To ask at what age you let your DC regularly drink soft drinks?

[UnderTheAntenna]

i.e. not just water or milk (hot choc). How old were they when you let them drink soft drinks on non-special occasions?

The later the better but all juices carried sugar as well.

Even juices labeled as healthy may have more sugar than a typical soda. So make sure you look at sugars per 100ml.

It’s really interesting how defensive people are getting because they give their kids squash / fizzy drinks? Maybe ask yourself why you are feeling so defensive? Is it because you know full well it’s bad for them? It’s your choice, (and their choice once they are older) what they drink. If you want to feed your kids sugar / artificial sweeteners etc in liquid form, that’s your choice. But please don’t berate people who don’t do the same. We all parent differently. I have a lot of diabetes in my family and there is no way I would drink that rubbish, let alone buy it for my children. They turn it down at kids parties, so have never had it. If they ask for it at a party or in a restaurant in the future, they can have it of course, but why would I deliberately feed my children something I know is detrimental to their health. We cook from scratch, we don’t buy sugary drinks / sugar free alternatives or junk food / processed food. That is how we live. If you don’t, that’s your decision.
Also the milk comments are not comparible at all. Children need dairy products to get enough calcium to ensure healthy bone growth and bone density. Unless you are planning to breastfeed them until they are 30, not sure how you get around that fact. Also if you want milk that is safe and doesn’t contain antibiotics, buy organic milk, the regulations are much tighter (for now, wait until we leave the EU and we are trading with America, then food regulation is going to be minefield).

We always have proper juice in the house, mainly for a glass with breakfast.
We also have hi-juice in the house for 2/3 of the kids but they only like it very weak. Probably have 1 glass of it a day when they come home from school.
Rest of the time (eg in water bottles at school/days out, bed time and with meals) it’s water.
2/3 kids like fizzy drinks and are allowed them sometimes if we eat out or if we get a takeay that comes with it. But we only have a takeaway once a month and eat out maybe once every 3 months, oh and the cinema but that’s only a couple of times a year.

Lots of people saying it doesn’t mirror real life etc and ‘only on mumsnet’ etc but honestly, drinking fizzy soft drinks regularly is just not a habit in our house. I’m certainly not a smug healthier than thou type though. My DC eat plenty of chocolate to make up for it and yes applesbananasandpears don’t mention the wine 🤣

I never bought squash or fizzy drinks. None of my friends did either.
I think mine went straight from water to beer. I hate soft drinks unless it is tonic.

Anon10
Wow.. not a snotty ,judgemental reply at all.. nope ..

Not fussed about squash but they get water for school. Fresh fruit juice and milkshakes are a treat. Never have fizzy pop. They’re 6, 7 and 9.

Mine are 3 and 5. 3 year old only really drinks water. He'll ask for squash take a sip, then go for his water cup. 5 year old has apple juice for breakfast, water throughout the day, milk at lunch time and water or squash at tea time. As adults we drink coffee, squash or water. If we're out for a meal kids will have fruit shoot type drink (although youngest won't drink much and have his water). We might have a Diet Coke / orange and lemonade. I don't buy fizzy pop to have in the house at all (except a bottle of lemonade and a bottle of coke at Xmas!!)

I’m not defensive Anon, it doesn’t register what others think regarding juice giving.

Each to their own and all that. I do feel sorry for the poor kids though only having water or milk to drink. How tedious for them. I bet they guzzle fizzy pop round there friends house

Well I’m 27 and I still don’t drink soft drinks regularly. I mean there’s always squash in the house but 95% of the time I drink tap water or milk. My kids will do the same- in fact DD won’t actually drink anything other than water!

I can't control what they're having at friends' houses, but we rarely have it at home. I don't drink anything other than water, tea, milk and the occasional Horlicks or fruit juice, so they're not normally bought anyway. I think this makes it much easier to limit.

My dc are allowed herbal tea, water, milk, black/fruit tea and the occasional coffee (now that they're in their late teens). Mostly they stick to water, milk and the odd tea or weak, milky coffee.

I've asked them to stick to 1 fizzy drink a week (max) and explained my reasons for this. I trust that, for the most part, they do this.

Occasionally we have fizzy drinks in the house (when bought for guests).
For example, we still have Coke Zero, Pepsi Max, etc, left over from a New Year's party and they will occasionally ask to have one.

