My sister's baby

Vegan Family
1

So my sister recently had a baby. I’m not much for kids myself and have no intention of having one, but I am interested in getting this kid to consider a vegan lifestyle when she is older. I’d like to start by exposing her to vegan food and literature young. (Yes, I am trying indoctrinate her, as I hear so many conservatives accuse us of.)

My sister used to be a vegetarian when she was around me, but stopped the moment she met her eventual husband in person, because she was scared he would pick on her. I don’t think she was ever that dedicated, to be honest, she was living with my boyfriend and myself, and we are pretty devout vegans, so it was fairly easy for her to be vegetarian around us. I say this because I don’t think she’s going to personally put any effort into educating her child about animal rights.

Incidentally, my sister lives in Va and I live in Fl. So the distance is huge.

Right now, my mother and I are making a cookbook for the kid she can use when she is older. I am going to put in a vegan section, and my mom is putting in an omni section.

Is there anything else I can sneakily do to help? Also, what are your feelings about kids and soy? I have heard the estrogen content in soy is bad for developing children. Causing early puberty in girls, and late puberty in boys. I know that rice milk is fortified similarly to soy milk, (I wish almond milk was.)

2

Hey! This is a really interesting concept! I don’t think there’s a lot you can do - you don’t want to be too pushy and cause the kids to rebel (or, worse, cause a feud with your sister!) At the end of the day it is her baby :wink:

However, I think the cookbook is a great idea. By being a great, cool, supportive family the child may ask questions as it grows up. I grew up a carnivore, but vegetarianism was never strange to me because my Dad and Aunties were vegetarian :slight_smile: I remember my Auntie giving me a kid’s book about a racehorse who got fed up and decided to ride his Jockey in the Derby :laughing: and I always loved my family’s awesome vegetarian cooking much more than the smelly burgers and fishfingers I got at home! There’s a section on here about some kid’s programmes and films that have an animal rights message - maybe they would make good birthday presents?

I really don’t know about soy - I tried reading about this, and I give up! There are some books on raising vegetarian and vegan children on Amazon and at the Vegan Society. However, there’s also a few cases of parents getting their child’s diet wrong and being accused of abuse. I think it’s now fairly acceptable for a child to be ovo-lacto vegetarian. It’s a tough one!