Cooked food does taste good and children eat for taste not health, that is why they like candy and all that other junk.

Cooked food is better than no food for children who refuse to eat raw food, don't you think?

Yes I agree. I am sure I will be flamed but I don't see any problem with a good vegan diet. I don't know how you could keep a child on a complete raw diet unless they were homeschooled. They get exposed to allot of foods at school things like pizza parties, birthday treats ect.. So you would have to home school them to keep them away from temptation and even then they still might refuse to eat raw foods. Kids are growing and devloping so their needs are different. I know a couple who put their child on a 100% raw diet and the kid at 7 ended up being in the hospital for malnutrition. They boy only weighed 40 lbs!

-I am not a parent. All you can do is provide a healthy example to your children....and provide them what what you determine are the best foods.

-It can be hard to change later....but setting an easy-going and confident level of eating awareness at home will definitely carry over.

-David Mason

Hey

check out this artle and other from waldorf homeschoolers website on raw kids
[www.waldorfhomeschoolers.com]

and ask the folks at The Garden Diet about that!
[www.thegardendiet.com]

David, you are right...

I am a parent...my oldest is 15, next 13, next 2 months...(raw fooder!)

the two oldest were raised vegetarian, yet nothing was denied to them - they were explained the facts of eating sugar, candies, meats, versus healthy foods

they eat very healthy now, making their own choices, after having healthy veg, meals at home all their lives...

we explained to them our personal idea that one should eat healthy 95% of the time, but its okay to have that birthday cake at the party knowing it is just for taste and fun...they have turned out to be very responsible eaters, and apparently not tempted by peers to overdo junk foods, as they know the results that could happen to them...we taught them to influence others instead, to be sure of themselves, to enjoy their differences...

so far so good...

I really believe in giving kids a good start, explaining everything to them, letting them make their own choices when able to...knowing they are responsible for their own health...

My mom was fanatical about raw fruits & vegetables when I was growing up - but she didn't yell at us or coerce us to eat them - she cut them up and did fun things with them & made them seem like fun, colorful treats. As a result, no matter how badly I've eaten as an adult, I've always LOVED raw fruits & vegetables. I've always thought of cooked vegetables as totally gross.

So my advice would be to make fresh produce seem like fun to your kids, instead of as some necessary chore to be dealt with, because kids will pick up on the attitudes of the adults around them. Oh and I just thought of something else - hehe - when neighbor kids would come over & frown at being offered fresh produce, my mom would later whisper about them in a horrified manner like there was something wrong with them.

Good luck!