even well-respected journal articles by reputable > researchers. He says all vegans are idoits. It is a good thing that I > buy the groceries. I did catch him sneaking the kids meat, my oldest > who is mentally handicapped took it, as she does not seem to make a > good connection between babe the pig (her understanding of what a pig > is) and bacon. The youngest who is two, ate a shrimp her father gave > her against my wishes, but otherwise she does not seem to miss it at > all. My middle daughter was vegetarian last year and fell off the > wagon. I did let her see the video on factory farming and on the > " meatrix " and she is a vegetarian about 90% now. She has a little bit > of milk here and there, but has some pretty strong convictions about > animals. I joined this group to meet other parents and to learn from > them. We live in a rather isolated Canadian community with few > vegetarians/vegans. Does anyone have any tips on how to best deal with > this situation or are there others dealing with some of the same > issues as we are? I am relearning how to cook and one recipe that i > recently learned was vegan chili and I have to say it is one of the > best things I have ever tasted. I guess that is it for now. ~Shelly > > For more information about vegetarianism, please visit the VRG website at http://www.vrg.org and for materials especially useful for families go to http://www.vrg.org/family.This is a discussion list and is not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. > > edical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 22, 2005 Report Share Posted October 22, 2005 Shelly, Congratulations on making the switch with your family. As far as your partner goes, he may never see eye to eye on this subject with you. I'm in your shoes as well. I'm the only vegetarian in my whole family and now have a 14 mos. old daughter whom I am trying to raise vegetarian. We are still working on being vegan. It took a lot of coaxing to get my husband to agree to let me not feed her meat. He will never stop eating it but has learned to respect my decision. I get some questionable looks even from my own family about my decisions but I don't care. I know I'm doing the right thing and so are you. I've gotten my husband to agree that neither he, or anyone else (mainly his family) will be allowed to sneak her meat. I'm actually worried about an upcoming trip that I will not be making with the two of them here soon, where he will be visiting his " meat and potatoes " family. I'm thinking of just pre-making all of her meals to send down with him to send the message that I don't want this child receiving meat. I'm worried about this because my mother-in-law feels that she has to send pre-made frozen dinners home with us at every visit because she wants her son to be eating meat. So I feel that two can play at this game. It disgusts me! It's not like I don't prepare nutritious vegetarian meals. Whether he likes them or not, is a totally different story. I'm still learning myself. Anyway, sorry to vent and get off on a tangent. I tend to do that when I hear of other people in my shoes. I'm currently reading a book called Raising Vegetarian Children by Joanne Stepaniak, M.S.Ed. and Vesanto Melina, M.S., R.D. I'm not too far into it because I don't have much time for reading but it's my goal to finish it before we have to go spend x-mas with his family who tends to be critical of my vegetarianism. So far, I really like it. It talks so much about how to help you and your child deal with the pressures of other people who might not understand vegetarianism or veganism. It also offers loads of info to provide people with who will for the rest of your life, tend to challenge you. It was recommended to me by someone else and if you haven't already read it, you might give it a try. It also has some recipes in it. Well, here's wishing you great luck and that you're definitely not alone in this. Carrie - joychild72<joychild72 < > Thursday, October 20, 2005 2:15 PM In responce to the comments about PETA Hello, my name is Shelly and I am a new vegetarian, working towards complete veganhood. What got me started on this path in my life was PETA. One evening i was reading the MSN homepage and came across an article by Martha Stewert talking about why she no longer wore fur. I clicked on the accompanying video, which was a PETA video on the fur business. I was so horrified that I explained " OH GOD!!! " so loudly that my daughter came running into the room thinking that something terrible had gone wrong. I did not let her look at what i was seeing. Supper was ready at that time, it was baked chicken. I could not handle looking at it, much less eat it. I watched my children eating and i felt ashamed that I had led them into such ignorance. The remainder of the evening was devoted to learning more about animal cruelty. I said to myself: " how can one care about these animals and still eat them? " That is when i seen a link to " goveg.com. " It was pretty much a no brainer at that point. We are now a vegetarian family. If it was not for PETA, I would not be typing up this message right now. My partner thinks I am a freak and does not support this. He