Keeping your kids healthy goes beyond eating good food, and having enough exercise. It’s also important to keep them hydrated, and to encourage your child to drink more water.
Ideally, kids aged 6-12 should be drinking at least 7 glasses of water daily. For older kids, 11 glasses of water is ideal. Though, a general rule of thumb would be to drink water until your urine is clear.
Water also helps prevent kids from getting dehydrated, especially after playing. Water also helps regulate their body functions, and keeps them strong and healthy.
However, as all parents know, it can sometimes be difficult to keep your child hydrated. So here are 9 awesome tips to make sure your little one never forgets to drink their water!
9 Ways to encourage your child to drink more water
1. Get them a cool-looking cup to drink out of
Kids love looking at crazy colors and shapes. So a good way to encourage your little one to drink water would be to get him or her a cool-looking cup!
You can get cups that change color, ones with different designs, and there are also cups that have weird shapes that your child will absolutely love.
This makes drinking water more fun, and it beats drinking water out of a normal-looking cup or glass.
2. Turn it into a game!
You can challenge your child to a water drinking race, to see who finishes their glass of water first. You can also give them points for every glass of water they drink, and they can use those points to get rewards, such as toys, screen time, etc.
3. Add some fruit slices into their water
Some kids find the taste of water pretty bland, so they’re not a fan of drinking it. Adding fruit slices such as lemon, orange, or even an apple slice can add some flavor, and they can also snack on the fruit slices after drinking.
4. Fizzy water is a good alternative to softdrinks
A really good way to get your child to dink more water is to buy soda water, or carbonated water. It’s gives your child that funny feeling in their throat, just like softdrinks, but without the added sugar and other preservatives.
You can get fizzy water at most supermarkets, and they taste really great and refreshing!
5. Flavored water also works well for kids
Nowadays, you can buy flavored water that has a little bit of sugar and fruit flavoring. These are a better alternative to softdrinks, and kids will definitely start drinking more water if it tastes sweet!
6. Using a silly straw might help
Another good way to encourage your little one to drink more water would be to buy a silly straw. These are straws that have funny and weird shapes, and most of them are clear, so they can see the water moving around when they take a sip.
It’s a good way to grab their attention, and keep them hydrated as well!
7. Get everyone in the family involved
After every meal, you can designate a few minutes as “water time” for the entire family. This encourages your child to drink more water, and also helps keep your entire family hydrated.
You can also make a chart of how many cups of water everyone in your household drinks. This can encourage your child to keep up with everyone else in the house when it comes to drinking water.
8. Add fancy ice cubes in your child’s water
In most cooking supply stores, you can buy ice cube trays that are shaped like cartoon characters, or funny shapes. Adding these ice cubes to your child’s water can make it more fun for them.
9. Drinking juice can help keep your kids hydrated throughout the day
Lastly, juice can actually be a good source of water for your little one. However, it’s important to not just buy any juice that you see in the supermarket.
A good brand to buy is Tang, since it only contains 1 teaspoon of sugar per glass. This is way lower compared to the other brands of juice available in the market. There are also various flavors of Tang available, so you try out different flavors to find out which one your child likes best.
READ: How much water should you really drink in a day?