Babysitting my 5-year-old niece Kiara, and 8-year-old nephew Aarav for a while now, I have learned so much about children. And one of them is that some kids JUST DO NOT DRINK WATER. Kiara does okay but damn that naughty boy. We had to try every possible idea we came across before we settled on to a few tricks that worked well for him. Below is the list of ideas I totally vouch for. ( p.s- it is easier said than done, and yes it might take a while, and quite a few attempts before you can get your little one to have the required amount of water. Good luck!)
Be a good role model: Sometimes I wonder if I should just make this a universal statement and copy-paste it across all of the parenting articles because it is by far the easiest and the most effective way to inculcate any long term habit. Children want to do every single thing they see their parents do. You want them to have water, you might as well sit with a glass of water yourself and see the magic happen.
Take them shopping: It will be so much easier to make them have water in a glass or a water bottle with their favorite cartoon character on it than in the not so fancy cup at home. The best part about this, it works for all children’s age groups alike. To make it even more exciting, get accessories like silly straws and color-changing mugs. We got Aarav a few straws and now he likes it more than he likes me. As a parent, you have to make sure the product chosen is safe and kid-friendly.
Add some flavor: Infused water is a fun way of adding a taste element to the Oh so tasteless water!! You can experiment with your choice of herbs and fruits, or check out a few variants of infused water. I bet you’ll love this as much as your little monkeys.
Turn this into a game: “Let’s see who gets up and fills their water cup first”, is a far more attractive statement to listen to rather than “ go have some water honey”. You can come up with your own versions’ time and again. And do put these fun games down in the comment section, all of us could use some of that creativity.
Freeze some fancy ice-cubes: I love this one. There are so many cool shapes to choose from. Every time they have water let them put one cube of their choice.
Reward them: Yeah it’s not a good thing to bribe and stuff, so this is literally the last option and obviously a temporary one until you work things out. Meanwhile, it’s ok if they have a piece of chocolate at the end of the day if they’ve had their set goal of water for the day.