will not even look at anything to do with animal cruelity or vegetarianism, not even well-respected journal articles by reputable researchers. He says all vegans are idoits. It is a good thing that I buy the groceries. I did catch him sneaking the kids meat, my oldest who is mentally handicapped took it, as she does not seem to make a good connection between babe the pig (her understanding of what a pig is) and bacon. The youngest who is two, ate a shrimp her father gave her against my wishes, but otherwise she does not seem to miss it at all. My middle daughter was vegetarian last year and fell off the wagon. I did let her see the video on factory farming and on the " meatrix " and she is a vegetarian about 90% now. She has a little bit of milk here and there, but has some pretty strong convictions about animals. I joined this group to meet other parents and to learn from them. We live in a rather isolated Canadian community with few vegetarians/vegans. Does anyone have any tips on how to best deal with this situation or are there others dealing with some of the same issues as we are? I am relearning how to cook and one recipe that i recently learned was vegan chili and I have to say it is one of the best things I have ever tasted. I guess that is it for now. ~Shelly For more information about vegetarianism, please visit the VRG website at http://www.vrg.org<http://www.vrg.org/> and for materials especially useful for families go to http://www.vrg.org/family.This<http://www.vrg.org/family.This> is a discussion list and is not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. edical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 23, 2005 Report Share Posted October 23, 2005 I can totally understand where both Carrie and Shelly are coming from. Shelly, your comment about feeling guilty about having led your children into such ignorance really hit home with me. Finaly, my 11 yo is vegan after watching Peaceable Kingdom. My 8 yo still eats cheese and I know that that is my fault. If she never had it she wouldn't miss it. My intention was to raise her vegan but got lost along the way. Thank goodness she has never liked meat of any kind. My little one is vegan. But, like Carrie, I have a husband who is not vegetarian and never will be. He can watch the animal killed right in front of him and still go home and have steak. So far, I have been able to keep him from giving the baby meat or animal products. He is insistent that he will at some point. At first, I told him the dr said she wasn't ready for whatever gross thing he wanted to feed her. Now he knows that she can really eat anything. My hope is that when her older sisters say ewwww to something she will want to follow them as younger siblings often do. Carol, mom to Melissa, 3/14/94 Julia, 2/18/97 Lily, 9/7/04 FareChase - Search multiple travel sites in one click. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 Thank you Carrie, yes I have heard of the book " Raising Vegetarian Children. " I actually reserved it at the library and it has just come in. I do not think that i have time to read it right now. Although after hearing what you have said about it, i might try to fit it in. I am being pressured too. My daughter's father does not agree with vegetarianism, which I had mentioned in my previous post already. The other day he made himself a stir fry and added beef, but put some aside for our 2-yr-old daughter w/o meat. I was happy about that. I do not know that he will not sneak it to her as he has in the past. When i am alone with the kids, away from him i talk to them about animals being our friends and us not eating them. He does not like to hear that talk. He is very stuck in his ways. When my 2 older daughter's go to see my ex husband this summer, I will be worried. They are big meat eaters and live 20 hours away. He will not even talk to me about their vegetarianism, although he did make a point of telling me that he would never be one. I will be sending his wife the best of the best vegan/vegetarian recipes I can find in hopes of getting them more familiar with veggie eating before the kids go there. My middle daughter, Mckayla, who is 9 has been looking at petakids and likes the comics. She truly loves animals, biology, and much of science. Her understanding of the ethical issues surrounding meat eating is pretty good for a child of her age who has not been raised with such ideals. She is having a little bit of a struggle as she is missing pepperoni, bacon and ham. She is staying strong though. She had a craving today and she went straight to the computer and looked at the meatrix video. Interesting that she did that. A few times when i was missing such things i went to the meet your meat videos, hmmm, same ol hmmm, haha. I can really empathize with you Carrie, as I really worry about my kids going to their meat eating relatives as well. I do not think that it would be unfair for you to send the premade meals. Her dad's family likely does not really know how to cook veggie anyway. I would have a talk with them though. You said that they were critical of your vegetarianism, and that is a true hardship, i know. Perhaps talking to them about not confusing such