How to Make your Kids Drink More Water?

Children are unstoppable right from when they get up in the morning till they go to bed. It is tiring for parents as well as kids but kids don’t pay attention to it. They often forget that they are thirsty and need to drink water. 

Children under 6 years need to have at least 4 to 6 glasses of water daily and children above 8, need a minimum of 6 to 8 glasses of water. Not drinking enough water would result in various health issues. As a parent are you struggling to make your kid drink more water?

Even though we know that staying hydrated is very important, kids find drinking water very boring! It is a difficult task to get the kids to drink water. It is especially important to consume water if they are active (which most kids are).

The body loses water while breathing, digestion, and sweating. If you are having difficulty in keeping your kid hydrated, here are some tips that may make your task a little easier. 

Before we move on to the tips that will help you make them drink more, understand that clean drinking water is essential and nothing can replace it. Ensure to install a good water purifier to get clean and pure water daily.

How to make your children drink more water?

There are multiple ways of making your little ones drink more water like:

Tips and tricks  to make your kids drink more water

Make it available

One of the best ways and the most basic way to ensure that your child is drinking water is to make it readily available. Here are some of the ways by which you can make water available – 

Keep the water next to your child’s meal

This is the best way to keep the child hydrated. Ensure that you always keep the water available whenever your child is thirsty. If it is possible, keep the water in your child’s favorite cup or glass. 

Keep the bottle of water next to the bed

Having a glassful of water first thing in the morning is a very healthy habit that should be taught to a child at an early stage. Store water in a copper bottle overnight and make him/her drink in the morning, since it has plenty of benefits.  Placing a bottle will remind them to have water before the marathon run of your kid around the house begins. 

Keep bottles or glass of water where your child goes often

Kids keep the whole house on its toes. It is recommended to keep a bottle of water at every corner of the house so that you won’t have to run around with the water. 

It’s best to keep the water bottle near his/her toy area or near the sofa/chair. So whenever your little one sees his/her favorite bottle, you can breathe relief. 

Buy fun bottles and cups

Go shopping and let your child choose his/her special, cool, and cute cup or bottle. You can carry this bottle with you anywhere and this encourages them to drink water for it. Plus, carrying bottles is good for the environment and it won’t generate waste. 

Go for a BPA free, quirky bottle or sippy cups with your child’s favorite superhero or princess on it (if your child is an infant and still drinks from a sippy cup). You can also let them have a special color, twisty straw to use. 

Once they feel that they own that cup and straw they will be encouraged to drink more water. Also, make it clear that the bottle/sippy cup is strictly for drinking water.

Do a family water challenge

You can make this a family policy to drink more water. Also, avoid keeping other aerated or sugary beverages in your home. Do not make it a habit to buy them when you are eating out. 

Challenge your little one to drink a certain level of water in one go. If the cup has Dora on it, challenge your kid to drink water till he/she reaches the bottom of Dora’s shoes. 

You can also set a family goal to drink more water. You can also install apps to track your progress. 

Add flavors

There are so many interesting ways that you can make your kid drink water. With so many options, it is not news that kids don’t like plain water. 

Ice cubes – You can buy fancy and cute ice trays with certain shapes like stars, flowers, animals, fish, etc, and add it in the water. If you don’t find such trays, you can make ice in a normal rectangular tray with mint leaves, lemon, or other such fruit in between. This will give the ice cube some color and also a nice flavor to the water. 

Fruit – If you don’t like the idea of cold water, you can avoid putting ice in the water. Instead, you can directly add fruits to your water. Add a slice of orange, lemon, or any berries in the water. This will give a twist to the water and kids might like the new taste.

If possible you can also use a built-in infuser water bottle. You can also squeeze lemon juice in water or cucumber and lime slices in it. 

Bubbles – Lots of kids like carbonated drinks. If your child likes it, you can invest in a SodaStream. It allows you to fizz up your water. You can also add flavor to your water and this way you can completely avoid purchasing flavored sweetened drinks. 

Have the Potty Talk

It is important to teach your child the importance of staying hydrated. This might sound something gross to talk about but it is essential. Explain to your kids that dark-colored urine and strong odor is a sign of dehydration. 

Dehydration may lead to various problems including upset stomach and constipation. If you drink enough water, the pee color will be light or pale yellow. This information might just motivate your kids to drink water. 

Give them access

As much as we adults might hate it, kids love doing things on their own. Teach your kid when he/she is young how to drink by themselves. Most toddlers like drinking water when they can do it themselves. 

It is like an activity for them. If your kid doesn’t have access to water, he/she might just avoid drinking it. You can buy a water dispenser and keep it at the reach of children. This way they can drink water whenever they want and stay hydrated.

Add fruits and veggies in their diet

Even after putting in your best efforts, if your kid does not drink enough water, you need to look for other healthy ways. 

One of the ways is to include lots of fruits and veggies with more water content in their diet. This will ensure that your kids stay hydrated. Vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers contain high amounts of water and they can be eaten raw. 

The fruits like watermelons, oranges, berries, pineapples, etc contain large amounts of water. You can make different juices at home each day to make drinking it more fun and this way your child will stay hydrated.

Make sure to clean the vegetables and fruits thoroughly with water or using the purifier, as per your convenience.

Conclusion

Parents play an essential role in ensuring that their kids drink enough water on a daily basis. 

However, it is difficult to know if they are having enough water when they are in school or at a friend’s place. Instilling discipline on themselves when parents are not around is very important. 

Water is crucial for a child’s as well as adults’ health. It hydrates and helps the proper functioning of organs. It regulates body temperature and prevents various health issues like constipation, kidney stones, urinary tract infections, etc. 

We hope this article will help you make your kids drink more water.

Dolly Savla
 

Dolly is a part of the content creation team at reviews.in. Her strength lies in creating content about sports, fitness and lifestyle. Creating art, drinking coffee and reading books, makes her happy when not working with reviews.

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