My five year old daughter has been vegeterian for a month and won't let me put meat in the lasagna.

I can't take this much longer.

Tell her to make her own food if it's that important to her.

Supervise her, of course. But If you're not going to do it too, it's an unrealistic and narcissistic expectation of a child that the entire family unit will bend to her demands.

an early life lesson that there are consequences to decisions might help her out at this stage of her life.

Under close supervision, of course.

Five year olds do NOT dictate to their parents. How long before it's "you can't tell me when to come home, I'll stay out as late as I want to" (dress how I want, see who I want) Convictions are fine, compromise is good but you get to make the rules.

you don't "need" the meat. If you really really want it, cook it up and add it to YOUR plate.

Do you know why she won't eat meat? Is it taste? Moral? What?


I fully supported my son in his decision to become vegetarian. Now the three of us (me and his little brother) are all vegetarian, though his dad is not. (He is when he eats here; which isn't very often any more, but anyway. . . )

I don't particularly enjoy being a vegetarian, I understand and support it philosophically, but I ate meat most of my life and I really do "miss it". Meat can be an addiction, you know. Sometimes it's hard, but it's very very important to my son - who doesn't believe in eating animals - so I don't.

My son is way more important to me, than eating a cheesburger.

:shrug: but everyone has to make their own decisions about it, I suppose.

It's just that if she feels that strongly about it, how can you not support her?

JMO, of course.

I haven't told her the truth about marshmallows yet.

I'm afraid there's not much you can do except learn how to cook vegetarian. . . otherwise - there'll be plenty of battles.

And about the "not telling thing" - I learned my lesson on that one, too. If you know, you should pass it on. Otherwise, how can she ever trust you?

They're also a cough suppressant, believe it or not.

As they say, there's always room for artificially fruit-flavoured bone residue.

Have i been misinformed? Is it still made from real old-fashioned HOOVES
like when I was a kid?

My Sweetie has been vegetarian since she was 14;
that "Jello is Seaweed" notion is the only reason that
she did those Jello-shots with her grandma the other year!

I'm gonna hafta "hide" this thread while I await an opportunity
to correct her Jello misconceptions GENTLY.

that use agar agar and fruit pectin I believe.

if you feel you need it.

:shrug:

I don't know why.

I buy stuff from both brands.

I've cooked them with some italian spices to give it a sweet italian sausage flavor and it works wonderfully. My vegetarian friends and ex-in-laws loved it.

And pout.

She sounds like a good soul. You should be proud.

:hug:

They told me that the animals go to the vet where they very carefully have the meat taken out. Then they're sent back to the farm to grow more meat.

I thought I was gullible. What else did they tell you?

Your daughter would probably figure it out pretty quickly.

BTW, they also never mentioned anything about the Vietnam war, even though we lived in Madison, WI. They told me all those protesters were just crazy people who needed to be locked up.

(I'm in Appleton BTW)

My dad literally did not turn on the news for the duration of that war. I was in high school before I realized that part of the war took place while I was alive.

:spray:

In most things tolerance is a virtue. However I cannot tolerate terrible food. Almost all vegetarian food is terrible. Plus, a five year old needs the proteins that are in meat. (It is possible to be healthy, yada x3 - but it is unnecessarily hard. PLus who wants a horribly gassy kid?)

In spite of myself I would recommend the vegetable garden lasagna is "The New Basics". I make it a few times a year. It is tasty.

One who is well versed in vegetarianism issues.

Good luck!

I'm a vegetarian but spouse is not. He likes everything I cook and hardly eats much meat at all anymore. There are many sources of protein that aren't meat and a vegetarian diet would be a heck of a lot healthier than the crap most kids consume. Why would you think meat laden with hormones and antibiotics would actually be good for a child?

What have you tried and who prepared it for you?

which would make it really hard to do.

with eating dairy and egg products, which I am.

I hardly eat any tofu, but I do enjoy the "fake" soy meat products.

You have a very outdated view of vegetarianism. It isn't terrible, hard or gassy. I have three happy beautiful smelly free veggie kids to prove it too. LoL.

You'd never know the difference.

I'll bet she's also very bright, tuned in, etc.

I should have lied.

But she's been sticking to it, not stubbornly but very naturally.