a young child might be a good approach. I do not know what would work for them. I tend to keep people out of my world that give me a hard time. Maybe that is not the best thing, i do not know, but I do tend to do that. I think that it would be very valuable to ask the other members of this group what they do to cope with unsupportive and critical loved ones, hmmm. Perhaps I will start a thread on that topic. ~Shelly Carrie Kahl <carriekahl wrote: Shelly, Congratulations on making the switch with your family. As far as your partner goes, he may never see eye to eye on this subject with you. I'm in your shoes as well. I'm the only vegetarian in my whole family and now have a 14 mos. old daughter whom I am trying to raise vegetarian. We are still working on being vegan. It took a lot of coaxing to get my husband to agree to let me not feed her meat. He will never stop eating it but has learned to respect my decision. I get some questionable looks even from my own family about my decisions but I don't care. I know I'm doing the right thing and so are you. I've gotten my husband to agree that neither he, or anyone else (mainly his family) will be allowed to sneak her meat. I'm actually worried about an upcoming trip that I will not be making with the two of them here soon, where he will be visiting his " meat and potatoes " family. I'm thinking of just pre-making all of her meals to send down with him to send the message that I don't want this child receiving meat. I'm worried about this because my mother-in-law feels that she has to send pre-made frozen dinners home with us at every visit because she wants her son to be eating meat. So I feel that two can play at this game. It disgusts me! It's not like I don't prepare nutritious vegetarian meals. Whether he likes them or not, is a totally different story. I'm still learning myself. Anyway, sorry to vent and get off on a tangent. I tend to do that when I hear of other people in my shoes. I'm currently reading a book called Raising Vegetarian Children by Joanne Stepaniak, M.S.Ed. and Vesanto Melina, M.S., R.D. I'm not too far into it because I don't have much time for reading but it's my goal to finish it before we have to go spend x-mas with his family who tends to be critical of my vegetarianism. So far, I really like it. It talks so much about how to help you and your child deal with the pressures of other people who might not understand vegetarianism or veganism. It also offers loads of info to provide people with who will for the rest of your life, tend to challenge you. It was recommended to me by someone else and if you haven't already read it, you might give it a try. It also has some recipes in it. Well, here's wishing you great luck and that you're definitely not alone in this. Carrie - joychild72<joychild72 < > Thursday, October 20, 2005 2:15 PM In responce to the comments about PETA Hello, my name is Shelly and I am a new vegetarian, working towards complete veganhood. What got me started on this path in my life was PETA. One evening i was reading the MSN homepage and came across an article by Martha Stewert talking about why she no longer wore fur. I clicked on the accompanying video, which was a PETA video on the fur business. I was so horrified that I explained " OH GOD!!! " so loudly that my daughter came running into the room thinking that something terrible had gone wrong. I did not let her look at what i was seeing. Supper was ready at that time, it was baked chicken. I could not handle looking at it, much less eat it. I watched my children eating and i felt ashamed that I had led them into such ignorance. The remainder of the evening was devoted to learning more about animal cruelty. I said to myself: " how can one care about these animals and still eat them? " That is when i seen a link to " goveg.com. " It was pretty much a no brainer at that point. We are now a vegetarian family. If it was not for PETA, I would not be typing up this message right now. My partner thinks I am a freak and does not support this. He will not even look at anything to do with animal cruelity or vegetarianism, not even well-respected journal articles by reputable researchers. He says all vegans are idoits. It is a good thing that I buy the groceries. I did catch him sneaking the kids meat, my oldest who is mentally handicapped took it, as she does not seem to make a good connection between babe the pig (her understanding of what a pig is) and bacon. The youngest who is two, ate a shrimp her father gave her against my wishes, but otherwise she does not seem to miss it at all. My middle daughter was vegetarian last year and fell off the wagon. I did let her see the video on factory farming and on the " meatrix " and she is a vegetarian about 90% now. She has a little bit of milk here and there, but has some pretty strong convictions about animals. I joined this group to meet other parents and to learn from them. We live in a rather isolated Canadian community with few vegetarians/vegans. Does anyone have any tips on how to best deal with this situation or are there others dealing with some of the same issues as we are? I am relearning how to cook and one recipe that i recently learned was