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?

Mine take vimto, ds2 would absolutely dehydrate himself rather than drink water. He’s given himself a UTI from not drinking enough before now.
DS1 and DD have squash with lunch but both take water to drink during the day as well, DS2 Isn’t allowed squash in class, so his only drink is at lunch.

Mine have cartons of fresh orange or apple or a bottle of squash. They never have water with their lunch.

Mine had smoothies when they were small.

Box carton of juice (not juice drink)

Some drink more than others, so they take a bottle of sugar free squash as well.

My youngest is the only one to like water, so she sometimes takes that as well as the box.

Vodka 😁

@raspberryk I weirdly prefer orange juice diluted half and half with cold water and lots of ice. More refreshing! People think I'm weird adding water to it

Full fat coke or a Mac D milkshake

Water in his bottle, milk at break provided by the school and I put a carton of apple juice in his packed lunch

I don't have kids but what about homemade lemonade (i.e. sparkling water and lemon?) I am a fan of very sweet things and even I don't find that it needs sugar :)

I am amazed that anyone would give their young children anything but water in their lunchbox.

Thats nice, must be cool to be amazed over such simple crap

Water in a mini sho bottle. Keeps it cold all day.

@squeekums not particularly cool. And not “simple crap” to not take children’s oral health seriously.

A quarter of 5 year olds have tooth decay, almost 9 out of 10 hospital tooth extractions among children aged 0 to 5 years are due to preventable tooth decay, and tooth extraction is still the most common hospital procedure in 6 to 10 year olds.

Water is all young children should be drinking. Like I said, people will get defensive when others disagree with their parenting choices. But you’ll hear the same advice from any dentist that you go to.

@Degree
Most of us don't spend our lives living by the regulations shouted out by Drs and governments, honestly I'd be bored stiff on the recommended diet. Life I's meant to be enjoyed.
We adopt the everything in moderation approach, not the deprivation approach.

Gah, @Derbee
Stupid auto correct, sorry on the UN screwup

Carton of good quality unsweetened juice to go with her lunch. Water bottle for during the day.

She is now 10, every dental check up has been fine and she has never even needed a filling so the juice can't be doing any harm!

Mine has a smaller bottle of weak squash and a large water bottle for during the day. She will drink mostly milk or water at home with the occasional fizzy.

It was water in a refillable bottle for during the day and a carton of 100% juice for lunch.

But as it comes only with evil straws we changed it to a small refill bottle and did use juice or smoothies, whatever was open in the fridge.

@squeekums I totally agree with you about everything in moderation. The way I choose to do that with juice/squash etc is as close as possible to a time when children will be brushing their teeth, so water at school. You choose to do it a different way.

I allow my dd one juice a day. I’m well aware it’s no good for teeth, but I’m as interested in good mental health as I am in good physical health. It would be incredibly boring for my DD to only ever drink water, and she really enjoys the juice. A little bit of what you fancy does you good, I feel.

I also feel I would be hypocritical to only give an orthorexic diet when I myself indulge in moderation. MAfter all, nobody needs (the word we always see bandied around on MN in relation to young children and sugar) gin and tonics, Prosecco or carrot cake. They can’t be said to be good for you. Yet I enjoy them in moderation in an otherwise healthy diet, and my life is happier and richer as a result. I also want my DD to enjoy food and drink and derive some pleasure from it. Which is not to say that purely healthy food can’t be pleasurable, it often can, but sometimes in a different way. Variety is the spice of life, after all.

I've never sent my kids to school with a drink (apart from for trips)! They've always had access to water - at primary, from drinking fountains and jugs/cups at lunchtime. At secondary they take a water bottle if they remember, and sometimes buy some hideous squash-type thing at lunchtime.

They've not completely dehydrated so far.

Ours have either a fruit smoothie or multivitamin juice from lidl

Juice boxes create highly unnecessary single use plastic waste and we as parents need to set a better example to kids by never buying them.

@cricketmum84 what do you class as 'good quality'?

This thread is making me want a carton of OJ! 🤣

water. DD is the grandchild of 2 dentists! She can have squash at home. Diluted juice when we're out.

Not only are these drinks not great for teeth or health, they can also be bad for the environment. I can't imagine why anyone would want to be throwing away 5 juice cartons or pouches everyday.