A moral dilemma.........with my daughter

[bexxie]

Right this may sound odd but I am in a quandry over something.

My daughter is 6 years old 7 next January and for the past two years has been adamant about eating meat wanting to be a vegetarian. For all this time I have been giving her meat and telling her it is "vegetarian",now this has come to light after today when she caught me roasting the chicken and obvioulsey it is in the birds shape,so she knew that this meat was in fact meat and not vegetarian. I managed to convince her it was and the fact she has just eaten it has made me feel guilt beyond belief.

Am I wicked? Does she nutritionally need the meat? Shall I make more consious effort and take her serious at this tender age......I want to know all of you that are Vegetarian at what age is considered to know your own age?

Weird one I know but any feedback will be much appreciated.

Bex.x

 

[Jo]

Aww hun
what a hard desicion, i think it would be good to ask her the reasons she dosn't want to eat meat, If she has freinds that are vegatrians then it may just be a fad and she might forget about it.
You can get loads of veggie stuff nowadays like quorn and stuff that woud give her the protein she needs and just think how much veg you will be getting her to eat, without even trying.

It's a hrad one 'cos i gotta admit sometimes when Emily says stuff like that i just sorta go 'yeah yeah ok' without really listening to her, so i know where the guilt is coming from

Good luck

 

[Hypnorm]

personally i'd be a bit wary of calling a chicken vegetarian or lying to her about what she is "really" eating as you could cause her to be very picky about what she will eat from you.
I talk to her about why she won't eat meat - at that age i hated meat never liked it at all, but i'm sure if she eats a balanced diet there are lots of veggie kids out there - maybe get her involved in the cooking of food generally.

I'd really stop lying to her though

 

[Hypnorm]

http://life.familyeducation.com/healthy ... 29525.html

http://parenting.ivillage.com/gs/gsnutr ... 77,00.html

http://www.vrg.org/family/kidsindex.htm

These links might be helpful to you.

I must admit that i was forced to eat meat, and wasn't give a choice even though i sai d i didn't like meat it was put on my plate and had to eat afew mouthfuls, otherwise i got no pudding!

 

[beanie]

I agree with hypnorm, these days vegetarianism is more the "norm". Diet wise she can be getting all she needs from a well balanced diet.

 

[Minime]

DD went through that stage, never was a big meat eater anyway. Have you tried some of the veggie stuff like nut cutlets? EWWWWW!! DD soon returned to her previous diet....

 

[bexxie]

Hi thanks for the replies

yes I know it was wrong to lie to her but didnt know what else to do until I realised that she may actually be serious about this..I have taken the advise on board
Thanks Bex.x

 

[Tara & Liam]

hi

i think that you need to sit her down and explain that if she is to become a vegetarian then this is the sort of diet that she will have to eat on a daily basis. It is common for vegetarians to get purniscious (sp) anaemia through lack of protein so you really need to look into the meals, maybe get some literature from your gp, hospital etc.

I used to love the linda mccartney range, but a word of warning, some of the veggie foods like linda mccartney pies are full of fat, more than a standard pie.

good luck

x