vegan chili and I have to say it is one of the best things I have ever tasted. I guess that is it for now. ~Shelly For more information about vegetarianism, please visit the VRG website at http://www.vrg.org<http://www.vrg.org/> and for materials especially useful for families go to http://www.vrg.org/family.This<http://www.vrg.org/family.This> is a discussion list and is not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. edical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 Well Jacqueline, I live in an isolated community in Northwestern Ontario called " Thunder Bay. " We are 9 hours away from the closest Canadian city which is Winnipeg Manitoba, and about 3 hours away from the closest American one which is Duluth Minnesota. There are NO vegetarian resturants here. It is blue-collar, bear and moose hunting, beer-drinking country here. There is a little arts community, but not very dominant. There are a few health food stores that i go to. Unfortunately, people often look at me like i have 3 heads when i tell them that i am a vegetarian and do not wear leather, stuff like that. My daughter told me that a boy in her class freaked when he heard that she is a vegetarian and exclaimed " OH MY GOD, YOU WILL DIE IF YOU DO NOT EAT MEAT!!! " She did not know if she responded to that well, so she asked me what to say. I did the best i could in guiding her. I feel bad for her as she has liked this boy all through school, and really cares what he thinks. She is so brave. She did tell him that it was not true that you would die if you did not eat meat, she said that vegetarians were actually healthier. I think she did well w/o my help on that one. Do you have any friends that are you like in Sydney? Do you find that your community is an open-minded one? ~Shelly jacqcote wrote:Hi Shelly, Where do you live Shelly? I am in Canada too. I live near Sydney, Nova Scotia. Vegetarians are pretty rare here too. Vegan meals in restaurants are pretty much unheard of. I used to live in Halifax and it was very easy to be veg there. Jacqueline > > " joychild72 " <joychild72 > 2005/10/20 Thu PM 04:15:19 EST > > In responce to the comments about PETA > > Hello, my name is Shelly and I am a new vegetarian, working towards > complete veganhood. What got me started on this path in my life was > PETA. One evening i was reading the MSN homepage and came across an > article by Martha Stewert talking about why she no longer wore fur. I > clicked on the accompanying video, which was a PETA video on the fur > business. I was so horrified that I explained " OH GOD!!! " so loudly > that my daughter came running into the room thinking that something > terrible had gone wrong. I did not let her look at what i was seeing. > Supper was ready at that time, it was baked chicken. I could not > handle looking at it, much less eat it. I watched my children eating > and i felt ashamed that I had led them into such ignorance. The > remainder of the evening was devoted to learning more about animal > cruelty. I said to myself: " how can one care about these animals and > still eat them? " That is when i seen a link to " goveg.com. " It was > pretty much a no brainer at that point. We are now a vegetarian > family. If it was not for PETA, I would not be typing up this message > right now. My partner thinks I am a freak and does not support this. > He will not even look at anything to do with animal cruelity or > vegetarianism, not even well-respected journal articles by reputable > researchers. He says all vegans are idoits. It is a good thing that I > buy the groceries. I did catch him sneaking the kids meat, my oldest > who is mentally handicapped took it, as she does not seem to make a > good connection between babe the pig (her understanding of what a pig > is) and bacon. The youngest who is two, ate a shrimp her father gave > her against my wishes, but otherwise she does not seem to miss it at > all. My middle daughter was vegetarian last year and fell off the > wagon. I did let her see the video on factory farming and on the > " meatrix " and she is a vegetarian about 90% now. She has a little bit > of milk here and there, but has some pretty strong convictions about > animals. I joined this group to meet other parents and to learn from > them. We live in a rather isolated Canadian community with few > vegetarians/vegans. Does anyone have any tips on how to best deal with > this situation or are there others dealing with some of the same > issues as we are? I am relearning how to cook and one recipe that i > recently learned was vegan chili and I have to say it is one of the > best things I have ever tasted. I guess that is it for now. ~Shelly > > For more information about vegetarianism, please visit the VRG website at http://www.vrg.org and for materials especially useful for families go to http://www.vrg.org/family.This is a discussion list and is not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. > > edical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 Hi Shelly, All my family is here and interestingly, a number of my cousins have gone vegetarian or vegan. That really helps make family gatherings more veg. friendly. There are no veg. restaurants