For parents who are vegan or vegetarian, raising their children with the same dietary habits may seem like a no-brainer. After all, it’s easier to fix one meal for everyone in the house when dinnertime rolls around, so feeding your kids the same vegetarian diet that you eat may seem like an obvious solution. The following blogs will explain what some of the concerns are with raising children as vegetarians and what you should keep in mind if this is something that you want to do. Some of these blogs will sing the praises of a vegetarian lifestyle, some may point out some information that you didn’t know, and some will give you some helpful tips on how to raise your child as a vegetarian, complete with kid-friendly food suggestions.
Concerns about a Vegetarian Diet for Kids
If you are considering switching to a vegetarian diet for yourself and are wondering what some of the concerns are for raising your kids as vegetarians, these five blogs will help you pinpoint the things you should be concerned about as far as maintaining healthy kids.
- Can Vegetarian Diets Be Nutritionally Complete? This blog quotes different medical sources to give you a viable source of information that shows that, if done right, a vegetarian diet can be nutritionally complete.
- Is a Vegetarian Diet Safe for My Child? This blogger details how to go about making the right choices when it comes to feeding your child a vegetarian diet, with one of the keys being advance planning.
- Ask the Doctor: Does My Child Need to Take Vitamins? Set up as a question and answer format, this post uses answers from a medical doctor regarding if and when vitamins are needed for children eating a vegetarian diet.
- Vegetarian and Vegan Diets for Children: Are they Adequate? Sources like the ADA (American Dietetic Association) and the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) are used to show that adequate planning must go into meal planning for children so they get the nutrients that they need to grow.
- Is it Safe to Feed Children a Vegetarian Diet? Again, planning is emphasized in this article, along with what a child needs in order to grow properly. Getting enough calories is another concern that is tackled in this post.
Benefits of Raising a Vegetarian
The same benefits adults get from eating a vegetarian diet apply to children. However, there are added benefits that you may not have considered before. Meat contains a lot of hormones, and those hormones have been blamed for causing early puberty in meat eating children. Read these five blog posts for more benefits of raising your child as a vegetarian.
- Is Your Child’s Happy Meal Causing Early Puberty? Obesity and Happy Meals have both been linked to early puberty in girls, and hormones in meat have become a concern. By eating a vegetarian diet, children will not be exposed to the harmful hormones from meat, and they are far less likely to be overweight.
- Kids With More Healthy Diet are Smarter, Analysis Proves The benefits of raising your kids vegetarian are noted in this article, as well as how kids are smarter when they eat healthier than their counter parts who don’t eat well.
- If You’re a Vegetarian Should You Raise Your Kids Vegetarian as Well? Many benefits are listed in this blog post as to why you should raise your child as a vegetarian if you are one. The blogger does point out that it’s a personal decision and that there are things to think about before you decide.
- Will We or Won’t We: Raising Vegetarian Children This vegetarian blogger discusses her personal decision about raising her kids as vegetarians, using evidence from reliable sources to back up her decisions.
- Young Vegetarians! Share this With Your Kids… Part 1 of 2 A blogger mom of vegetarian kids gives facts about how her kids grew up vegetarian, such as that her son is 6’ 6”, athletic and has never eaten meat. She has a fun sense of humor, which makes reading the post that much more delightful.
How to Raise Your Child as a Vegetarian
Once you make the decision to raise your child as a vegetarian, there are a lot of things you need to consider. These five bloggers will give you some information that you can use on your quest to get all of the right information for feeding your kids.
- How to Raise Vegetarian Kids Things you need to know, as well as tips about foods, are detailed in this post.
- Raising Your Kids Vegetarian? How to Do it Safely Making sure that your kids are getting the right nutrients and how to do that safely are covered in this blog entry.
- Vegetarian Diets for Children This blog lists many different sources of protein for your child, and touches on different ideas for ways to prepare food your kids will love.
- Kid Food: Snacks This bloggers gives some ideas for vegetarian snacks for your kids, sharing funny stories along the way.
- How to Raise a Vegan Child This blog contains informative pictures of food and a garden to support her story about how she raises her vegan kids.
