At the core of our mission is the desire to help families create happy, healthy and strong lives. So today, we will provide a few ways you can help your children drink the perfect amount of water to keep them well hydrated.
Drinking plenty of water is crucial to optimising our health for a great life.
For children, the recommended daily intake of water is:
5 - 8 year olds: 5 glasses (1L)
9 - 12 year olds: 7 glasses (1.5L)
13 years and older: 8 to 10 glasses (2L)
What Do Kids Drink Most Often?
The easiest way to teach your kids to drink more water is to make a habit of drinking only water, unless it’s a special occasion.
When kids are used to drinking juice, soft drinks, cordial, milk and all sorts of drinks every day when it comes to drinking water, there isn’t usually a natural desire for it.
However, when you’re in the habit of drinking for health, and not for the yummy taste, the cravings are minimised.
5 Clever Ways To Keep Kids Hydrated
Keeping kids hydrated is much easier when you follow these simple instructions:
1. Save The Soft Drinks And Cordial For The Weekends
Saving soft drinks and cordial (basically junk food) for the weekend will minimise the cravings, and water will start to become more appealing again.
We all know how unhealthy soft drinks are for the teeth and the overall health. It’s the sugar that causes so much havoc in the world when it comes to staying healthy, and soft drinks can lead to unhealthy weight gain, tooth decay, and even heart disease later in life.
2. Drink Only Water And Fruit Juices During The Week
Instead of sugar-loaded drinks, drink only water and clean juice on weekdays.
Many juice manufacturers tend to add lots of sugar into their juices and there really is no need for it, so go for just the natural juices.
If juice doesn’t taste sweet enough, it could be time to consider taking a break from sugar to bring everything to baseline again.
3. Add A Squeeze Of Lemon
Not only does adding lemon to drinking water make it a refreshing drink, it’s also actually alkalising after consumption.
Lemon water has been strongly promoted along with the alkaline diet, which is rooted in the theory that eating alkalising foods can help regulate our bodily pH levels and prevent a host of health issues.
4. Have A Water Bottle Handy
If young children have a water bottle beside them when they are thirsty, they are much more likely to simply pick it up and start drinking. If they have to ask a parent (who might be preoccupied with something else) for a cup of water, they might not always go to the effort.
In a similar way, you teach kids to eat veggies by first putting it on their plate, you need to basically put the water bottle in their hands. You need to remove all the resistance to drinking water as much as possible.
Most health-conscious parents are generally onto this one.
It doesn’t matter what your age is, if you have a water bottle handy, you’ll most likely drink more.
5. Improve The Taste Of Your Water
We all know it, unfiltered tap water doesn’t always taste very good, especially if it’s chlorinated.
Chlorine and fluoride are added to city treated tap water and it completely ruins the taste, and often it smells horrible. So why would anyone want to drink chlorine?
Bacteria, viruses, heavy metals and dirt also make water taste less appealing.
The simple fix for this is a water filter. It’s cheap, easy to install, and significantly improves the taste of your drinking water.
It might sound too simple, but just removing the gross chlorine is enough for most people to want to drink more water.
If the kids are drinking more water today, they will be the healthier adults tomorrow.