If you thought feeding kids vegetables was tough, this will blow your mind.
Kids can throw quite a tantrum if you ask them to drink plenty of water too.
Shocking, is it not?
Some kids are fussy eaters. Some are fussy drinkers. And some, quite frankly, are both. If you are struggling with getting your kid to drink enough water everyday, this article might actually be of immense help to you. It may just solve your problem, getting your kid to fall in love with drinking water!
How, you ask? Just make drinking water fun!
Once you do that, you will find your kids gulping down that glass on their own, without you having to remind them!
Curious for the tips and tricks we have up our sleeve? Keep reading!
- Get fun, colourful sippers and water bottles
- Play a water drinking game
- Give them the ice cube avatar
- Add fresh fruit slices to their water
- Throw in a silly straw in their glass of water
- Get your kids to serve themselves
- Lead by example
- Implement a reward system
Kids love a pop of colour! And if you want to gravitate your child’s attention towards water, packaging it in a colourful sipper might be a great idea. Just the fun appearance of the sipper might encourage them to drink from it. Same holds true for their school water bottle. Just make sure to let your kids pick their bottles and sippers when shopping for them. That way, you can really know it is their favourite!
Quite similar to the adult version of a drinking game, you can increase your kids water intake by playing a fun game. For example, every time they get a maths problem wrong while doing homework, they have to drink a small glass of water; while every time they get right, you have to drink one. Turning it into play will be a fun challenge for them!
This works particularly well during summers! Freezing ice cubes in interesting shapes and adding them to your kid’s glass of water will surely get them chomping and drinking in no time! Since summer is the season for extra hydration and the benefits of drinking more water are endless, this trick could really get your kids excited about water.
Plenty of kids shy away from drinking as much water as they should because they do not like the way it tastes. If your child has the same issue, adding a couple of slices of their favourite fruit to water can make it a more appetising option for kids, thus encouraging them to drink more.
If there is one way to make water cool for kids, silly straws is it. Coming in a wide variety of shapes, from squiggly lines to a pair of spectacles, these straws can add that fun-factor to drinking water. Thus, enticing your kids to get their daily fill of this life essential beverage.
Most kids forget to have water simply because they have not been served. Give them the autonomy though and they will keep coming back for more! Show your kids how to serve water and tell them that they have the full freedom to drink water any time they want and their interest in drinking will rise by leaps and bounds!
Kids love to copy the adults around them and that is a known fact. If you want your children to increase their daily water intake, lead by example. Show them that you make it a point to accomplish your daily water target, and drink in front of them frequently. That can have an inspiring effect on your kids.
Finally, if you just cannot get your kids to have water, reward them for accomplishing their daily water goals. Steer clear of unhealthy rewards such as extra dessert, extra TV time as much as possible and try to implement healthy rewards instead. This could be anything such as a repeat of their favourite bedtime story, half an hour extra outdoor playtime and the like.
How much water should we drink in a day: a broad idea
You might find your kids asking you, “how much water should we drink in a day?”, and the answer to that is relative. That said, kids aged 4 to 8 should have 5 cups of water; while those aged 9 to 13 should aim for 6 cups a day. Individual requirements may vary.
What are the benefits of drinking more water?
There are plenty of benefits of drinking water for your kids:
- Keeps them hydrated
- Improves mood, focus and memory
- Ensures proper blood circulation
- Keeps the bones and joints cushioned and in good shape
- Helps in proper digestion of food
- Improves their skin and many more!
What are some fun facts about drinking water?
If you want to get your kids more excited about staying hydrating, here are some fun facts about drinking water that can help:
- Water is way more essential for survival than food
- Only 1% of the earth’s water is fit for drinking
- The human brain is about 75% water
- The body can lose water not just while urinating or sweating but also during breathing
- Drinking water can help you solve problems as water helps in producing neurotransmitters and hormones that are responsible for improving brain function
- Even a tiny leak in your faucet can lead to the wastage of about 75 litres of drinking water in a day
Fascinating is it not? Water is so crucial for our daily functioning and survival. Though getting your kids to drink adequate amounts can be a challenge, you can use the above ways to make drinking water fun. At EuroKids, we encourage our teachers as well as the parents of our students to implement the above ways so kids can stay adequately hydrated. Every practice we follow at school is geared towards the betterment of our children. To know more about us, pay us a visit.
