"
I'm sure the nanny is nervous about the meal prep and planning that will be involved. It is a big responsibilty to manage nutrition for active, growing kids. I would sit with your kids and make a list of simple dinners your nanny prepares for them that work and what other things can be added. This would give her a place to start and help her see that it doesn't have to be daunting. They are also old enough to understand that there is work involved in managing appropriate diets and that they each have important nutritional needs that must be met with their respective diets."

The minute the daughter causes your son to go into shock because of some nuts, milk, or whatever, it's the nanny who is going to get blamed. This is a bad idea.

Kids can choose special diets when they're old enough to plan, shop, and cook meals themselves. And the odds that your son will get cross-contamination are really high if she's cooking vegetarian where most of the protein comes from his allergens. Just say no.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And no, 10 years old is not too young to develop an eating disorder. Many parent say their child started restricting that young but they didn't realize what was happening until a couple years later -- WATCH OUT is all I am saying.

Please stop conflating being a vegetarian and having an eating disorder. The latter is a serious health problem, the former is, in most cases, a compassionate ethical choice.

It makes my blood boil when people talk as if going vegetarian is the start of anorexia or what have you. You sound very misinformed.

Going vegetarian was one of the first "restrictions" in my ED (anorexia) because it was a socially acceptable one. I was 16. You also sound very misinformed about eating disorders. The ratio of girls who were Veg*n at my inpatient treatment facility was incredibly high. For that very reason, veg*nism was not allowed in the treatment center, no matter what.

Vegan is not a dirty word. You don’t have to use an asterisk.

I also had disordered eating as a teenaged vegetarian, but mainly because my parents didn't fully support me and provide healthy choices only fattening ones. as a vegetarian in my 30s (until my second pregnancy), I was able to make healthy choices. Not all teenaged vegetarians and vegans have ED, there are millions if not billions in Asia right now living healthily.

Anonymous wrote:OP here.
Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions and ideas.
We sat down with our nanny a few days ago.
She said she was overwhelmed with DD being picky with her food before becoming vegetarian. For example, DD would refuse multiple choices of food offered by the nanny while making school lunches. Dinner leftovers (involving meat), turkey sandwiches and occasional hotdogs were something that my DD would actually eat. It's a nut free school, so now DD's lunches would be more challenging with no meat and my DD being picky.
She said she was supportive of my DD becoming a vegetarian, but wanted her to take some responsibility for planning her meals - meaning DD should do some research about nutrition and come up with different choices to substitute the meat part of the meals. Not cook her own meals, although she would be expected to help on no homework days.

It's been a few days and things seem to be going well. We got veggie bacon and burgers in the freezer. Eggs, lentil soup, some indian food and a few other options.
It will probably take a few more days to adjust, but so far so good.

Thank you everyone

So the real issue is a picky eater.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And no, 10 years old is not too young to develop an eating disorder. Many parent say their child started restricting that young but they didn't realize what was happening until a couple years later -- WATCH OUT is all I am saying.

Please stop conflating being a vegetarian and having an eating disorder. The latter is a serious health problem, the former is, in most cases, a compassionate ethical choice.

It makes my blood boil when people talk as if going vegetarian is the start of anorexia or what have you. You sound very misinformed.

Going vegetarian was one of the first "restrictions" in my ED (anorexia) because it was a socially acceptable one. I was 16. You also sound very misinformed about eating disorders. The ratio of girls who were Veg*n at my inpatient treatment facility was incredibly high. For that very reason, veg*nism was not allowed in the treatment center, no matter what.

That sounds like a very bad centre, and one I would avoid.

For your information, a couple of years ago I had a very serious health problem (read: days away from death) which the doctors at the hospital tried to blame on me being a long time vegetarian translitioning to vegan, while it was actually a doctor screw-up, and I knew very well it was.

They were constantly on my neck to make me stop being a vegetarian, till the day I lost it and told them I would rather die than renege on my ethics. And I was not kidding. They found a way of sorting out the problem in a hurry after I told them that.

I'm sick and tired of lazy health professionals blaming health problems and eating disorders on the person's being a vegetarian or a vegan.

Anonymous wrote:OP here.
Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions and ideas.
We sat down with our nanny a few days ago.
She said she was overwhelmed with DD being picky with her food before becoming vegetarian. For example, DD would refuse multiple choices of food offered by the nanny while making school lunches. Dinner leftovers (involving meat), turkey sandwiches and occasional hotdogs were something that my DD would actually eat. It's a nut free school, so now DD's lunches would be more challenging with no meat and my DD being picky.
She said she was supportive of my DD becoming a vegetarian, but wanted her to take some responsibility for planning her meals - meaning DD should do some research about nutrition and come up with different choices to substitute the meat part of the meals. Not cook her own meals, although she would be expected to help on no homework days.

It's been a few days and things seem to be going well. We got veggie bacon and burgers in the freezer. Eggs, lentil soup, some indian food and a few other options.
It will probably take a few more days to adjust, but so far so good.

Thank you everyone

Well there you go. If your daughter is gonna be that picky, then she needs to figure out her own shit. Your nanny is NOT lazy.

Personally, I think your kids are spoiled. But then again, I think most Americans are spoiled. I didn't grow up here, but I think American kids are little terrors - dictating to their parents what they want and don't, how they want to live their lives, etc.

