Getting child to drink water
What are the gentle parenting ways of getting your child to drink water? We give my child a cup with every meal and he always chooses to drink it at the end after all his food is finished, unless it’s slightly spicy or if he doesn’t like the food; then he will drink water throughout the meal. Sometimes he chooses to ask “why” a million times on why he has to drink the water, even though he’s been told so many times why he has to drink water(yes I know this typical toddler behavior). We drink water all the time to show that we drink water/ it’s important to drink water. He will very slowly eventually drink the water with constant reminders to drink it on days where he chooses to ask why a billion times, but I’d like to avoid this if I can? What’s the way to do this? Cuz at this point I just have him sit in his chair until he finishes it and I won’t give him seconds or any snacks until he finishes his water.
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At this point it seems like he may see water as something chore-like. Kids love to go against what adults show as essential/important 😜 I've had the best luck with making something that becomes a task (ie cleaning, brushing teeth, drinking water) into little songs or games, something silly but rewarding in a way, whether or not it's just positive encouragement through words. Making him sit there and finish may feel sort of like a punishment, when of course it's purely caring. Obviously some why questions are just cause they love the word 🙄but personally, I think it's important to explain the why - because we're made of water!! Big squishy water blobs haha idk being silly but genuine about it has definitely helped me
Try the flavored water every kid is different i gave my kids water when they were super young and they love it
Put ice in it!
You could make it like a game or compition in the family of who can drink the most glasses of water a day? Print out or draw a piece of paper full of cups or bottles, put it into a poly pocket sheet or laminate it, let him colour in with a whiteboard marker each time he drinks a glass and you n your partner get a sheet too and tally up each day. Say there's a reward at the end of the week for whichever one of you drinks the most water/glasses 😂 sounds like a lot of work but may be worth it to get him drinking the water!
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