How to Get My Kids to Drink More Water

my kids love to drink it out of those cool little water bottles...aquapod or the sesame street ones. course, that's my 2 and 4 year old, the 12 year old, i just have to tell him. something that helped was that i stopped making other things so readily available. the water is out and easy to grab and drink. but other things, well, sometimes we don't even have them. i also got some of those little powder mixes you can put in the water bottles to add flavor. try out propel and some of the flavored water capri-sun and minute maid have out, too. we found the flavors of those my oldest likes and i try to always have some of that around, instead of juice and cokes. honestly, i rarely buy juice boxes anymore...just the flavored water...and we don't have coke in the house. they can have it if we're out, but we just don't keep it at the house so it's always there and easy to get. the juice i buy in the big bottles so they have to actually pour a cup of it. they prefer to grab the waters that way. just have to find what works best for your kids.

Like other people here suggested, try water bottles. Including juice, milk, sugar free drinks and water, I was told 5-6 cups a day is sufficient. I had my kids pick out 20 oz water bottles that they liked. They get milk in the morning, then they have to empty the bottle once to get juice or sugar free kool-aid. Just one of those bottles is 2 1/2 of their drinks. I also got a bottle for myself and make myself follow the rule, that went over especially well with my 8 year old.

Make a rule:

1 sweet drink or juice a day the rest of the day its only water.After a week they will start drinking water without you nagging them. Just stick to your own rule!

Let them pick out their own reusable water bottle- favorite characters or design. (I recommend the sigg aluminum ones. A bit expensive, but they keep the water colder longer than plastic & you can buy an insulated wrap with a handy clip for it as well. It'll last forever too.) If they get to choose, they may be more excited about using it. Also, my little guy loves a challenge- I'll say "I bet I can drink more water than you!" -works every time. Your kids can compete with each other...Good luck