How to Get Your Family to Drink More Water

It’s hot outside, and it is so easy to get busy playing that children (and we moms!) forget to stay hydrated. Yes, playing with water is great, but drinking water is extremely important. In fact, it’s important to drink plenty of water when we’re outside getting hot and sweaty, but it’s really important to drink water all year long no matter what the weather or what activities we’re doing.

To be honest, though, drinking water can seem pretty boring, and that can make it hard for us to stay motivated to drink enough each day. And if we’re not drinking much water, our children probably aren’t either!

My children like to drink water when there are colored Lego ice cubes in it! We enjoyed an awesome activity with ice legos. Read on and share your tips in the comments. We’d love to hear how you encourage drinking more water during the day.

My favorite way of drinking water is to freeze small fruits like blueberries, raspberries, grapes, and blackberries and add them to the water. I also like adding lemon or lime juice into the water.

Along those same lines, it’s also fun to make ice cubes out of juice. Doing this adds a bit of flavor to the water. It can add some pretty color too, if you use brightly colored juice or a brightly colored juice blend. Just be careful to buy 100% juice. Many juices have added sugars that you don’t want.

Another thing that helps encourage children and adults to drink water is to have water bottles in the refrigerator that are filled and ready to drink. You can keep a pitcher of water in the fridge instead, but having water bottles that are ready to grab and go is really helpful–especially on days you’re in a hurry. There are lots of kid-friendly water bottles available.  Tervis makes very good quality water bottles too, and they have some very pretty and cute designs!

There are some great water bottles available now that make it easy to infuse fresh fruit into your water! You can use whatever fruit you have on hand that you and your children enjoy. You can also infuse herbs like fresh mint. Sweet mint or peppermint infused into water makes it so refreshing on a hot day!

Some moms choose to dilute juice with water. This can be a good way to begin teaching your children to drink water. At first, you can mix juice with a small amount of water. As your children get used to the taste, you can add more water and less juice. Keep going until your children are drinking water without added juice.

And finally, some children may be more likely to drink water if you simply make sure the water tastes fresher and cleaner. Using a water filter can help ensure that your water is fresh and clean and as free of chemicals and pollutants as possible. You can use a water pitcher or the kind of filter that attaches to your faucet.

Below are a few other articles you might enjoy on this topic.

• 10 Ways to Get Kids to Drink More Water by Kids Activities Blog
• Water Chart by Teaching Mama
• How Much Water Do Kids Need by DIY Inspired

Do you have any tips to share with us? We would love to hear how you get your children to drink more water and how you remember to drink more water yourself.