...I say nip this in the bud now. Life has been too centered around children and teenagers who have capricious and time-consuming food habits. This teen, my niece's daughter, would eat only white things until two years ago when I started making family meals. Cucumber sandwiches on white bread, plain noodles, plain pizza crust, etc. She was poorly nourished, with blood sugar swings and chronic respiratory troubles. All because parents did nothing to stop the tyranny at the table. Now she eats brown and green, instead of white. Things are much better.

I can sure understand the desire to allow her a tender heart for animals. Maybe she could be told that some animals are meant to be our companions and others are meant to be our food. Just as some plants are meant to be our decoration and other plants are meant to be eaten.

Whatever you do, don't allow this to proceed in a way that starts the tyranny of pickiness.

that you're not going to take the time to make all the food different just for her, and she can be a vegetarian when she's old enough to cook her own food.

She might have converted me. :)

I may try it again. You're right, a role model comes in all shapes, sizes and ages.

:hi:

Good thing she can't read yet. She'd really get on my case.

She says she's a vegetarian and I'm actually proud of her. I haven't eaten red meat in decades, and I still struggle with poultry and fish. I'd probably go back to a no-meat diet if I lived by myself.

I'm disappointed that my husband has gotten my son into eating pork. That's like eating a border collie, in my book. :(

The girl is picky. But, hey, I'm hoping she'll grow to appreciate more and more non-meat nourishing foods.

or bacon and eggs cooked in Galt's Gulch, or cigarettes, or passionate sexual intercourse of questionable consent when she's older.

I brought animal crackers to keep her quiet in church today. When she started squirming around I told her to eat her animal crackers. She gave me a dirty look but didn't ask me what they were made from before she ate them.

"Pay a little fucking attention to what's going on here! You're about to see Christ's blood and body, you inattentive n00b!"
;-)

as well eat the food that you cooked for her would work? Or would she rather the dead animal's flesh be wasted?

I posted, *then* read the thread through. My own kid is pretty much down to pizza and rice soup, so I know from picky kids. (Oh, and chocolate chip cookies, of course...)


on edit: omitted a letter

cos from you other responses it appears that you are proud. in which case you should accommodate her.

if you aren't, then you are the parent and you should decide what she eats especially since she is 5.

Not such a dichotomy.



This is what I'm up against. I can't make her eat meat when she's making these sunflowers.

My ma was at her wits end, I'm sure.

Seriously, though, cheese works in lasagna. :thumbsup:

The lasagna wasn't bad, just needed more sauce.

use parboiled chunks of root veg (potatos, parsnips, swede/turnip, carrot) instead of meat - it's yummie.

parsnips for beef, i just can't my head around that yet.

the veg goes fluffy and soft when you bake the lasagna.

I have learned quite a few recipes over the years from veggie friends and the lasagna is hard to beat.

any combination of zucchini, onions, spinach, even maybe broccoli and cauliflower can go in there, just use lots of garlic and onion, I would add green pepper and celery and then whatever else you want. Just Zucchini with the onion / garlic / celery / green pepper can be surprisingly good.

The thing about meat is, at five years old she will be clueless about proper vegetarian food for a growing girl, and unless you want to lear alot about that it may not be that healthy a choice for to have right now.

It's great you want to go along with it, but she'll need some specific supplements of some kind.


__________________________
ps: and mushrooms! Eggplant is supposed to go good in veggie lasagne too but I don't know how to cook it.

And I hate vegetables. My parents were very proud of me for a) choking down the vegetable lasagna, and b) keeping it down.

They could see me struggling at the table.

Ugh. b) was very close

The other with meat.

:shrug:

otherwise the meat juices are bound to end up in the veggie side.

Letting a 5 yr old dictate what is being to served to everyone else is REALLY a bad precedent to set.

and serve her lima beans and brussels sprouts. Who's in charge here?

meat/animal connection. This was in 1964. But I tell you this....my parents respected my decision and were supportive from the first minute. And my mother intuitively kept the utensils used to prepare meat out of the pots containing other foods, so that I could eat everything except the meat. Granted, your daughter is quite young....but that makes such a voluntary choice by her all the more exceptional. If I were her parent, I would be proud of her apparently inherent empathy towards living things.

...good for her! :thumbsup:

Grant her wish to not eat animals, but yes make sure to talk a nutritionist about what sort of veg diet would be suitable for a 5 yr old.