here either and the community sounds similar. People just don't get it at all. There is a vegetarian society here now though so that helps. I do have a few good friends. They aren't vegetarian but are understanding and often go above and beyond for us. For example they got toffuti cuties for my son because he couldn't eat the ice cream and birthday cake my friend had for her daughter. They also got veggie dogs for him. Jacqueline > > shelly phair <joychild72 > 2005/10/23 Sun PM 11:28:32 EST > > Re: In responce to the comments about PETA > > Well Jacqueline, I live in an isolated community in Northwestern Ontario called " Thunder Bay. " We are 9 hours away from the closest Canadian city which is Winnipeg Manitoba, and about 3 hours away from the closest American one which is Duluth Minnesota. There are NO vegetarian resturants here. It is blue-collar, bear and moose hunting, beer-drinking country here. There is a little arts community, but not very dominant. There are a few health food stores that i go to. Unfortunately, people often look at me like i have 3 heads when i tell them that i am a vegetarian and do not wear leather, stuff like that. My daughter told me that a boy in her class freaked when he heard that she is a vegetarian and exclaimed " OH MY GOD, YOU WILL DIE IF YOU DO NOT EAT MEAT!!! " She did not know if she responded to that well, so she asked me what to say. I did the best i could in guiding her. I feel bad for her as she has liked this boy all through school, and really cares what he thinks. She is so > brave. She did tell him that it was not true that you would die if you did not eat meat, she said that vegetarians were actually healthier. I think she did well w/o my help on that one. Do you have any friends that are you like in Sydney? Do you find that your community is an open-minded one? ~Shelly > > jacqcote wrote:Hi Shelly, > > Where do you live Shelly? I am in Canada too. I live near Sydney, Nova Scotia. Vegetarians are pretty rare here too. Vegan meals in restaurants are pretty much unheard of. I used to live in Halifax and it was very easy to be veg there. > > Jacqueline > > > > > " joychild72 " <joychild72 > > 2005/10/20 Thu PM 04:15:19 EST > > > > In responce to the comments about PETA > > > > Hello, my name is Shelly and I am a new vegetarian, working towards > > complete veganhood. What got me started on this path in my life was > > PETA. One evening i was reading the MSN homepage and came across an > > article by Martha Stewert talking about why she no longer wore fur. I > > clicked on the accompanying video, which was a PETA video on the fur > > business. I was so horrified that I explained " OH GOD!!! " so loudly > > that my daughter came running into the room thinking that something > > terrible had gone wrong. I did not let her look at what i was seeing. > > Supper was ready at that time, it was baked chicken. I could not > > handle looking at it, much less eat it. I watched my children eating > > and i felt ashamed that I had led them into such ignorance. The > > remainder of the evening was devoted to learning more about animal > > cruelty. I said to myself: " how can one care about these animals and > > still eat them? " That is when i seen a link to " goveg.com. " It was > > pretty much a no brainer at that point. We are now a vegetarian > > family. If it was not for PETA, I would not be typing up this message > > right now. My partner thinks I am a freak and does not support this. > > He will not even look at anything to do with animal cruelity or > > vegetarianism, not even well-respected journal articles by reputable > > researchers. He says all vegans are idoits. It is a good thing that I > > buy the groceries. I did catch him sneaking the kids meat, my oldest > > who is mentally handicapped took it, as she does not seem to make a > > good connection between babe the pig (her understanding of what a pig > > is) and bacon. The youngest who is two, ate a shrimp her father gave > > her against my wishes, but otherwise she does not seem to miss it at > > all. My middle daughter was vegetarian last year and fell off the > > wagon. I did let her see the video on factory farming and on the > > " meatrix " and she is a vegetarian about 90% now. She has a little bit > > of milk here and there, but has some pretty strong convictions about > > animals. I joined this group to meet other parents and to learn from > > them. We live in a rather isolated Canadian community with few > > vegetarians/vegans. Does anyone have any tips on how to best deal with > > this situation or are there others dealing with some of the same > > issues as we are? I am relearning how to cook and one recipe that i > > recently learned was vegan chili and I have to say it is one of the > > best things I have ever tasted. I guess that is it for now. ~Shelly > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > For more information about vegetarianism, please visit the VRG website at http://www.vrg.org and for materials especially useful for families go to http://www.vrg.org/family.This is a discussion list and is not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. > > > > edical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 