Lack of healthy options for kids drinks?

[Eseedeepee]

Anyone else genuinely fed up with how unhealthy kids drink options are? Obviously they drink water most of the time, I’m thinking more the options when you’re out - cafes, restaurants, kids parties, a nice alternative for them etc.

I’ve got young kids and I feel like I’m constantly choosing between options I’m not really happy with:

• squash / cordials full of sweeteners
• kids drinks full of sweeteners
• juice that’s loaded with sugar

What really frustrates me is that adults now have endless healthier choices - kombucha, sparking waters, functional and clean drinks etc.
…but for kids it still feels like the choices are basically stuck at sugary juice or brightly coloured squash.

I don’t want loads of sugar, but I also don’t particularly want them drinking artificial sweeteners all the time either.

So I end up doing watered-down juice a lot, which feels like a compromise rather than a proper solution.

Surely I can’t be the only one who feels like there’s a huge middle ground missing here?

Do other people feel the same, or am I massively overthinking this?

What do you actually give your kids to drink?

Have you tried rocks squash??

But you're not making any sense @Eseedeepee - the difference between what you are calling sift drinks "for adults" vs the ones "for kids" is purely that the "adults" ones are not packed with sugar and sweeteners and the "kids" ones are - but there's no actual law that stops you giving the "for adults" one to a child. High sugar things are high in sugar yes but you know full well that low-sugar options exist you just seem to think you can't give them to your children. Kombucha is fine for a 6/7 yo, it's not recommended under age 4 but under age 4 you can enforce sticking to water, milk and occasional fruit juice.

Mine like fizzy unflavoured water, and unsweetened lime juice with either still or sparkling water

My kids drink fruit juices mainly, I water them down.
Sometimes they have a coke, but they arent small. When they were little j didnt let them have coke.
Fruit juice with sparkling water is good.
The flavoured waters also good.
Standard drink when out for a meal was always apple juice, buy a spekling mineral water and mix it with apple juice or orange juice

Well, my DDs have been dragged to lots of cafes and restaurants as kids. They still only drink apple juice (dd2), milk, water and tea (dd2). No fuzzy drinks, they are 14 and 16. Dd1 would love to have a cow as a pet as she drinks that much milk.

My 6 year old would pick a pepsi max or a orange juice
My 7 year old only drinks water or the very occasional apple juice
My 15 year old would pick a milkshake, milk, or water if they wasn't available

I've often found when eating out that you can ask for a 'kid sized' whatever and they often oblige, if they don't I just get an fruit shoot/juice or whatever and take it home and get them whatever it is they want.

At home they just pretty much drink water anyway so idm. Just buy them what you think is healthy if that's your preference on eating out

Why can’t kids have any of the healthy options you mentioned (not sure they are healthier by the way, more just trendy) water is best for adults and kids btw

Nothing other than water or milk is good for anyone to drink. Waters available everywhere, milk is available at a lot of places. You're healthy options are still not great for teeth. If you want to give them a treat that's fine but you will need to accept no other drink is going to be as good as water is for their health/teeth.

Water or a smoothie/pure fruit juice is relatively healthy.

Under 7 I would just get them water. I didn't ever let them have drinks with sweeteners or fizzy drinks. Sugar sometimes - so a good quality hot chocolate, or a babychino, or pure apple or orange juice. But generally water

Ooops my kids drink kombucha sometimes, nothing bad happens. They like Aqua Libra and dash, the no calorie cans of fizzy water with a vague flavour. The 10yr old likes herbal tea and both 10 and 7 love a warm or frothy milk. Like you I dilute fruit juice. I make a banana milkshake often with just blended milk and bananas. Other kinds of smoothies too.

For me, sweeteners are the worst thing you could give kids. I think nothing good can come of those kind of synthetic chemicals in their growing bodies.

In Germany, we have "Schorlen" for kids, it's 1/3 juice and 2/3 sparkling water. You can get it in cafes and it's what kids often drink at home. Squash isn't really a thing here. Schorlen have a lot less sugar than pure juice and no sweeteners.

Have you seen the diluted squash from M&S? It's relatively decent in terms of ingredients

It doesn't bother me, if we go out it's a treat so I let them have a treat, my daughter loves a coke and my son likes Lemonade whilst I treat myself to a wine. It's only the odd occasion so it doesn't do them any harm, they have water the rest of them time at home and school.

My kids only drink water or milk at home the vast majority of the time. They only have water or milk at school, maybe milkshake sometimes. DH and I mostly drink only water or tea/coffee at home too.

So I really don’t stress about fruit shoots, squash, fruit juice, fizzy drinks, hot chocolate etc when we go out. It’s not even once a week.

Here in Japan kids regularly drink green tea. Why would it be a problem? Less caffeine than cola.
Here everywhere you go- corner shop, vending machine, restaurant- you can get chilled green or oolong tea. I'm going to miss it when I go back.

I would think the issue with kombucha was the fermentation, which could produce small amounts of alcohol? But could be wrong

Water, milk, sparkling water. Low sugar choc milk or flavoured sparkling water. You don’t have to give your kids anything you don’t want to?

I don’t understand why your kids need so many options?

Poor kids. Unless you are eating out every second night let them have a treat now and again. People really do get too hung up on this sort of thing.

There’s no need for alternatives. Water is enough. And milk here or there.

Having a J20 every now and then won't kill them. They can have healthy drinks at home.

It's just dawning on me how much of a terrible parent I must be to allow my child an apple juice without a second thought. Not watered down 😱 And he has strategic haribo in the car on the way home to keep him awake after a long day out. Smite me to the firey depths of hell for all eternity 🔥

How do you expect your child/ren to learn things like moderation and making healthy choices, if you take those choices away and make everything "bad" totally forbidden?

Kids can drink everything that adults can drink except alcohol or caffeine! Why cant they have a fizzy water or kombucha? I cant think of any healthy drink option i wouldn't buy my kid except a coffee.

My DH is diabetic and I can assure you the “healthy” options for drinks when you’re eating out don’t exist. It’s almost exclusively Coke Zero or sparkling water. That’s it.

Actually that's totally untrue. Of course water is number one but i can think of plenty of drinks with health benefits!

I think you’re right @JLou08. Our kids had water almost always and never asked for anything else.