Long Live Responsible Brainwashing!

Let's just lay it all out on the table; I am vegan by choice. And Hayes is vegan because I am his mom.

The decision was simple. I will teach him to be responsible for what he consumes, for our environment and for the care of animals who cannot advocate for themselves. And then, when he becomes a teenager and decides to throw all that I have taught him out the window, guilt will eventually drive him back to what he knows is right. Really, it's all a mother can hope for.

I must admit, rearing a vegan child is not always easy. There are those inevitably tricky moments when his friends' birthday cake is not from a vegan recipe and when Hayes is the only kid stuck with a plate of fries to fill his belly at Chuck E. Cheese. Those are the moments that I hope are fleeting in his memory. The ones that will not leave too permanent a mark on his psyche. And just when I am convinced that it will be years before I will know if he understands it all, a small glimmer of hope:

The other day, he turned to me after a fast food commercial and confidently stated, "We don't eat that."

Aaaagh... The power of brainwashing!