Foster Family eating preferances: What would you do?

mattkati

My husband and I are vegetarians, and currently foster a young child that is also vegetarian, due to his biological families preferences. We just got a referal for a second toddler, who has been exposed to meat but doesn't seem to have a strong attachment to it.

We've discussed it with our pediatrian and feel that encouraging her to load up on fruits, veggies, and other non-animal proteins could be nutritionally benefcial to her. Our social worker seems indifferent to the topic, but said we are opening ourselves up for potential trouble stating we are "forcing our beliefs on the child".

My compromise would be to continue to honor the childs current food preferances to limit the amount of changes and transitions they make from home to home, and increase the amount of food they are exposed to, at home and at daycare/preschool.

Other parents weigh in please!

sarahtoledo

My sister has been a vegetarian since she was 13, but she does feed her kids some meat.  She was really only comfortable with white meat and fish at first, and fed simpler food or healthy convenience foods (so she didn't have to work with raw meat).  So if a child liked hot dogs, she'd get organic turkey dogs.  

I see nothing wrong with feeding meat substitutes, either.  There are some really awesome veggie burgers out there, and you could call them burgers...

JMO. 

MarcyLT

Let me qualify that I'm not a parent. But from a general perspective, I don't think being vegetarian necessarily equals having some kind of strange "beliefs". What you would be teaching this child isn't your "beliefs" about vegetarianism, but that it's polite to eat what you are offered when you are a guest in someone else's home. I hate mushrooms, but if someone serves them to me at a dinner party, I eat them. That's what I was taught growing up. Fine, if this child doesn't like the food you eat, but for me it's about the fact that you're providing healthy food to the child, not that you're providing their preferences.

Just my two cents as a non-parent.

butterflygrooves

I was vegan and my DW ate the traditional American diet when we went through our homestudy, our SW's didn't have a problem with it.  They did ask how we planned to feed the children and were satisfied when I explained all of the protein options for vegans and vegetarians.

I'm now vegetarian so I prepare vegetarian meals when my DW works evenings and meat on the evenings when she is home, our SW's like to ask what the kids ate during the week and are amazed at the variety in their diets.  We've never had a problem with parents complaining about the way we feed the kids and it's definitely not something we hide. 

Do you have a problem cooking meat?  Maybe you could use lunchmeat from the deli (precooked and really easy to use) with cheese and crackers, in omelettes, sandwiches, etc.  I would continue to allow the child to eat meat, they don't need it at every meal.  The new food pyramid suggests that 2 oz of meat (protein) per day is appropriate for a 2-3 year old on a 1,000 calorie diet.

I do agree with Marcy, you aren't forcing your beliefs on the child, you are having them eat the way the rest of the household eats.  If you are more comfortable not giving the child meat than that should be fine.

ctbride08

To me it would come down to the fact that I only cook and serve one meal in my house.  It certainly wouldnt be enforcing my beliefs on anyone and I probably wouldnt even mention it if they didnt ask directly, but thats just simply what is offered in my home. As long as you arent hindering others from serving him meat (ie: daycare, his bio family, ect), then I cant see why anyone would have an issue with it. 

As pp mentioned, there are so many great substitutes that are very toddler friendly.

mamatojts

as long as the child is getting fruits and veggies, there's not a whole lot of need for meat. Most toddlers I've found don't care for meat anyway. You can give peanut butter (barring no peanut allergies of course) for some protein, along with eggs/egg whites.

mattkati

A huge thanks to everyone that responded to this post---I really appreciate it. I think we will continue feeding her lots of fruits and veggies at home, and allowing her to eat as she chooses out and about.

 I'm still undecided about what we will do with our daycare situation. The center she attends is on the state FDA program for nutrious meals, and they offer a lot of meat, at least twice a day, with less fruit, vegetable, and whole-grain options.

 Perhaps we will just let the daycare know we'd prefer that she is offered both a vegetarian and non-vegetarian option during meal times, and then let her choose?