Hi Tronica,

I can relate to your comments.

We used to live in Sydney where we knew many vegos, but we were all young and child-free then! Where we live now is quite a diverse area, with lots of vegos. Certainly, no body looks at us strangley when we say we are vegan. There are vego cafes and a vegan restaurant in our town. Having said all that though, we do not have any vegan friends who have children. We know plenty of childless vegans or vegans with adult children, but none with young families. I know that there are some out there but we just haven't connected. However, my DD has a couple of vegetarian friends.

But, really, we are very lucky. Our friends are very supportive of our veganism. Most of our friends are quite health conscious, so they don't eat a lot of meat anyway, and if we have a gatheirng with friends there is always a lot of vegan food on offer. I have found our friends to be very respectful about it. And really, that is the most important thing. There are multiple reasons why we connect with people, and although my veganism is integral to my life, it is not All of me, if that makes sense. I know I mentioned to you that I wanted to connect with other parents practicing gentle parenting methods when my DD was a baby. That was very important to me. If I had met like-minded mums who were also vegan or vegetarian, that would have been FABULOUS. But, as it turned out, the mums I met weren't vego or vegan, however, they were respectful of my veganism and that has been sufficient.

I also feel that I am linked in with a broader network of vegans online, so that helps. I don't feel isolated. We are lucky to live in a veg-friendly town, but if we didn't, I may consider moving to somewhere more in line with our values. I certainly would consider this issue if we were ever considering moving for some other reason (ie. a job).