Are Your Kids Drinking Enough Water?

If you could choose any drink to enjoy, the chances are you wouldn’t pick water. We all know that water is vital for our health and that it is important to drink enough every day, but it isn’t the most interesting choice.

There are far tastier drinks on the market, especially if you’re a primary school-aged child, which is perhaps why new research has found that most children aren’t drinking enough water.

A study commissioned by the Natural Hydration Council (NHC) has found that water only makes up around a quarter (26 per cent) of the drinks consumed by those aged between five and nine. This is just a four per cent increase compared to last year, meaning children still aren’t getting enough water.

In fact, just one in three of the drinks children in this age group have are actually good for their teeth, with most other drinks being full of sugar. While children do also drink plain milk, this accounted for just ten per cent of what they drink, meaning they might not be getting enough calcium either.

While the amount of water drunk by five to nine-year-olds has improved slightly – although it is still nowhere near as high as it should be – so has the amount of diet or low-calorie fizzy drinks. Children now drink more diet soda than water, with these drinks making up 30 per cent of the total drinks consumption.

Although diet soft drinks contain a lot less sugar, which could be why there has been an increase in the amount being drunk, they can still cause damage to teeth, especially among children. Dr Nigel Carter from the Oral Health Foundation said: “Some of the ingredients in many of them, such as phosphoric acid, citric acid and tartaric acid can be damaging and lead to dental erosion. The best drinks to look after your oral health are water and milk.”

But it’s not enough to simply try and get your little ones to drink healthy alternatives and more water, as they are influenced by what you drink too. Another recent report called ‘Drink as I do: The Influence of parents’ drink choices on children’ found that children are three times (192 per cent) more likely to drink fizzy drinks if their parents do.

This means that letting your children see you drinking more water and milk – even if you’d rather be enjoying something else – could help to encourage them to do the same. Not only is this better for their health in the long-run, it can also help to enforce healthier habits as they get older.

Psychologist Emma Kenny said: “Every child is a copycat kid at heart and parents are their major role models, meaning they pick up on parents’ behaviour easily…

“The research highlights that children often mimic their parents’ selections and this means that parents are in the perfect position to enable the best choice possible. If parents choose plain water as their main beverage, it follows that children will make it their main drink of choice, leading to healthy, hydrated kids.”

This means you may need to kick your own Diet Coke habit if you want your little ones to kick theirs!