How to Get Your Kids to Drink More Water & Stay Hydrated
It’s a familiar story for almost every parent. You hear a little whiny voice complain, “I’m thirsty!”
What they want is another juice box, better yet a can of soda, maybe a sports drink or a sippy cup filled with Kool-Aid. As a responsible parent, you know another sugar-filled drink is the last thing your kids need. However, whenever you offer them water they protest, which makes you wonder how thirsty they actually are.
The stakes are pretty high concerning how kids in America stay hydrated.
According to the Harvard School of Public Health, sugary drinks are a major contributor to the obesity epidemic. For children ages 6 to 11, the amount of calories consumed from beverages like juice and soda increased 60 percent from 1989 to 2008. That means it rose from an average of 130 to 209 calories per day.
Starting good habits now will help your kids maintain a healthy weight and help prevent serious health issues like diabetes and heart disease in the future.
So how do you convince kids to drink more water?
Give Children Reverse Osmosis Water
The first problem could be that your kids don’t like the way your tap water tastes. The number of taste buds a person has decrease with age, which means your children could be tasting things you aren’t.
There are many different things that can affect the flavor (and aroma) of your home’s water. That includes chlorine, which could be added to city water. Corroded plumbing could give water a bitter taste while too much iron from a private well may cause water to taste metallic.
The best water treatment solution for reducing all of that stuff is a reverse osmosis (R.O.) system. Water-Right offers the Eclipse R.O.® and the Impression R.O.® drinking water systems.
Reverse osmosis purification leaves you with clean, refreshing water. You can purchase this kind of water from a store, or you can have an R.O. system installed in your home.
If you live in the Fox Valley area of Wisconsin, you can visit Water-Right’s Clean Water Center. Try a sample of our reverse osmosis water and purchase a few jugs to take home.
Many people soon realize it’s much more convenient to get reverse osmosis water right from the kitchen sink.
And, it really does taste better …
Believe it or not, Water-Right Vice President, Guy Gruett, took a while to get an R.O. system for his own family. After he did, his children started drinking water all the time. In fact, neighborhood kids even came over asking to drink some of the Gruett’s delicious water!
Learn more about the benefits of reverse osmosis water here on our blog.
Get Kids Their Own Cool Water Bottle
Kids Water Bottle from Contigo
One reason kids prefer juice and soda to water is that they think water is boring compared to the colorful packaging and exciting flavors other beverages provide.
So why not make water more fun?
Find a special cup for your child’s water, or buy an awesome water bottle that they’ll love using every day.
Giving your children their own sports bottle works great for keeping them hydrated at school. You’ll find plenty of water bottles at your favorite retail store, but we really like the 13 BPA-free options listed on BestProducts.com.
During family meals, try using colorful crazy straws that only come out when kids have water in their cups.
Make Your Kids Fruit-Infused Water
If the lack of fruity flavor is what kids are missing, there are some easy ways for parents to fix that. One simple solution is to use pieces of frozen fruit as ice cubes.
While there are special pitchers designed for making fruit infused water, you don’t necessarily need them. MomAdvice.com has some sweet ideas for fruit filled water, and you’ll find 14 more fruit-infused water recipes on Buzz Feed.
As a bonus, your kids will be getting some additional nutritional value from their water!
Give Children Some Independence
Sick of your kids asking for another sugary drink? Let them get their own drink and make it easy for them to access the water in your home.
Reverse osmosis faucets are quite simple to operate. Water comes out in a gentle stream so little kids are less likely to get all wet from a spraying faucet.
Check out the sleek-looking Hydronix® R.O. faucet styles available through your local WaterCare® and Evolve® water treatment dealers.
You can also fill up a water jug with a spout and keep it on the bottom shelf of your fridge so it’s easy for kids to access and fill their cups. This little bit of independence can give kids a sense of pride and self-sufficiency … not to mention, it’s one less request you have to fulfill.
Finally, make sure you’re setting a good example for your children. You should probably be drinking more water, too! Let them see you hydrating the right way.