What do your younger kids have as a drink in their lunch box?

[whatthewhatthewhat]

Water seems so boring. Don't want anything with sweetener. Used to use Capri sun until they switched to sweeteners... ideas?

Water. Tooth decay is at an all time high and drinks are one of the many things to blame.
I’d much rather give a boring drink than see them in agony with a tooth or having them sedated to pull their rotten teeth out.

I just don’t understand why people would give their young children juice for lunch at school, when they won’t be brushing their teeth for many hours. It’s different at home

I give my kids orange juice with lunch. When they have sugar I don't think they need to rush off and brush their teeth straight away. I think some people can be a bit obsessive about sugar and teeth brushing having read things on different threads on here. My kids have juice, fizzy drinks, chocolate etc. They brush their teeth morning and night and don't have any fillings.

Carton of juice for lunch, water the rest of day. Mainly water at home. Fwiw I was given a flask of juice for lunch most days as a kid. Still have all my own teeth, which the dentist tells me are pretty good

Can of White Lightning high alcohol cider. One of your 5 a day, and good for your teeth because all the sugar has turned to alcohol.

I would presume that all schools encourage water and frown upon any other drinks? At my children's school they are only allowed water.
As a dentist can I make a point about "sugar" free and "no added sugar" fruit based drinks. They are still bad for your teeth and can cause acid erosion, which is tooth wear. In some cases I've seen teeth eroded so severely that the nerves inside the teeth have been exposed.
By all means give your child the occasional treat, but for every day school, I'd stick to water for as long as you can. When those children get to a certain age, and have their own pocket money and extra freedom, it's much more difficult to control, so try and promote good habits from the beginning that will hopefully stick.

Just water here too. They haven't commented that it's boring but it's what they're used to (we have water with meals at home as well so it's the norm for them).

Mine only have water because they’re jot allowed anything else (although doesn’t seem to be rigorously policed).

Squash is fine. Teach them good mouth hygiene and there shouldn’t be a problem - like others I had pure orange juice every day from about 8 months, rarely drank water. Only have one filling and that’s because I chipped a tooth that could be filled.

I am amazed with all the hand wringing tbh, to counter those that find it amazing others allow their children drinks other than water.

Mine have a flavoured water or yazoo in with their lunch and a water bottle filled with tap water for general drinking

I thought most primary schools only allowed water, not just because of the teeth but because juice/squash is sticky to clean off tables.

Water - in a reusable water bottle - no need to add to the piles of plastic etc that a bought drink would add on a daily basis.

I do not understand why you'd give anything BUT water to your children?! No wonder so many children are getting their teeth pulled.

Is it not better to have a non water drink alongside a meal rather than outwith a mealtime? No-one is saying their child is chugging juice all day.

OkPedro one of my teenagers doesn't like anything other than water. He's been offered plenty of other options over the years (though not for the school water bottle) and always refuses. Not all teenagers want to go out and sneak alcohol or fruit shoots!

I just don’t understand why people would give their young children juice for lunch at school, when they won’t be brushing their teeth for many hours. It’s different at home.
You could say that about many things though, starchy foods for example are not especially good for teeth.
Juice is best drunk at mealtimes and drunk through a straw. My kids only use a bottle straw at school at home they use a glass so lunchtime is arguably the best time to drink juice.

well i'm a bad mum
my 7 year old has a fruit shoot/capri sun or ribena mini in his lunch box.
He also drinks juice all through the rest of the day.
He doesn't like milk or water and has nice teeth.
Don't hate

I only give mine water and they still had to have a small filling. No sweets either. Massive lecture from the dentist about how bad juice is and to only have at mealtimes. I did say we don’t even do that and he clearly didn’t believe me.

Off topic but some people just have shit teeth! Some can chug all the juice they want and be fine. I’ll carry on as we are as mine seem to be susceptible to decay.

I do not understand why you'd give anything BUT water to your children?!
Do you usually find it hard to understand the obvious?

@danceswithdeath what do you not understand? Maybe we can help you! The basic answer is because I want to! My kids have water, sometimes they have squash or fresh juice and gasp the 11 year old sometimes has a glass of coke/lemonade. So fucking what!! They go to dentist every 6 months and so far all is good..

@micemicemice clearly we are going to hell!!!

I am not really worried about whether children have juice or water, for me it is the piles of plastic that go with those mini drinks every day. At least a reusable bottle filled with squash if child needs flavour cuts done on all that waste. Perhaps it’s just me but seeing the ocean swimming in plastic has made me hyper aware to cut done as much as possible.

I never really drank water as a child - never liked it. No fillings here at age 30.

I still don't drink it much nowadays unless it's carbonated. Plain water is dull dull dull.

Just an idea if you are a squash hater what about those Twinings cold water tea bag things? Can't remember what they are called, Infusions or something similar.

There is fuck all wrong with sweetners. It’s been proven many times.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/medicalxpress.com/news/2019-07-safety-world-popular-artificial-sweetener.amp

@Dogsarebetterthancatsok that’s not actually true. Drinks with sweetener cause less damage than drinks with sugar. However, all drinks cause more enamel erosion than water.

Sweetened drinks should be with a meal, knowing that your children will be brushing their teeth within a couple of hours. Not at school.

Everyone will always get defensive of their parenting choices when others disagree. But I stand by what I said, I am amazed that anyone would give their young children anything but water in their lunchbox.