Mostly they're there for their friends or other guests though, and once gone I won't be replacing them unless we have another get together.

Sorry, to answer your question, they're 14 and 17, and still not allowed (as I don't buy it for them) and I hope that by not being used to having it around they'd stick with this throughout their lives.
The older one had more of a sweet tooth and will usually have fizzy drinks when eating out, etc, whereas the younger one prefers juice.
We also have squash available for friends/guests. It's extremely rare that they'll ask for any squash though, although a few years ago my youngest probably had 1 a week, mainly when a certain friend was around.

Pk37, agreed re that post. I refrained from bothering with a reply but I'm 100% with you.

I do feel sorry for the poor kids though only having water or milk to drink.

You’re being ridiculous. Do you feel sorry for children who have dietary restrictions for cultural or religious reasons? Do you imagine that all these people who just never developed a palate for soft drinks are yearning for them while being patrolled by intense parents? My children DON’T LIKE squash. They say it’s too sweet and tastes artificial - which it does. Soft drinks aren’t some delicious food stuff that we all aspire to. They’re just a choice that many people make when deciding what to drink.

How about I feel sorry for your children being given unhealthy, artificial, sugar and additive laden liquid when they were too young to even have a choice because you decided it was nicer for them. I don’t feel sorry for them, I couldn’t care less but that’s the flip side of what you said.

If they don’t like squash that’s a different story to never being allowed it though!

No, it isn’t. They don’t like it because they were never given it so never developed a taste for it or habit of drinking it.

Maybe it’s just where we live but none of the kids drink juice or fizzy drinks at home and are quite happy to drink water wherever they are. I think it’s the herd mentality thing, my kids have never complained about other kids getting pop when they don’t becuase they rarely see it outside of a fruit shoot at a birthday party. And even then half the kids choose water.

Mine drink water, milk and squash at home. They are 2 and 7. I drink sparkling water a lot and occasionally the older one will have some of that with a bit of squash in.

If we are having a meal out or are at a party/event, he will have a bit of fizzy but the 2 year old doesn't.
They both have (according to the dentist) perfect teeth. Older DS is 7.5 and has only lost four bottom teeth, his top ones are still going strong and hanging on in there... I'm told the longer they keep them the better. Must be the glass of milk every night before bed!

*I do feel sorry for the poor kids though only having water or milk to drink.

You’re being ridiculous. Do you feel sorry for children who have dietary restrictions for cultural or religious reasons? Do you imagine that all these people who just never developed a palate for soft drinks are yearning for them while being patrolled by intense parents? My children DON’T LIKE squash. They say it’s too sweet and tastes artificial - which it does. Soft drinks aren’t some delicious food stuff that we all aspire to. They’re just a choice that many people make when deciding what to drink.

How about I feel sorry for your children being given unhealthy, artificial, sugar and additive laden liquid when they were too young to even have a choice because you decided it was nicer for them. I don’t feel sorry for them, I couldn’t care less but that’s the flip side of what you said.*

This with bells on

Where I grew up there were no chain burger places so no McD’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut etc. And because of that I can’t stand that food! The first time I tried McDonalds I couldn’t believe what the fuss was about, so salty and sweet.
It’s all about habit, if you don’t develop the taste or habit for this stuff you don’t want it.

How do you know they don’t like it if they’ve never had it?

You as a parent chose for your children to develop a taste for sweet drinks. I as a parent chose not to. That doesn’t make you a better, kinder or more loving parent. Honestly it doesn’t and you truly don’t need to feel sorry for people who don’t like sugary drinks.

That doesn’t answer my question though. If they’ve never had it you can’t know they don’t like it.

Because they’ve tasted it as I have said in a previous post.

My son is 10, squash is fine (I don't see it as good at all but it's no different to the Kool-Aid type stuff we had in the US when I was a child). Thankfully he's mostly off squash and prefers water at the moment. Or apple juice (which I realise has loads of sugar in so he has it in small amounts.)

Good thing about Coke etc is I don't like fizzy drinks so I don't have them in the house, and the knock on effect has been he doesn't like them when he has them. He has the option to buy it as school discos etc and doesn't.

I'm not being precious, he gets sweets fairly frequently. I just think Coke should be treated as a sweet; it has all the sugar of one.