Raising your child on a vegan diet without doing all theresearch can be harmful. Often, children will lack the proper amount of proteinthey require to grow and don’t always receive the same amount of amino acids thata child who was eating chicken would receive. According to Moorhead, author ofthe article “Is Veganism Safe For Kids,” explains that one of the big issueswith a vegan diet for children is that it usually isn’t very energy-dense. Inother words, you are required to eat a lot more than usual, which can bedifficult with children. Typically children don’t eat a lot, which makes ithard for them to ensure that they are getting enough calories.

            Theproblem with a vegan diet or restrictive diet with children is that in manycases parents receive misleading information found on the Internet. Inaddition, these parents are not always as well informed to guarantee theirchild is eating properly in a vegan or vegetarian diets. It is not unusual forchildren who have a vegan diet to have vitamin D, calcium, iron, and sometimesvitamin B12 deficiencies. When the child is not receiving an adequate enoughamount of calories and proteins in their diets the first symptoms to show arethat they fail to flourish and sometimes grow properly.

            Therefore,it is important to remember that children can’t always have the same meals thatadult vegetarians consume. Adult vegetarians tend be high in fiber and too muchfiber can fill up a child’s small stomach before they get enough calories. Allin all a vegetarian or vegan diet can be accomplished without harming yourchild’s health, however, it is important to make certain the meals are cateredto children and not adults.   

Source: 

Moorhead, Joanna. "Is Veganism Safe forKids?" The Guardian.Guardian News and Media, 19 Apr. 2010. Web. 18 Mar.     2012.<http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/apr/20/veganism-safe-children>.

S]S

.