We are a vegan family - me, DH, DD5, DS2 (I am preg with #3). I have been a vegan for 13 years and have had vegan pregnancies with all my kids. I am motivated by ethical, environmental and health reasons.

My mum is a vego, my sister a vegan. So, I have no problems from my side of the family. My DH family are all meat eaters but totally respect that we are raising our children vegan, and have never fed them non-vegan food (not on purpose anyway!). We were clear from the outset about what our kids could eat, but as we had been vegan for many years before conceiving, everyone just expected that we would raise our kids that way. It helps to provide food for yourself and kids whenever visiting relatives. And make it really yummy, so people see that we aren't deprived ! Then people begin to understand what you do eat. Also, there is a lot of research/articles out there about raising healthy vego/vegan kids, so maybe you could provide photocopies to the family! Many people in my DH family now make some of the vegan recipes that we have introduced them to, and they realise that we can still eat yummy cakes and desserts. My MIL has become an expert at vegan cakes (and she isn't vegan or vego).

My DD is old enough to understand why we make an ethical decision to avoid foods that cause suffering to living beings. She has compassion for animals and wants to avoid causing suffering to them. Obviously, we explain concepts to her in an age-appropriate manner. As she gets older, the info we give her will become more detailed. She believes that animals don't want to be killed or hurt.

I applaud people who raise their children with ethics of compassion and non-violence for humans and non-humans. All the best!