Tell us about you and your parents.
I went vegetarian when I was about ten years old, and I think my parents didn't quite know what do with me. I had refused to eat meat for a long time, and I think one day they just decided to give up trying to make me!
How do they support you or drive you crazy?
Well, when they finally gave up trying to make me eat meat, they wanted me to be a bit more responsible. I started making my own food more and packing my own school lunches, things like that.
They didn't really cook me special meals, so I usually just picked the meat out of whatever we ate. They weren't too worried about my health, and I don't think they even knew what tofu was!
Advice
- I think parents should be proud of their vegetarian kids. Many parents are worried that their kids won't be healthy, but if they just do a little research, they'll find out that a vegetarian diet is much healthier than one that includes lots of meat.
- Some parents are just worried about cooking separate meals, but you don't have to do that, just cook the meat separately and add it to the rest of the meal later. Don't make meat the center of the meal (ie. a steak) but rather a part of it (ie. chicken and veggie pasta) and then this will be super easy.
- Find ways to compromise, and make your kids to cook for you!