It is so challenging with kids. My oldest is a militant vegetarian. She speaks to everyone about it whether they want to hear it or not. My middle one has Aspergers Syndrome and just can't understand why people would want to hurt animals. My little one, who is rubbing peanut butter and rice mellow on my pants right now, is too little to understnd any of it. She just eats what I give her. Is your daughter veggie by choice or because the whole family is? It sounds like she can stand up for herself in a way that is gentle and won't put others off. shelly phair <joychild72 wrote:Well Jacqueline, I live in an isolated community in Northwestern Ontario called " Thunder Bay. " We are 9 hours away from the closest Canadian city which is Winnipeg Manitoba, and about 3 hours away from the closest American one which is Duluth Minnesota. There are NO vegetarian resturants here. It is blue-collar, bear and moose hunting, beer-drinking country here. There is a little arts community, but not very dominant. There are a few health food stores that i go to. Unfortunately, people often look at me like i have 3 heads when i tell them that i am a vegetarian and do not wear leather, stuff like that. My daughter told me that a boy in her class freaked when he heard that she is a vegetarian and exclaimed " OH MY GOD, YOU WILL DIE IF YOU DO NOT EAT MEAT!!! " She did not know if she responded to that well, so she asked me what to say. I did the best i could in guiding her. I feel bad for her as she has liked this boy all through school, and really cares what he thinks. She is so brave. She did tell him that it was not true that you would die if you did not eat meat, she said that vegetarians were actually healthier. I think she did well w/o my help on that one. Do you have any friends that are you like in Sydney? Do you find that your community is an open-minded one? ~Shelly jacqcote wrote:Hi Shelly, Where do you live Shelly? I am in Canada too. I live near Sydney, Nova Scotia. Vegetarians are pretty rare here too. Vegan meals in restaurants are pretty much unheard of. I used to live in Halifax and it was very easy to be veg there. Jacqueline > > " joychild72 " <joychild72 > 2005/10/20 Thu PM 04:15:19 EST > > In responce to the comments about PETA > > Hello, my name is Shelly and I am a new vegetarian, working towards > complete veganhood. What got me started on this path in my life was > PETA. One evening i was reading the MSN homepage and came across an > article by Martha Stewert talking about why she no longer wore fur. I > clicked on the accompanying video, which was a PETA video on the fur > business. I was so horrified that I explained " OH GOD!!! " so loudly > that my daughter came running into the room thinking that something > terrible had gone wrong. I did not let her look at what i was seeing. > Supper was ready at that time, it was baked chicken. I could not > handle looking at it, much less eat it. I watched my children eating > and i felt ashamed that I had led them into such ignorance. The > remainder of the evening was devoted to learning more about animal > cruelty. I said to myself: " how can one care about these animals and > still eat them? " That is when i seen a link to " goveg.com. " It was > pretty much a no brainer at that point. We are now a vegetarian > family. If it was not for PETA, I would not be typing up this message > right now. My partner thinks I am a freak and does not support this. > He will not even look at anything to do with animal cruelity or > vegetarianism, not even well-respected journal articles by reputable > researchers. He says all vegans are idoits. It is a good thing that I > buy the groceries. I did catch him sneaking the kids meat, my oldest > who is mentally handicapped took it, as she does not seem to make a > good connection between babe the pig (her understanding of what a pig > is) and bacon. The youngest who is two, ate a shrimp her father gave > her against my wishes, but otherwise she does not seem to miss it at > all. My middle daughter was vegetarian last year and fell off the > wagon. I did let her see the video on factory farming and on the > " meatrix " and she is a vegetarian about 90% now. She has a little bit > of milk here and there, but has some pretty strong convictions about > animals. I joined this group to meet other parents and to learn from > them. We live in a rather isolated Canadian community with few > vegetarians/vegans. Does anyone have any tips on how to best deal with > this situation or are there others dealing with some of the same > issues as we are? I am relearning how to cook and one recipe that i > recently learned was vegan chili and I have to say it is one of the > best things I have ever tasted. I guess that is it for now. ~Shelly > > For more information about vegetarianism, please visit the VRG website at http://www.vrg.org and for materials especially useful for families go to http://www.vrg.org/family.This is a discussion list and is not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. > > edical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 Thank you Carol and Shelly for your response. It's so nice to know that so many other people