Just a tip from a mom.....

[Ttulipss]

My girls love juice! They would drink it all day if they could and refuse water! They are 2 & 3 and no longer need to have their juices diluted, but I still do it anyway.....

1) Saves on juice!
2) They're only getting 1/2 the sugar, etc
3) They're getting water, that they would refuse anyway
4) They don't even know the difference

We are implementing a drink schedule and it seems to be going well....still trying to get dh to adhere ~ he's not on this schedule ~ just has to make sure he follows it in terms of what he gives the girls.

Milk for breakfast and dinner
Juice at lunch
Water at all other times

[Darster]

Better for their teeth, too!

We found it also helps to have one of those containers in the fridge that has a 'spigot' on it, so kids can get their own drink of water, and when it's cold from the fridge and fun to dispense they're more likely to get a drink of water. To save money on dishwashing, they can also have their own cup in the fridge handy.

[mommy2makayla]

My daughter will be 2 in October and she will drink ANYTHING!! LOL The watered down juice is great and saves on $$$! She will drink water most of the time....and she ONLY gets water after she has brushed her teeth at night. Great advice!!!

[Ttulipss]

Just an update on the drink schedule....the girls have it down. They'll ask for juice and I'll ask them if it is breakfast, lunch, or dinner and when they respond that it's none of them I'll ask them okay, so what do we have to drink?......."WATER!" My 2 yr old will try to protest at times, but I tell her she can have whatever at the next meal (and we're not overly strict....they may get chocolate milk on occasion for breakfast and sometimes a little soda at lunch). She may throw a little tantrum, but I will leave her cup or bottle of water out and sure enough she'll be drinking it within 2 minutes!

[charmd_mom]

thanks for your great ideas! my kids love chocolate milk (using Ovaltine) but I don't give it to them ALL the time. Water is definately terrific!

[Italianlady]

I know I'm out of my element here since I don't have kids of my own but when I babysat for my one young niece, (and younger sisters) we did many of the same things you guys posted about the water. What I also did to make it fun for her to WANT to drink water was to put a slice of lemon or orange or a cherry or two in the glass and that way it had a bit of flavor, looked pretty, and she always thought that the fruit slice at the bottom of the glass was like candy! Actually, I do that same thing for myself all the time

Hapyy & Safe Labor Day to all!!!

[aprilgail]

My daughter drinks about 40 ounces of milk a day still (she will be 2 in Nov) she isn't crazy about juice, which I am fine with since it is mostly sugar anyway....but she will sit down and drink glasses of water...occasionally when I am running short on milk I will water that down!

[mama2calli]

The only juices I don't dilute are those containing calcium so that way they can have enough calcium...as my girls prefer to drink water over anything (forget about milk, they hate it even with chocolate in it) I generally need to find alternate sources of calcium intake for them (yogurt, cereal bars etc)

Kath