Brenda Ruth's Memoirs'

Yesterday Morning, I was quite surprised when my daughter who is 10 years old told me that she wanted to be a Vegetarian. I myself was a vegetarian for many years. I stopped and prefer to follow more of a Mediterranean diet instead.

I asked her, “Why she wanted to become a vegetarian?” No response. I said, ” Most people have an idea of why they want to change something, whether it is ethics, or diet, you get the picture.” She just wants to try it. I honestly think is because we do have animals and my daughter loves animals and does get quite emotional when a mouse is hurt!

I probed a bit further, ” Do you know what a vegetarian eats?” Yes she replied, “Fruits and Vegetables!” I agree, they do eat Fruits and Vegetables, but also Nuts, Seeds, Legumes, Tempeh and Grains to name a few. I asked, “So do you want to jump right in or do you want to gradually become one?” Right away of course!

Now, I know my daughter. She is a very picky eater. True she loves cooking and baking which is great. But I have never seen her eat a bean in her life! She is not fond of nuts and seeds. She is picky about her vegetables. So I am not sure how this would work.

I told her, “I will help you to become a vegetarian. I myself am not going to give up meat but I will cut back on it.”

We gathered up some recipes and got a shopping list created. Went shopping and got a variety of different items. Some things of course on the list, she decided no she didn’t want to try it just yet. And that is okay.

In fact it was after our shopping trip she decided not to be a Vegetarian and I encouraged her by saying, lets still try a vegetarian dish at least once a week. This way we can experiment and not rush into something we don’t feel prepared for. She agreed.

The lessons here for both her and I, is firstly by saying “Yes” we are daring to make a change to try something new. The second lesson, sometimes jumping right in is great but also gradually adding in by small steps will help build up resilience and persistence. Creating real change.

So here is daring to follow your own path and learning what works for you and what doesn’t.