Ask the Editor

My daughter is 2.5 years old and is starting to notice that we eat differently than other members of our extended family. When should I start explaining veganism to her? - Caitlin

Caitlin,

As soon as your child begins to notice that other people are eating things that your family doesn't eat you'll want to begin explaining veganism to her. I began talking about it with my daughter when she was 3 years old. First I just started using the word with her, "Emily, we're a vegan family. Can you say 'vegan'?" I got her used to hearing the word first.

Next I started gently pointing out what we ate using the word as well, "Look, Emily, we're eating vegan cheese. And for dessert we're going to have vegan ice cream." So she started to combine thoughts of "vegan" with certain foods.

When we attended family events where non-vegan food was present, I started pointing out which foods were vegan and which weren't. "Emily, these cookies here are vegan, but those aren't. So don't eat the other cookies, just eat these." Or "Yes, they're having cake, but we're going to have our vegan cake that mommy made." So she started to learn that there were certain foods that were vegan and other foods that were off-limits.

As she got older she started asking me if a food was vegan before eating it. When she turned four, I began talking about the animals. I told her that we are a vegan family because we don't think it's very nice to eat animals. I've told her that if she eats foods with animals in them that she might get a tummy ache. I've also told her that it hurts the animals when we eat them.

She is now an advocate of veganism and tells her school friends not to eat animals, much to their annoyance, which is an entirely different issue that we're working on now.

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