I've been a vegetarian since 1974. Both my sons were raised vegetarian. My oldest boy 32 now eats meat. I think because when he was a child his grandmother tricked him into eating meat. But my youngest son, who's 19 has never tasted it and doesn't want to.
Lasagna tastes great with Morning star crumbles. I'm a little confused how parents can teach their children to be kind to animals and then serve them up for dinner. It makes no sense to me at all. The best pet I have ever had happens to be a cow. She's 16 yrs old now and is the kindest, sweetest person you'd ever meet. I can't walk very well anymore and I was having trouble coming down a steep hill. I shouldn't have gone up there in the first place. I got to a point where I couldn't walk so I called her and she came to me like always and let me hang over her neck as she took little tiny steps back down. How could anybody kill and eat such a gentle creature?

It's nice that you have a friend to help you along.
:loveya:

My youngest son is the empath. He makes the rounds daily checking all the pets and animals that are his friends. We have several pet cows too. Bottle babies and such. All of us intuitively treat the animals we care for with the gentlest techniques possible. One certainly can raise children to be kind and still eat meat. I resent the implication.

Your cow is indeed sweet and remarkable, that is a nice story. Our last bottle baby, Rosebud, likes to go for walks and acts much like the dogs. Her calves will not be pets however and will be raised as herd cows or sold for income, the steers eventually being slaughtered for food. We can differentiate between pets and food animals. That the key. They aren't all pets.

:evilgrin:






























:sarcasm:

I would LOVE to have one of mine say that to me!

:bounce:

Explain to her that her choices are her choices, and if she feels morally obliged to abstain from eating meat then you will support her within reason.

However - this does not mean that she can dictate to others what moral positions they should take, certainly not when she's the child.

From when I've made lasagna it's pretty easy to make two (a family one, and a smaller meat-free one for her) - explain what you're doing, tell her that the others wish to eat meat and that this is their choice just as much as her declining to do so.

More generally, the typical western diet could do with less meat...so for other meals consider eating meat-free food as a family sometimes. Engage her with what you're doing, encourage her to think not only about her position but about others.

Cook up the meat, set it aside, make the sauce, split the sauce, and add the meat back in to one pot. :shrug: Then let her help with assembling her pan.

There's a difference between pickiness and eating with a conscience.

If it was pickiness, I'd tell her to "eat cake," but I think you should be supportive of this.

I ha d a neighbor in California who threw stones at a hawk who was eating another bird. And yelling at it "naughty hawk! leave that birdie alone!" She succeeded in driving it away from the mortally injured bird (prolonging its death) and the hawk immediately killed another. Nature isn't a bunch of cute or wise-cracking animals in a Pixar cartoon -- it is a cycle of birth and death.

You might make lasagna pasta -- use pasta shells or some other shape, then all the cheeses, sauces, etc that go into layered lasagna but in a cassarole style. Cook and add ground beef to some but not to hers.

For one thing, it is not that hard to come up with alternatives with a little imagination and some good vegetarian cookbooks. Get acquainted with legumes. They are both cheap and nutritious. And whether you agree or not, it is a principled position on the part of your daughter and you should respect it. What you should be teaching her is to not to be judgemental of those who come to a different conclusion vis a vis eating meat. And one way to do that is to respect her conscience on this while ecncouraging her to respect others.

and to indulge yourself when she is absent. You might be surprised how fast this will blow over if you don't make a big deal out of it.

It's perfectly natural for a kid her age, especially a girl, to identify with animals. Most little girls have that stage where they want to grow up and be a veterinarian, but they get past it.

Just make sure you teach her very well about kitchen safety.

But you absolutely should not allow her preferences to control what everyone else in the house gets to eat. 5 is awfully young to be pulling that. Are you a single parent, by any chance? Divorced?

figures it out.

honestly, ground beef is easy to fake, especially in a sauce. If you want it to be more realistic, cook it in some olive oil first to make it "greasier." And you can use TVP (textured soy protein) instead of buying crumbles - it's cheaper and essentially the same thing without any of the spices added, and pretty easy to learn how to use.

and to the folks saying she should cook for herself - it's not a bad idea. I am so glad my mom taught me how to cook at an early age - starting with helping out around the kitchen and making simple things, and eventually I would make dinner at least once or twice a week because I wanted to, and it helped her out.

And for the folks concerned about protein, the human protein requirements are easily met elsewhere with a varied diet. The B series is a little harder, but not impossible to do.