Once a vegetarian always a vegetarian?

[lxb34]

My daugher, age 11, has been a vegetarian for about 2 months. She is raised in a family of omni's. I have also made the switch with some slip ups along the way. I have found it to be more difficult than she has. My question out of curiousity is, do you find that children who make the decision to become vegetarian continue to be a vegetarian for life? I am proud of her and her decision and hope she does continue on this path.

[Kiz]

It's an individual thing. Some kids seem to just go through a "phase" but others stick with it for life. I went vegetarian at 15 and now I'm almost 37 and still vegetarian. Personally I'd suggest you treat it like a life-long lifestyle choice. If it does turn out that she goes veggie for the rest of your life you have supported her moral choice. If it turns out to be a phase there will be no harm done. On the other hand, the amount of frustration that a child or teen goes through that has made a life-long lifestyle choice, but has everyone around them treating it as "just a phase", is pretty bad. There is nothing worse than as a youngster, when you are feeling unempowered anyway, to have someone dismiss your profound moral choices as "merely a phase".

[Michael]

Yep, depends. Seems to be the "in" thing with kids these days. So for many I'm sure it's just a phase but you'll find people on here who have been vegetarian since birth or a very young age.

[meganmog]

It's an individual thing. Some kids seem to just go through a "phase" but others stick with it for life. I went vegetarian at 15 and now I'm almost 37 and still vegetarian. Personally I'd suggest you treat it like a life-long lifestyle choice. If it does turn out that she goes veggie for the rest of your life you have supported her moral choice. If it turns out to be a phase there will be no harm done. On the other hand, the amount of frustration that a child or teen goes through that has made a life-long lifestyle choice, but has everyone around them treating it as "just a phase", is pretty bad. There is nothing worse than as a youngster, when you are feeling unempowered anyway, to have someone dismiss your profound moral choices as "merely a phase".


this seems like really sound advice.

I went veggie age 10 and have been ever since - a couple of my friends also went veggie at the same time but didn't last longer than a couple of weeks.

Sounds like you are being supportive anyway, treating her decision seriously and joining her in going veggie!

[Porffor]

As the others it depends, I was 'almost' veggie in that i occasionally ate fish but never ate meat. this was back in the 70's long before the internet ;)
I was veggie from a very young age as couldn't bear to eat/chew meat. and it lasted till i was about 17. I gave in in the end when I went to work. My mum was never supportive - lone parent family - so i felt like i was battling against her to be honest. I 'gave in' for a quiet life mostly. I never gave it much thought later on till this year and food etc I again ended up feeling ill everytime i ate meat and then one day i'd just had enough and that was it!

I hope this is forever, i certainly feel a lot more commited to the ethics of it than i've ever been.

Good luck in your own eating and well done for being a proud mum and supportive! I have 2 girls and hope that they'll choose to follow me at some point, I'm not one for forcing them but my eldes is 9 and has joined me in my meals a lot and won't decide on dinner till she's figured out what i'm eating.. tonight she chose quorn chicken fajitas over normal chicken that her dads eating! lol

[Janee]

I guess it's different for everyone - I'm 14 and have been vegetarian for seven months now :)

I think, whether you think it is a phase or not, treat it as if it's not. Treat it like she is going to be one forever. When people have tried to tell me I'm going through a phase it upset me and made me a bit annoyed that they would think that - although it did make me even more determined :)

[Tofu-N-Sprouts]

My kids were raised vegetarian from birth (I realize this is different than a child "going veg" of their own choice) as they grew up though, I (obviously) had to let them choose their own food.

My oldest (almost 18) is 99% veg - she'll eat chicken maybe two or thee times a year 'cause she still really likes it, but since I don't make it, she has to buy her own or eat it at a friends house...

My 15 year old is practically vegan (she'll eat ice cream or pizza when out with friends but otherwise stays vegan when on her own or at home).

My 8 - year- old is vegetarian.

I've always treated it as something life-long. Kids can be very determined... or change their minds at the drop of a hat, just hang in there and see how it goes...

[myrtlemaneet]

I've been vegetarian since I was 12, so the last time I had meat was November 23rd, 2006 (thanksgiving, i wanted to eat turkey one last time). I'm 14 now, and I plan to stay vegetarian the rest of my life. It's not a phase for me, and yes, I've been told "oh you'll grow out of it, it's just a phase" many times before from my meat loving family, and each time it just makes me more determined to never slip up. My parents were always supportive, even though I knew my dad was just a tad disappointed. I used to be his little meat lover, lol.

[Puppet Master]

I chose to be a vegetarian when I was six years old, and I still am. (I'm now 16)

I can not ever imagine me not being a vegetarian anymore, at any point in my life. I made it a life choice, and I know I'm doing something not only great for me, but for 'animals' and the entire planet.

If she feels real strong about it, she may as well be one for life. It's different with everyone, of course, but I know many people do stick with it.

[WoeisSalad]

it really depends on the person, i think that if she found it that easy to do so it very well could be a life long decision,

ive known many people who switched back to eating meat, but ive found that ones who truly wanted to, and were doing it for themselves, not as a fad really stuck with it. i went vegetarian and found it to be the easiest thing to do, and went vegan no too long after, the second i decided it was what i wanted to do.

its easy, if its what you want. and also, if its based on reasons other than health reasons.

[stupidhumanzz]

I was once, unfortunately,one of those kids who became vegetarian at age 12 as "just a phase".

But I then had a second wind six years later. I became a born-again vegetarian.

I've been vegetarian for a little less than a year now and I hope my vegetarianism is a life-long choice this time. But I've already quit once before, and quitting is addictive. My boyfriend says half-jokingly that I have committment problems, but there is some truth to this since I didn't start calling him my boyfriend or even say we were really dating till months after the fact :D . My future as a vegetarian is still very much uncertain, but forums such as these have given me hope. The Hope that maybe living together with my omni boyfriend and still being vegetarian wouldn't be so bad; that a vegetarian pregnancy wouldn't be the end of the world, that I could raise vegetarian kids one day; that I can be an old women in Florida decades from now still eating tofu, except that it wouldn't be extra firm tofu anymore it would have to be the silken variety.

Thanks VB.

At the end of the day it all depends on the strength of one's convictions. My "phase" of vegetarianism was doomed because I didn't give it my full heart, it was after all just a fad. But now, I know things will be very different.

[hondaveg]

I became vegetarian at9,vegan at 13. It's a life choice for me. I'm so used to it now, I can't imagine my life differently.

[headxbanger]

i've been a picky eater my whole life, so i found it refreshing to just start cutting things out of my diet all together:
it started with fast food at 11, then meat at 12, then milk/ eggs at 13, and now cheese/other misc animals products at 17..

i went vegetarian about 5 years ago, and i've been vegan for a month, i can't ever imagine reverting back to being omnivorus especially with my high standards- call me a food snob. :D

it's so great your transitioning with her, it's definitely a big step to take if meat was a big part of your diet

[Pinkmama]

I went veggie at 16 and have been ever since...I do have the odd struggle with veganism, but have always been veggie.

Clarexxx