i'd LOVE to hear form someone who grew up veggie from birth...we're raising our son veggie (he's 3 now)...i wonder how children feel about this--did you feel like a "weirdo" because all your friends ate meat? did you get teased? how didi iyour parents handle it? i believe, i'm over-thinking it, esp because he's so young now, but i'm curious...we've always said we'd eat veggie at home, but he can make his own choices outside of home--how didi your family handle it?

i'd LOVE to hear form someone who grew up veggie from birth...we're raising our son veggie (he's 3 now)...i wonder how children feel about this--did you feel like a "weirdo" because all your friends ate meat? did you get teased? how didi iyour parents handle it? i believe, i'm over-thinking it, esp because he's so young now, but i'm curious...we've always said we'd eat veggie at home, but he can make his own choices outside of home--how didi your family handle it?

hi! i was (supposed to be) lacto veggie from birth until 19. unfortunately, even into my teens, i'd eat stuff with egg product in them (like a cookie or doughnut) while turning a blind eye (i feel really guilty about that now). other than that i was pretty strict. some stuff i remember...

when i was 6, i saw an ad for chicken mcnuggets. they looked tasty, i asked mom if i could have them. she said, no, we don't eat that sort of food, we don't eat animals. i accepted it, end of story. besides she made some tasty food i was quite happy with anyway.

at parties when i was a kid, i don't remember an issue with meat at all, cause usually the food would be pizza, and there'd be a cheese for me always cause i think the parents knew. i don't know if my parents told theirs, i imagine they did. at my birthday parties, there'd be cheese and veggie pizza, and i don't remember any kids asking for anything else.

i always brought my lunch to school, but i didn't get teased until 6th grade, when people would try to sneak various meat items in my food (and drink!) because they thought it would be funny. i dealt with it every day, even from some close friends sometimes, until the end of high school. it's not nearly as bad as it sounds - i was never made to be a 'weirdo' (at least not for those reasons :) ). i just don't think many really considered why i was veggie - they just really thought it would be funny to put meat in my food and watch me remove it, not realizing what meat meant to me.

i should also say, i was the only veggie in my whole grade, sometimes the whole school. i went to school in a smaller more rural type of area. if you are in a suburban or urban area, it wouldn't be a problem at all because i imagine there are plenty of veggies around.

the bottom line is, of course he'll make his own decisions eventually... but based on the way he's raised :) i am proud of the way my parents raised me veggie, because they always emphasized non-violence, where meat comes from, and why we shouldn't eat it ... and instilled this stuff very early on (from when i was 4 at least). it did help that my religion requires vegetarianism, but i don't think that's necessary at all. i think being concerned at even this early age is very important, as i'm sure you're instilling other good values in him already... this one should fit right in.

hope this helps. best of luck!

I grew up lacto-ovo and am to this day (43 y.o. now) and raising my daughter the same way.

Of course you have to take into account that vegetarianism was pretty exceptional back in the days I grew up (the seventies mainly), especially in Belgium. But I was lucky to go to a very progressive school and no one ever questioned my lunch box. I didn't feel ostracized at all.

I never had the urge to try other foods either, my parents always explained why we were vegetarians (at the time it was mainly for health reasons, animal rights were not so much a point of discussion back then) and we also travelled a lot and lived in California for a while, so we knew other parts of the world looked upon vegetarianism in a different way. My parents also taught us (me & my sister) to "make do" and improvize when caught in difficult situations (at banquets or such), or to call and inform restaurants beforehand when going to a function, or to arrange something discreetly with the head waiter.

I think the western world is more open now to vegetarianism and different dietary requirements (more diabetes, more muslim, etc) so I suspect it is less difficult to raise a child like this now than it was back then, except maybe in rural Texas or such...

I am not too uptight about my own kid (now 5 years old) trying/tasting other foods. I think for instance that she ate some sausage (pork ?) one day at a friend's house by mistake but I never made a drama of it, just told her she could easily refuse food she suspected of being meat by telling people she doesn't wish to eat animals. SDince she's a picky kid, this actually gives her an excuse to refuse something and I think she'll enjoy doing it (a bit twisted, that... LOL !).

