Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Toddler's Lunch Time

So it has been one month since my toddler started preschool and have adjusted to the fact that I can't control what she eats while she is there.  I don't like it, but I have accepted it.  Each day when I pick her up, I get a small piece of paper that tells us what she ate for lunch as well has her nap time and potty times.  Although this is great information to know, I just don't like when I see the food that she ate.  And every day she is so happy to tell me what she ate..."Mommy, I ate rice and meat"!  She is so proud to tell me that she ate all her food.  What can I do?  I have to tell her that I am so proud of her, even if inside I just want to tell her not to eat that food!  I guess it's better for her to be eating well at something than not eating well at all. But I can't wait until I can take over lunch time.

I am hoping that this will not make it more difficult when she begins kindergarten.  I plan to make lunch for her when she begins regular school.  I am hoping she will not reject the things I send her.  I would love to send her maybe a peanut butter and bannana sanwiches on whole wheat (my favorite), some fresh veggies with maybe ranch dressing for dipping and maybe some homemade oatmeal and raisin cookies for dessert.  If this fails, then I guess I will keep trying. I might have to do some research and find some new creative vegetarian lunches that young children will enjoy. If anyone has any suggestions that have worked for them, please send them my way!

3 comments:

  1. I just had to reply to this because I would go CRAZY if I could not feed my children what I wanted them to eat for their health. A book that you should read (if you have not already read it) is Dr. Joel Furhman's Disease Proof Your Child. What you feed your children now can set them for life.

    I have 4 children and my oldest two were not vegan (1 vegetarian & 1 meat eating) and I so wish I know what I know now so I could have safeguarded them better.

    Of course you have to do what you have to do BUT daycare/preschools have to do what you say. There are laws and if a child has a peanut allergy they can't feed that child peanuts. There are tons of children (one of mine included) who have autism and although they are not "allergic" to certain foods their parents do not EVER allow them to have those foods. You have every right to send lunch & snack to where you daughter is and they should feed them to her. If they do not find another place.

    I hope I am not offending you in any way I just feel your pain. I send tons of stuff with my daughter to school like vegan pizza, pasta and burritos that they warm up for her. If your school won't warm stuff up cold pizza is YUM, pasta salad, pb&j like you said and other cold salads. I have many recipes on my blog and there are tons more out there. A good place to look is www.findingvegan.com. Vegfamily is another great place.

    I do have to say that I worry that my daughter's teachers or aids might sneak something in because they might think she is missing out and that worries me but at least I know I am sending what she needs. I then hope one day I can explain to her that we do not eat our friends and animals are our friends so she understand. Unfortunately some foods look so appealing and not like an animal that it might take time.

    Any blah blah, sorry I just hate that we all are expected to do what the masses do because they consider it to be "normal" and consider us not "normal". Good luck :-)

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  2. Thanks Kim for the comment and advise! I will check out those places you suggested and will definitely check out that book; it sounds like a great read. Sometimes it feels like we are fighting a loosing battle...trying to convince everyone how important it is to feed children the rights foods while they are young. But I know that one day it will all be worth it! :)

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  3. I have been doing vegan/vegatarian since oct of 2010 and recently have decided to be more conscious of the dairy products I consume... to have all vegan lifestyle - soft serve icecream and those silly little coffee creamers seem to be my weaknesses! Anyways it really all about being more aware and prepared! This being said I have a two and half year old toddler who I have been debating on what to do with her diet. My husband is vegan like 75% of the time (basically when he eats out he is not vegan, getting better though!). So we have me full fledged, my husband who is on the fence, and so I often wonder what to do with her... She goes to an in home care place where she is served breakfast, lunch, and snack. I have been debating on how to go about less animal products for her there.. I know at this age as you have stated they are super picky.. I definetly feel that we need to have a more open minded and flexible society to make things a bit easier. You have both motivated me to start making small changes for her at her care provider and to talk with her about this tranistion.

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