All every parent wants is happy and healthy kids, right? Drinking water is one of the easiest habits to implement in everyday life for a healthier lifestyle. Your kids should be drinking a certain amount of water according to their age, and they need to be properly hydrated every day. But how do we get around the issue that what makes kids happy, seems to be flavourful drinks that are full of sugar? Below are just a few helpful tips to get your picky eaters (and drinkers) make the switch for a healthier lifestyle.
Make It Taste Better
Some kids are really in it for the taste. They might not love to drink tap water because, well, it tastes like tap water. In that case, don’t switch to bottles. Bottled water can work out expensive in the long run and isn't good when we're all trying our hardest to reduce our plastic waste. Instead, get yourself a water filter for the house. That way, with every meal or snack time, you can serve freshly filtered clean household water. Your kids, and even you will be able to tell the difference!
Make It Flavourable
If the issue is the lack of fun flavours, you can infuse the water with your child’s favourite fruity taste by adding cut-up lemons, cucumbers, strawberries, mint, orange and the like. If you add these in with their water bottle, they’ll be excited to sip on it throughout the day. For an extra fresh kick, freeze some berries before putting them in the drink: a great two-for-one deal. They work as ice cubes and, as they melt, they’ll turn into flavour pockets like the rest of the fruits.
Make Drinking Water More Fun
Your kids will love drinking water with fun shapes and colours. Buy some funky reusable straws for them to sip their water through. You can get loopy ones and watch the water travel through, or colourful ones with shapes and animals on them, but do make sure they’re reusable! You can also have a different cup or glass for each one of your kids to use at home - and you can involve them in the buying process, so they've had their own influence on their own special cup/glass. Younger children will love their own personal sippy cup decorated with their favourite colours or characters, and for older kids, you could find some glasses from their favourite TV shows or sports teams.
Give Them Their Own Travel Bottles
This one works for both children and grown-ups! We all need a little motivation to keep hydrated while we’re out and about, so send your kids to school with a reusable bottle that they can fill up and drink as they go about their day, just like we do. It’s much easier to keep drinking when you have your own water bottle right next to you all day.
This is just a guidance post with a few ideas to get your kids drinking more water, but the most important thing is to always to build up the habit. Starting at home is your best move before progressing to a reusable bottle that can be used anywhere. Always serve water with meals instead of juice or fizzy and if you or your kids need motivation, work on it together! Maybe it’s not just kids who want those curly straws, right? Good luck!
Jada x
