We also do only water.  We drink water with every meal.  My kids get milk in smoothies and cream of wheat.  (which is raw milk also).  The only way to get kids to drink water is to make nothing else an option in my opinion.

What about some of the better options like a good tea. My kids love tea, hot or cold. Tea can be considered water intake.  It ads flavor without sugar.  If you want to add something Stevia or honey (if over 1)  is a good option for kids.  Also, Stevia sells powders and liquid drops that are flavored which is a treat around here, but it’s an option.  I like the fresh lemon myself!  Also, dropping in some frozen berries to the water will flavor it naturally and then when the water is gone they get the fruit.  This is a summer favorite around here, too.

You should be drinking 1/2 your body weight in  water a day.  So if you weigh 100 lbs you should drink 50 oz.  So my little darling 4 yr old who weighs 35 lbs should be drinking 17.5 oz and I am positive she does!

Another idea, what about letting them pick out a water bottle (with your approval)?  This might add some fun and desire to use it.  Just a thought.  Also, what if you found out some of the reasons and benefits of drinking water at there age level and used it as a health lesson?  This might make it more understandable on the why of drinking water.

Good luck!

Ahh, the water battle! I have done a variety of things through the years as little ones and not so little ones come along. I find that they naturally drink more during warmer weather, so during the winter months I put more focused effort in encouraging water drinking.

At our house everyone has their own water bottle. They are required to drink at least 1 full bottle between breakfast and dinner time once they are age 4 and up. (These are 18 oz bottles, nowhere near enough.) Once they reach age 10 they are required to drink two water bottles full.

Now, some details. I have one child who drinks little enough naturally that she has literally passed out repeatedly. Scary. She’s old enough now that she drinks water thirsty or not. Having a goal (at least 2 water bottles a day) works for her. I have two children who have dealt with constipation from lack of drinking. They were miserable and now with occasional reminders they drink water. They don’t love it.

Mason is a whole other ball of craziness. Because of some of his medical/nerve issues and a medication he has to take he faces a few challenges:
1. He has dry mouth and things taste bad. (Medication related). He doesn’t like drinking much of anything.
2. He doesn’t sweat and can overheat easily, even in winter.
3. His bowels don’t work so he has constipation without serious daily measures (drinking water and almond milk, daily miralax, avoiding cheese and other constipating foods, and a nightly enema – without which he can’t poop. The muscles and nerves don’t work.)

So with Mason we push fluids in any form we can get. Milk (mixed with almond milk), water, homemade juice popsicles, smoothies (no dairy, just water, fruit, and spinach). He’s 3 years old so he’s not to the point where he understands “you need to drink 1 water bottle full”. But he’ll be there eventually.

We do have milk and the kids drink it about once a day, or less. We don’t offer juice to drink generally, but will make juice popsicles (watered down juice).

Want to know one of the best ways I got some resistant kids in the habit of finishing a water bottle or more per day? I paid them! I’m not kidding. For every day that they met their drinking goal they earned a quarter. We did it for about a month during the winter. I told them ahead of time it was only a temporary thing, that we wanted an encouragement to get in the habit, and after the pay period ended they had built the habit pretty well.

My kids drink more water if there is cold or ice water available.  We now have a fridge with ice/water dispenser, but before that I kept a gallon sized pitcher and a 2 quart pitcher in the fridge (we would drink from one while the other was getting cold).

Juice or lemonade is a big treat here as is tea or cocoa.  I try to limit milk to meal times (and not every meal).  They also like lemon or lime in their water.

For each batch of juice we use:

• 1 cucumber
• 3 stalks of kale (stems removed)
• 1 lemon (peeled)
• 1 green apple (cored)
• 3 stalks of celery
• 3 carrots

That makes about 32 oz of juice. My husband and I have about 12 oz each and we give about 4oz to the kids.

We found a barely used Champion Commercial juicer (the best!) a few years back for a small fraction of the cost of a new one. I think a lot of people buy expensive juicers and then don’t use them as much as they had planned so you can find them discounted on Craigslist, garage sales, or ebay.

We use Thermos brand water bottles that are stainless steel and have a push button to open the lid, but a straw to drink from.  And we LOVE them.  They go everywhere with us.  You can get them at Target and Walmart – and they have kids designs.  I think Target (or Amazon) is the only place to get a ladies’ style, though.  And I have not yet found a man’s style for my husband, which is a bummer.

The bottles are insulated — so much so that I fill my water bottle at night with 4 ice cubes and in the morning, there’s still ice there!  Same for in the car – even in summer.  Obviously, the water does get warm after several hours, but for 3 or 4 hours, it’s still cold.  I’m always amazed at how well insulated the bottles are.

They are pricey ($12-15 for the kids’ styles, $20 for the woman’s) but they are SO worth it!  We’ve had ours for about 4 years now.  I’ve replaced the straw assemblies twice (cheap – $2 per straw assembly) and just replaced one water bottle because the design wore off and my mom found the on clearance at Walmart for $5!

We drink a lot of water here too! They have cups sitting next to our Berkey water filter that they are welcome to drink from at any time. Having said that…. we also have a family milk cow 🙂 So they have unlimited milk too 🙂 But the only sugary drinks they get is an occasional strawberry lemonade that I mix up from our home canned concentrate – and very occasionally they get a soda if we visit a restaurant.