Right From The Start-Feeding Your Vegan Kids

     Teaching your vegan kids to eat right is easiest when you start early. Here are some tips for parents of picky eaters:

* Set a great example. Kids are young sponges. If they see you eating healthy, they will be more inclined to think of it as the way to go.

* Discuss the whys of eating vegan. Explain the healthy problems such as cancer or heart disease that come with consuming meat, fish, dairy, and eggs. Take them to visit people in the hospital or nursing home who are dying from these diseases. This might seem harsh but your children's health is precious. Depending on their age, show them some videos such as Meet Your Meat designed to teach the truth about the abuse in the meat, dairy, and egg industries. They may gag but they will definitely be moved by the misery of the animals involved.

* Respect your kids. Don't try to force them to eat a food they don't like. Try to find out what it is about the food that they don't enjoy. You might be able to serve it in a different form that they will enjoy more.

* Offer healthy snacks. Go slow on the juice and limit it to one glass per day. Eating the fruit itself provides far more nutrition and fiber.

* Allow your children to serve themselves from a variety of choices. Kids don't like what you cooked? Fine. Don't prepare anything else. When your child gets hungry, she will be glad to eat some of what you prepared.

* Keep mealtime positive. Avoid fighting over food. Never demand that a child finish everything on his plate. Let his appetite determine when he is full. Keep meals and snack time casual and relaxed.

* Don't worry if your children don't seem to eat enough. Your kids won't starve. When they are truly hungry, they will eat. Starting fights with your kids over what they eat and making demands often lead to eating disorders.

* Collect a few family-friendly vegan cookbooks and find even more on vegan websites. Invite your kids to help you prepare meals and snacks.

* Start a backyard veggie and fruit garden or create one on your patio or balcony or even a small one in your kitchen window. Many kids will try a formerly hated veggie if she helped grow and harvest it.

* Turn your kids into chefs. Pore over easy recipes with them in your vegan cookbooks (or check some out of the library if you don't have any) and let them choose a few that they would like to try. Let them prepare the meal for the family with you as their assistant. Write out a menu to post the day of the meal and let them decorate it with markers.

* Prepare meals that include some of your children's favorite foods each day. Using foods they already love will guarantee there is something on hand that they will want to eat.