My sister is raising her sons veggie too and we laughed pretty hard recently when the 13-year old told a kid in his class who had trouble keeping up with running in gym class and who happens to be the son of a butcher, he needs to "eat more vegetables in order to run faster !".

I think you don't want to think ahead too far a

a girl in my class chose to be vegetarian when she was 6, and she was certainly never seen as weird or teased. it was seen as cool/trendy to be vegetarian. she persuaded lots of others in our class to go vegetarian too, but nobody else stuck with it. including me - but that was because i didn't know what meat was and i didn't understand really what vegetarian was. i stopped eating fish and seafood when i was 2 because i knew they were dead fish/creatures, but i never made the connection between lamb and lamb, chicken and chickens.

i became vegetarian when i was 10 and i was never teased either. it was definately cool.

when my cousin was 16 she stopped eating red meat and started calling herself vegetarian - she didn't mind killing animals, she just thought it was cool.

thanks for the replies...very reassuring! i know i'm just thinking too much, but i do that sometimes!

I was raised lacto veg from birth was always proud to be a vegetarian! My parents never pushed it so I never rebelled against it. I have never once wanted to try meat. Not once.
I am a vegan now and am raising my 5 yr old as a vegan. It has never been easier to be vegan! The city I live in is made up of a lot of veg*ns. There is a vegan restaruant right down the road from me.
I think the important thing for a parent to do it make your child feel normal. My dd is surrounded by a lot of veg*ns which makes her feel that she fits in somewhere outside of the home.

There was a kid in my elementary school classes who was a vegetarian from birth, I don't remember anyone ever picking on him, though the school did require him to pack his own lunch. People always tried to make sure there was stuff at parties, etc. for him. When I went veg at 11 no one picked on me then either. In highschool my friends started the "is that a soy apple, are those tofu carrots?" thing but I thought that was funny, and I can only think of maybe one time someone tried to sneak meat into my food.

For my birthday senior year like 5 people in my french class decided to be vegan for a day, which was pretty cool.

Hmpf. My reply was kinda cut short in the middle of a sentence but I came almost to the end of what I wanted to say anyway.

The final point was, you don't want to think ahead too much, just take it one day at a time. Try to keep it simple at first, and then expand as they start asking questions.

My main line with my daughter now is that "we don't eat animals". I tell her many people do but we choose not to, and she agrees that we like animals and don't want to eat them. I am teaching her that it's OK to refuse food that has animals in it and to ask for an alternative (she goes on a lot of playdates). I also try to forewarn the parents of course, but apparently it doesn't bother her to take a stand by herself and I think that's cool for a 5 year-old. This would depend on your kid's personality I think, if they are relaxed with that kind of situation or not.

We live in a big city with a lot of ethnicities living together, a lot of Arabs who don't eat pork as well, so even sports camps & such are not too difficult for her as people out here are aware that dietary preferences may vary. It may be more difficult in smaller and/or rural communities.

I was raised lacto-ovo as well and my experience is very much like MissBelgium's. I didn't feel "different" or have anyone question my lunches... the other kids were always jealous because I had such YUMMY lunches with no pre-made crap or twinkies or Wonderbread... everyone tried to trade stuff with me...

Not much to add except my kids are about 90% vegetarian by their choice now - they were raised with both omni and veg. influences and made their own choices...
They DO eat meat occasionally with their Dad and his parents :grr: mainly I think out of curiosity, politeness, or because they don't read a label (which I can't expect a 6 year old to do, though my teens think to do on occasion) but that's really an issue for a whole different thread.

Anyway, at school and with friends they are DEFINITELY vegetarian and quite the little outspoken advocates and NEVER get teased or harrassed - could be their personalities too, I don't know.

I'd say that now days especially, it can be done with a minimum of trauma and very little teasing (or even notice) from peers at the lunch table.

Congrats on adding aother veggie-child to the world!