You are the reason we have this site, and we hope, in time, the information and support that you get from vegetarianteen.com will help you in your relationship with your parents and their understanding of veg issues.

In the meantime, it may help you to know that there are some things you can do that might help to eventually change their minds.

• First, make sure that they have had a chance to read the "Letter of Intent", which is at the bottom of the consent page. It explains what we are all about, that we are committed to your privacy, and provides contact information in case your parents want to talk to one of us, the veg parents running this site.

• Second, if they won't read the letter, try telling them that you are allowed to write for the site anonymously using a pseudonym (fake name). They may be concerned that you are sharing details about your family life, and let's face it, who wants their private lives shared with the world? Make sure they know that there are kids from all over the world writing for our site, so the chances of anyone knowing it was you who wrote the article are pretty small.

• Third, give your parents the url (website address) of the site, and let them know we have a section called "Just for Parents" where both veg and non veg adults have written articles about life with veg kids. There is also tons of nutrition info that might ease their minds if that is their concern. In fact, you might take a look at that section yourself and see if you can find an article or two that your parents would relate to. Print it out and leave it someplace where they might read it.

• Last, keep in mind that if you can't contribute now, you can still contribute the day you turn 18! You can also benefit from the site in other ways, like taking part in the message board, sending in questions for our Q&A columns, or joining our email group.