can you get your children to drink water?

My kids are just not normal..LOL They eat their veggies, even cauliflower & broccoli. They love brussel sprouts too. Sometimes I need to remind them about drinking water instead of juice but otherwise I have no problems getting them to drink water.

My son doesn't especially like water, but if that's what I give him, that's what he gets. He knows who is boss, and it certainly is not him. I don't allow him to have any kool-aid, and I really limit the amount of juice he has as well. When he gets juice it's 4 oz water 4 oz juice, and he doesn't get it every day. He knows that he has to drink milk and water most days, and that is fine with him. Of course that might also be because I only drink water most days as well, and my husband just drinks milk and water at home, and saves coffee for on the way to work, and an occasional soda at work, too.

It varies of a lot from one to another - like that of us the adult. My little nice simply loves to drink water and only water whereas I have seen many who do not want to do so. It is difficult to tell them the importance of drinking water. But in that case, you need to try to develop a habit - just like their studies etc. That seems to be the only way out. Otherwise, let them drink other liquids or fruit juices a lot, if they want to have it.

My daughter does drink water. But, only bottled water, and capri sun water coolers. She also loves any flavored water. Try flavored water. It tastes the same as juice or kool aid to a small child. Tell them its juice. They probably won't know the difference!

We and our daughters drink water, lot of it. They also drink cold drinks.

well,my daughter drink water and anything I give her. why dont you try to hid those drink and put water in a nice bottle or some cup that design for the kid. try not to let them drink juice for one day, i think they might want to drink water. :)

i don't have any child yet... but as a child, i know that i have to follow what my parents tell me to do... so if they ask me to drink water, then i have to do it... no question asked... they tell me that as long as i stay in their house, i have to follow their rules... so i believe i will do the same thing when i have a child on my own in the future... if they don't want to drink water, then let them feel the thirst... or if they want Kool-aid or juice, ask them to buy it using their own money... as simple as that...

My kids don't mind drinking water but as I don't drink it myself, I won't force them to drink it! I often get flavoured water or cordials. That way they are still drinking water but it tastes nice. I don't know what kool aid is but I assume it's some kind of fizzy thing. You could buy fizzy water instead so it's not like you would have to have both.

I'd have to agree with some of the folks on here, try flavored water. It's better than nothing. And if that doesn't work, use Kool-aid and juice as a treat or remove it completely.

For me, it's not hard for me to give my son a water to drink. In fact, he used to have it on his own. He frequently open our fridge to get cold water because the weather is so humid. But for every meal time, he loves to have cold juice or soda.

When a child is given the choose of what they want to drink they will almost never ask for water. I have six children I when they have supper they get a glass of water then if they drink it and still want some thing to drink I give them what they want. It was advice my mom gave me, and it worked. Some times they will come in now and ask for water to drink. So I guess some times moms do know best.

My daughter has urinary tract infection and she needs to drink lots and lots of water. She's not fond also of drinking water and she hates it. What I'm doing to her right now is to always remind her of drinking water. She has two 1.5 liter bottles of water with her name on them so that I can track her drinking. I also told her that if she will not finish the 2 bottles in a day the next day I will put 1.5 liter bottle of water in her bag without any food. But I will not do that to her. I just want her to feel that I have the authority.

I too started my girls very early on water and never gave my oldest any juice until she turned two. So water is usually her first choice. I think some of the previous answers were great - flavored water or slowly diluting it more and more is an awesome idea. I remember when I switched to skim milk - one day I was at a friends house and she gave me whole milk, oh my gosh it tasted sooo sweet to me I couldn't believe it and didn't care for it. A lot of proffesionals who believe there should not be any sugar in your diet say you should start by cutting down a day or two until you can go through the weekdays without sugar and then have some sugar on the weekends after a couple weeks of doing this they say you won't be enjoying sugar as much as you think you did. I have not tried this and I really don't want to because I love my treats but I thought I would share this anyway.

My son used to hate water, but when he started school he started drinking water. When you are at school all day water is your only option other than milk at lunchtime.

thats easy! forget about telling them to drink water! Make up some juice drinks for them and add a little more water. Tomorrow make up some more and add just a little bit more water again. Encourage them to drink it. Next day add more water. soon they will be drinking water and won't even miss the KoolAid drinks.

my daughter is 22 months old, i have no problem with having her to drink water, the problem is, she also drink coffee, and soda, whenever i drink those stuff,.. i just let her sip a little... how can i explain to her that its bad for her health but mom is drinking it...

my son loves water. we used to drink soft drinks during meals and he would have some too. Than we stoped buying soft drinks (we would get some for visitors and hide them where he wont be able to find them) so I would fill his little jug with water and put it on the table and everytime he wanted a drink I would show him the jug. Now he hardly ever drinks soft drink even juice. If he wants something to drink he asks for water even when we have visitors or go somewhere and everyone else is drinking soft drink he prefers water.

All four of my kids will drink water. At dinner they are offered only two choices; milk or water. They will also drink water when they are doing their sports. The baby will take some water if she can drink it from a water bottle, especially if she knows its not hers. She loves anything thats not hers!

As others have mentioned, if there is nothing but water, they will at some point drink it. I finally just decided to stop buying any juice drinks. Sometimes I do buy the flavored water drinks, but otherwise they just have to get used to it.

i started giving my daughter water when she was young..after a year old i believe...and she loves water and all types of drinks..