Monday, February 11, 2008

My Sweet Veggie Girls

No new food to blog about yet this morning.....we were running late getting Mairin to school, and it was Weetabix and banana's for breakfast. And of course, a nice big cup of joe with Silk creamer (for mommy).

I just wanted to share a few "proud of my veggie girls" moments. The first moment came last week when a friend was watching the girls for me, and as a treat was going to get the kids Happy Meals for dinner. Mairin proudly proclaimed that she didn't want a Happy Meal because she was vegetarian!!

The second moment came today when I dropped Mairin off for school. Every morning they have a question that they must answer by printing their name in the appropriate column, and this is how they take attendence, as well as practice spelling their names. So, we get to school this morning and I look at the question and kind of chuckle to myself wondering how Mairin will answer. Then I read her the question: "Which do you like best........bacon or sausage". She looked at me, then she looked at the teacher, then she said "where do I put my name, I'm a vegetarian and I don't eat bacon or sausage". The teacher replied "well, good for you, we'll make a special spot just for you".

We of course haven't had any proud veggie moments with Stella just yet, as she's not really big enough to voice her opinion, and we more or less make her food choices for her. However, I'm sure we'll have MANY proud veggie moments with her, as she's had the advantage of being veg for almost all of her life.

It's so heartwarming to see your children reflecting your values, and to see them clearly making the difficult decision to be different (as I'm sure it was hard for her to turn down a Happy Meal when other kids were eating them, just as it was no doubt hard to have to be the only kiddo who needed a "special" spot on the attendence chart). I made the decision that I wasn't going to force my family to be veg (although, since I do the cooking they don't get much choice at home), and I can't tell you how proud I am to see that all of them have followed my lead and remained veg outside the home as well.......even Rob's given up chicken at restaurants.

2 comments:

Susan Chipley said...

Oh, yes. The Happy Meal. My dd saw a commercial for them recently and had to try one. So, we took the kids to McD's for the first time. We went for breakfast, and they got Happy Meals with a plain biscuit and apple slices. I told them we'll get one twice a year, max! LOL

My poor dd has a really strong gag reflex, and sometimes she'll actually gag when she sees someone eating meat. We've really had to work with her to not say things to people she sees eating meat. I don't want her to come off as judge-mental, and she definitely has before. We eat fish anyway, so it's not like we're even vegetarian. She just can't handle the thought of people eating cows and chickens.

J said...

Wow, that is such a proud moment for you! Kudos to your daughter for staying true to herself at such a young age. You are being such a great example for them, and I love how you are letting them make their own choices.