know where I'm coming from. Well, actually, it's not so nice I guess. I wish everyone understood compassion and would follow along and then there wouldn't even be this discussion but that probably wont happen. Anyway, I wanted to mention something I did the other day regarding my family members. We had not officially come out and said to any of them that we had decided to raise our daughter as veg. I suppose that was in part, because my husband had not yet agreed to it entirely. Well, now he has agreed to let her be vegetarian, but not vegan. He understands why I would like to become vegan but doesn't really support her being vegan. So we will have to work on that. Anyway, I sent an email to all of our parents. We each have two sets of parents. I just sent a very friendly letter letting them know that we have decided to raise her vegetarian for lots of reasons and to please trust that we have her best interest at heart always and that I'm always learning new ways to ensure her good health through her diet. I asked them to please respect our decision and that I was only letting them know both, because this is a very important decision that we have made and I didn't want there to be any uncertainty about what she eats. I also admitted that I sent it so that we could try and avoid any awkwardness during meals when we come to visit. So far, I have gotten at least one good response. Not sure when the others ever check theirs but I know they do. Still haven't heard from the one that might actually disagree with me. But if she does, I don't care. We are the parents, not them. So I just thought I'd share that to see if maybe that idea could work in some form or fashion for any of you. I'm not the confrontational type of person and tend to lose my ground when forced to confront so I thought I'd throw it out there this way first. Wish me luck. Again, thank you for your feedback and I do hope that your situations will mold into something more comfortable for your families with time as well. It took some time, quite a lot of it actually for my husband to come this far with it. We had some terrible arguments when I first joined PETA because I was just disgusted that he could still eat meat happily after witnessing the sad video footage. Oh, that made me almost hate him. I better go, before I decide to get mad at him again when he's not even here to defend himself. Talk later. Carrie - carol sobczak<cpsobczak < > Sunday, October 23, 2005 8:44 AM Re: In responce to the comments about PETA I can totally understand where both Carrie and Shelly are coming from. Shelly, your comment about feeling guilty about having led your children into such ignorance really hit home with me. Finaly, my 11 yo is vegan after watching Peaceable Kingdom. My 8 yo still eats cheese and I know that that is my fault. If she never had it she wouldn't miss it. My intention was to raise her vegan but got lost along the way. Thank goodness she has never liked meat of any kind. My little one is vegan. But, like Carrie, I have a husband who is not vegetarian and never will be. He can watch the animal killed right in front of him and still go home and have steak. So far, I have been able to keep him from giving the baby meat or animal products. He is insistent that he will at some point. At first, I told him the dr said she wasn't ready for whatever gross thing he wanted to feed her. Now he knows that she can really eat anything. My hope is that when her older sisters say ewwww to something she will want to follow them as younger siblings often do. Carol, mom to Melissa, 3/14/94 Julia, 2/18/97 Lily, 9/7/04 FareChase - Search multiple travel sites in one click. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 26, 2005 Report Share Posted October 26, 2005 This is good news. PETA has offended a lot of people in the past with their ads. In fact, when my mom learned that I had made the decision to remain vegetarian, her first response was, " You're doing this for your health, right? You're not one of those PETA people, are you? " As far as she was concerned, they had a bad reputation. I hope the ad you saw is representative of things to come. Maria -- TheNutritionNut <thenutritionnut Tue, 25 Oct 2005 08:12:09 -0700 (PDT) >A long time ago I stopped giving PETA money because I don't like they way they offend peopld in their advertising. Last week I was actually taken by surprise and delighted when I saw a new ad by them that was in good taste. It was in the Houston Woman magazine, the back page. It's a full page, full color ad about how healthy it is to be a vegetarian. It was a very lively and upbeat kind of ad that will make people want to learn more. It gave the vegcooking.com address for people to go to learn more about healthy vegetarian lifestyles and get cooking recipes. I hope they do more ads like that, I think that will inspire people to include more meatless meals (rather than putting them on defense and offending them, which will not help matters.). So I say Bravo to PETA on their latest ad! It was well done, lively, fun and informative. > > > >TheNutritionNut > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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