Children, tweens, and teens will often confuse thirst with hunger, headaches, and exhaustion. On the rare occasion that they recognize thirst for what it is, the only thing they believe will quench it is a sugary, empty-calorie laden soft drink or juice box. When you counter-offer with an ice-cold glass of aqua, suddenly the thirst subsides and they would rather eat sand.
The Harvard School of Public Health asserts that these sweet drinks are a major contributor to childhood obesity. So many parents are putting their children on special diets to counter this epidemic, but a quick examination of the number of calories consumed from juices and sodas shows an increase of 60% between 1989 and 2008. This is an average of 209 calories per day from nutritionally bankrupt, cavity causing juices, sodas and sports drinks.
Poor nutrition is a habit, and “junk-drinks” can be a hard one to break—but good nutrition is a habit as well, and you can help your children develop a lifestyle that will help them maintain a healthy weight and avoid serious health issues like heart disease and diabetes in the future.
So you know that your kids need to drink more water, but how do you convince them?
Try Reverse Osmosis
Kids are not shy about refusing something that doesn’t taste pleasant to them. Chlorine is often added to city water, old pipes and hard water may add a bitter flavor, and water sourced from a well may contain high levels of iron, which could give your water a metallic taste. Children have more active taste buds than adults, making their palate more sensitive to these offensive flavors than yours.
An easy fix for all of these complaints is a Reverse Osmosis System. It may sound like a complex science problem, but using multiple sediment filters, an activated carbon filter, and a reverse osmosis filter, this exhaustive process removes anything that could leave a bad taste in your mouth.
Change the Packaging
We all know that kids “eat with their eyes”, meaning that if they don’t find what you put in front of them esthetically pleasing, they will not touch it. Try putting that same principle to work when offering the humble H2O. A fun water bottle, special cup, or a sippy or straw to be used only with water might just make the thought of drinking water a little easier to swallow. Be sure that you’re offering only BPA free drinking vessels, and make sure the cup is special to your child.
Infusion Therapy
There are few things more refreshing that crisp, cold water—but if your child isn’t interested in anything less-than-flavorful, try adding a little splash of flavor in a natural way. Brightening up the taste with a piece of frozen fruit, a splash of lemon, lime, or orange, or a slice of cucumber adds taste without adding unnecessary calories or tooth-rotting sugars. Freezing fun flavor combinations like mint leaves and raspberries, blueberries and lemon, and strawberries and kiwi into ice cubes will make the drink as attractive and fun as it is delicious.
DIY
The famous battle cry from your growing child these days is “I can do it myself!”. Make it easy and mess-free for them to do so! For very little ones, keep a sippy or spill-proof cup or bottle on the lowest shelf of your refrigerator so they can reach it alone. For big kids, keep their favorite cup in reach and allow them to fill it by themselves. The Reverse Osmosis System delivers water in a gentle stream, so there will be no spraying mess to clean up after.
Be a Hydrating Hero
While your morning coffee and afternoon tea will both taste much better using purified water from your RO System, set a good example by drinking plenty of the pure stuff in front of your little ones. Remember, you’re helping them develop lifelong healthy habits, and who couldn’t use a little more ice cold H2O?