I grew up in a house with a nanny, a cook, and a housekeeper. As kids, we NEVER got to choose what we ate. The cook made dinner for everyone, and we could eat it or not. It NEVER occurred to us to ask for something else. The nanny watched us, made sure we got to school okay, went to bed on time, but certainly did not entertain us or even play with us. As kids, we would have been embarassed hanging out with the nanny.

The cook made meals. The housekeeper cleaned. There was no overlap of duties, and it would never occur to any of us to boss any of them around.

Lecturing aside - planning meals for a vegetarian, especially a kid, takes care. You really need to read up on and it and do your research, because it's trickier to get all the nutrients your kid needs, like getting all the amino acids she needs to grow and repair her muscles.

Did any of the ED masquerading as vegetarianism girls decide to become vegetarian in the 6-10 yo age range? My daughter chose vegetarianism at 7 and it was clearly an animal-driven ethical decision. Not saying a kid couldn't develop an ED that young but (a) masking behavior with something more socially acceptable does sound more like a 16 yo and (b) IMLE, it wasn't difficult to tell where DD was coming from at that age. 10 years later, she's still a vegetarian and probably will stay that way (doesn't remember what meat tastes like -- has no interest in (re-)trying it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And no, 10 years old is not too young to develop an eating disorder. Many parent say their child started restricting that young but they didn't realize what was happening until a couple years later -- WATCH OUT is all I am saying.

Please stop conflating being a vegetarian and having an eating disorder. The latter is a serious health problem, the former is, in most cases, a compassionate ethical choice.

It makes my blood boil when people talk as if going vegetarian is the start of anorexia or what have you. You sound very misinformed.

Going vegetarian was one of the first "restrictions" in my ED (anorexia) because it was a socially acceptable one. I was 16. You also sound very misinformed about eating disorders. The ratio of girls who were Veg*n at my inpatient treatment facility was incredibly high. For that very reason, veg*nism was not allowed in the treatment center, no matter what.

+3 (the number of friends for whom this was true)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And no, 10 years old is not too young to develop an eating disorder. Many parent say their child started restricting that young but they didn't realize what was happening until a couple years later -- WATCH OUT is all I am saying.

Please stop conflating being a vegetarian and having an eating disorder. The latter is a serious health problem, the former is, in most cases, a compassionate ethical choice.

It makes my blood boil when people talk as if going vegetarian is the start of anorexia or what have you. You sound very misinformed.

Going vegetarian was one of the first "restrictions" in my ED (anorexia) because it was a socially acceptable one. I was 16. You also sound very misinformed about eating disorders. The ratio of girls who were Veg*n at my inpatient treatment facility was incredibly high. For that very reason, veg*nism was not allowed in the treatment center, no matter what.

Re school lunches. That's a good place for DD to start on menu planning. It addresses the nanny's issue, it often involves food assembly more than actual cooking, and it probably can't be solved with frozen food.

Turns out my veg daughter didn't care much about variety. Buy a thermos/food jar and cold packs, if you don't already have them, would top my list of advice. Mac n' Cheese, Hummus and veggies, yogurt and fruit, Greek Salad, and Caprese are some of the simple things DD has liked (that are also nut-free, a constraint we didn't have.). Leftovers -- pasta with lentil sauce, quinoa stuffed roasted peppers -- were also big hits for lunch time. Always a couple of fruits and some raw veg that can be eaten like snack food

Anonymous wrote:And no, 10 years old is not too young to develop an eating disorder. Many parent say their child started restricting that young but they didn't realize what was happening until a couple years later -- WATCH OUT is all I am saying.

Please stop conflating being a vegetarian and having an eating disorder. The latter is a serious health problem, the former is, in most cases, a compassionate ethical choice.

It makes my blood boil when people talk as if going vegetarian is the start of anorexia or what have you. You sound very misinformed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd make extra and freeze some leftovers. I'd have each kid learn a couple easy dishes. Vegetarian kid can learn to scramble some eggs, or to make black beans and rice, or to microwave a veggie burger. Omnivore kid can learn to stick some salmon under the broiler, or fry up a hamburger. Then they have options when the nanny cooks something that only works for one kid.

OP here.
Actually, she does make eggs for breakfast sometimes. So maybe that's an idea for her for some days.
And as one of the previous posters said, my son could make some bacon. He would be happy about it.
I'm trying to see the nanny's side and I understand to a point - she only has an hour before they have to leave, so supervising homework, folding laundry, letting dogs out, cooking meat, pasta and vegetables at the same time might get overwhelming.
But I like some of the ideas mentioned before - on those days my DD could easily grab a yogurt or make some eggs.
I think I know how I'm going to approach this.
We really love our nanny. She is extremely flexible with our crazy hours and she truly loves my kids. She's been with us for almost two years.
I was taken aback by what she said. My DD can be a picky eater at times and she probably got concerned that it would be too much for her to handle.

Careful she doesn't overcompensate the lack of meat with too much dairy/eggs. It's an easy mistake to make as a beginner, when you go vegetarian, and it's not good for you.

If I were you I'd find a vegetarian-friendly nutritionist and get some advice.

Anonymous wrote:I'd make extra and freeze some leftovers. I'd have each kid learn a couple easy dishes. Vegetarian kid can learn to scramble some eggs, or to make black beans and rice, or to microwave a veggie burger. Omnivore kid can learn to stick some salmon under the broiler, or fry up a hamburger. Then they have options when the nanny cooks something that only works for one kid.

Indeed. As a longtime vegetarian, "feeding the freezer" is your best friend. It cuts a lot of hassle.

Anonymous wrote:Feed your daughter what you eat and find a new nanny.

+1