To not give my child energy drinks...

[Stressedtothehilt]

My dd1 is 9 and partakes in a competitive team sport that is predominantly boys only. She also does martial arts. It seems that many children in the team sports are given energy drinks ie powerade and lucozade sport. Dd has always taken water, she likes it and I've never thought any different.

However at training one evening another child commented to their parent that Mini Hilt only had water to drink and that she should have powerade when running around. Childs father nodded quietly and said nothing. Dd quite able to stick up for herself told child that water will rehydrate her and stop her getting spots when she's older!!!!

Dd has county trials coming up that will be tough going and hard work, should I let her take an energy drink? Will it give her an energy boost if she's flagging??. I'm not sure as never used them! I was under the impression that under 16s shouldn't have these drinks at all although wasn't sure why.

Will be back to check replies later x

A rather worrying trend I've seen with my form is the consumption of energy drinks (Monster, Red Bull etc) for breakfast! They are disgusting things - they are completely different from 'sports' drinks but are often marketed in a similar way but aggressively targeting young people. We have to ban them from the coaches on school trips abroad otherwise the students don't get any sleep at all!

It's a concern if both sports drinks and energy drinks shouldn't be consumed by under 16s though there's obviously clear reasons why which I don't think are made clear enough

energy drinks like redbull and monster became popular when dd was still in high school I wasn't aware she was buying them , she was wired to the moon I had to ban them 1 of the local shops used to ID kids so they wouldn't sell them to under 16s , I know the locozade sport is popular with kids in dds year at school i feel sorry for the teachers tbh kids wired and unable to concentrate filled with sugar and caffine

In our local kids soccer club they are not allowed sports drinks, in fact they are only allowed water. They had a dietician in to talk to the parents and he basically said that unless you were an adult, elite athlete - ie elite sports was your job, that the drinks did far more harm than good. (The dentist they had in was also less than complimentary)

Water and a banana is SOOOOO much healthier.

Thank you guys I will tell her she can drink the, when she plays for England ladies team will give her something to aim for ;)

One of our shops in town has a sign saying they won't sell them to under 16's due to the amount of caffeine in them. Your DD is quite sensible imo.

Water and maybe a pinch of salt is all you need. I've run marathons, and have never bothered with energy drinks.

Water is fine. My DDs take dried fruit to snack on if they are training for 3 or 4 hours.
DS started hankering after gatorade/ powerade stuff for footie matches and I indulged him for a while until I realised how quickly they then want to move on to Red Bull and Monster which are just full of caffeine and nasty stuff. So, just water now. Dried fruit/ cereal bars keep up energy levels if they are flagging but water is enough to drink!