Keeping Kids Hydrated
Summer is almost here, which means more time outside riding bikes, going on nature walks, and just running around in general. As kids start spending more time outside playing and exercising, you’ll probably start hearing them say that they are thirsty often. Even though kids are probably hoping for sugary drinks like soda, fruit punch, and sports drinks, you know that what they really need is some good, old-fashioned H2O. Water is essential for keeping kids, and adults, hydrated. How can you encourage kids to drink more when they say the water doesn’t taste good, or that the water isn’t fun?
Infuse Your Water
A great way to add delicious flavor to your water is adding fresh cut up fruit, berries, vegetables, or mint leaves. Adding these will not only give your water some added flavor, it will look more pleasing in the cup or water bottle for your kids. Fill a large pitcher with water and some fruit slices or veggies, put it in the refrigerator, and you’ll have great tasting water waiting for you. Experiment with different flavor combinations. You can also add fruit, berries, vegetables, and mint leaves to ice cubes to use in your water. It’s fun, makes your water taste better, and helps keep it cold!
Make Water More Fun
Kids love things that are fun. Who doesn’t? Some other great ways to make water more fun and enticing to kids is let them choose their own water bottle or water cup. It’s always more fun to drink from a cup with your favorite character and will give your kids ownership as well. Their special cup is for only them to drink from, so make it a game to drink and empty the cup a certain number of times each day.
Shaped ice cubes can also make drinking water a blast for kids. A quick online search for fun shaped silicone ice cube trays turns up a wide variety of choices. From stars and hearts, unicorns and dolphin tails, to spaceships and pineapples, there are ice cube trays to make everyone happy. You could even add a drop of food coloring to the water before you freeze it make the shapes slowly change the color of the water as they melt.
A silly, re-usable straw can also help the water go down better. Options may include a curly straw, a neat stainless-steel straw, or even a bamboo straw. Having that straw available only when drinking water will be a great incentive to use it and have fun, all while hydrating.
The Water Doesn’t Taste Good
Kids might say the water from the tap doesn’t taste good. If you get your water from the local municipality, you know the water is properly treated for consumption. There may be things added to your water that help make it safe, and that can be what your kids are tasting. Chlorine is used as a disinfectant in municipal water to ensure it does not pick up any bacteria along the way, making your tap water smell and taste like a swimming pool. If your water has a metallic taste, it is most likely due to older, corroding pipes.
The solution to these issues is to treat your water. And, the ultimate solution to the best tasting water in your home is to install a reverse osmosis drinking water system. Commonly installed beneath your kitchen sink or in a discreet location such as a basement below your kitchen, a reverse osmosis system uses a series of filtration cartridges and a membrane to reduce the impurities that affect taste in your home’s water. Reverse osmosis water is typically dispensed through a separate tap on your kitchen sink which makes it easy for your kids to draw a tall glass of water before getting back outside.
Not only does a reverse osmosis drinking water system provide great tasting water, it’s also more affordable than purchasing cases of bottled water from the grocery store every week.
Concerned About Your Water?
Do you have concerns with the way your water tastes? Give us a call! We will send one of our trained water experts to test your water. With our line of WaterCare products, we have the solution to get you great tasting water to keep your kids, and you, well hydrated!