How to successfully make you child drink more water…

One of those age-old battles when you are a parent, is to get your child to drink more water.  I will be honest now and admit it’s a battle I have with myself, as well as my children.  So I thought I would write a little bit about some of the ways I go about making my children drink more water. The ones I have had the most success with, and always go back to.

• Almost three-quarters of parents (73%) do not know how much their children drink whilst at school
• Two thirds (66%) do not know the recommended daily intake of fluid for children
• The British Nutrition Foundation has raised concern after a recent study revealed that 65% of children aged five to sixteen years are not drinking enough throughout the day.

So how can we change this?

• At meal times always have a jug of iced water on the table
• If they kids are home doing homework or revision, give them a glass of water and a healthy snack.  You will be amazed how they will drink it quickly without even realising it.
• Add fruit to the water, either frozen or sliced fresh out of the fridge. Colourful things like, Lemons, limes and oranges work well, as do strawberries and grapes.
• Invest in a water bottle that shows them how much to drink and when.  We like the new BRITA Fill&Go Water bottle, that I am going to explain in more detail below.
• Provide straws. Sounds silly but children love to use straws, so having lots to hand in different designs and colours works
• Fizz up you water.  We use a soda stream to give a little bubble fun.
• Make water taste good. We, like many people, live in a hard water area, and a common complaint with out eldest is the water tastes funny.  Since we invested in a BRITA water filter, no such complaints!
• Tell them why! I try to remember to tell my girls all the time that their bodies need water to function properly, especially in the morning as I pack their bags with a water bottle, telling them their brains need water in order to function that day.

We have been testing out the Fill&Go water filter bottle from BRITA,  It filters your water while you drink. It has an integrated carbon filtration (4 discs are included in the pack) which turns your ordinary tap water into great tasting, freshly filtered BRITA water.  We also added the stickers pictured below, to the bottle so that we could keep a track on the amount Nia was drinking, and she knew when to try to drink more, and by what point.

Her aim was to drink two full bottles each day.  Some days she found it easy, especially when she went straight to her Cheer practice, in fact she drank three bottles worth then.  Other days were harder, but having a goal definitely helped.  We both agreed though, that it definitely tasted better, fresher less chemical tasting I think, and that made drinking more water way easier.

Stickers we added to the Fill&Go with break and lunch time water drinking goals

All you need to do each week is change the BRITA Fill&Go Filter disc and fill the bottle with tap water as normal. When you are home the bottle can be placed in the dishwasher.

Overall it was a great success, she drank more, and was more inclined to fill her bottle each morning, and again in the evening, or before an after school activity, before reaching for less healthy drinks, so we generally were really pleased!

Here are some more useful facts:

The EFSA’s ( European Food Safety Authority) recommendations for water intake in children

• Boys and Girls :  4 to 8 years Amount of fluid in drink only (not including that found in food)  1.1-1.3 litresGirls : 9 to 13 years Amount of fluid in drink only 1.3-1.5 litres per dayBoys : 9 to 13 years Amount of fluid in drink only 1.5-1.7 litres per day
• For more information please visit the BRITA website:  and the BRITA Fill&Go page: 
  or follow the hashtag #BetterWithBRITA