Drinks | Imamother

amother

↑ Oatmeal

Sun, May 12 2024, 11:59 am

amother Crystal wrote:

I don't understand why no one understands why OP wants her kids to drink only water. We only drink water in the house and maybe on Shabbos we'll have iced tea. Granted, my oldest is 8 but she doesn't ask for sugary drinks since that's all we all drink. My husband sometimes drinks gatorade for exercising but if the kids see and want, we'll let them have some. OP isn't depriving her kids of hydration, just sugary drinks...

Op id drinking drinks other then water in front of her teenage kids. They sed and want and she doesn't let them have.
A bit of a different situation, don't you think?

amother

Canary

Sun, May 12 2024, 12:02 pm

amother OP wrote:

I guess it's different because I'm drinking my Snapple in front of him (I cant tolerate water) while telling him he has to have water during the week

Yes this makes a big difference. I know many people don’t have sugary drinks during the week but this might feel hypocritical to him.

amother

↑ Amaranthus

Sun, May 12 2024, 1:20 pm

I think age is a huge factor here. Your child is 13 years old. This is the point in life where you can't really make diet decisions for them if it's not a household rule. You either have special drinks in your house and the teens can take what they want, or you don't have it available at all.

I don't usually believe in hypocricy when it comes to parenting as of course we limit our children with certain things, but in this case, it really does rub me the wrong way.

amother

Brown

Sun, May 12 2024, 3:01 pm

excuse me if this has been asked already but do you also not give your kids soup if you're afraid of spillage, what about food that can also cause spillage?
You realize that if your son has a issue with this then most likely it is a issue. My kids favorite choice of drink is water but I always have orange juice and many times gatorade and other choices mostly in the summer. I am health conscious but I'm also normal and realize spillage is just part of life.
Hope you hear what others have said here as I guarantee you when your kids grow up they will drink soda all day

amother

↑ Apricot

Sun, May 12 2024, 4:44 pm

amother OP wrote:

Thanks for all your responses
What are your policies regarding snack food/nosh? Can kids take whatever they want whenever they want?

Snack they can take whenever they want, besides for right before dinner time.
We don't keep unhealthy snack in the house during the weekday. Nosh is kept locked up & is generally only for shabbos, but my kids can have a treat when they get home from school. They also have chocolate in the morning.

amother

↑ Electricblue

Sun, May 12 2024, 4:56 pm

amother OP wrote:

Thanks for all your responses
What are your policies regarding snack food/nosh? Can kids take whatever they want whenever they want?

They get 1 granola bar and 1 snack bag per day. Unlimited yogurt (although after 1 squeezie they need to take cups), cheese and fruits and veggies (including apple sauce). Pretzels and crackers are unlimited as long as they eat it with a protein. My kids generally tell me when they’re going to take a snack, but the answer is almost never no

amother

Whitewash

Mon, May 13 2024, 12:22 am

Coming from a mother of teens, I would never restrict their choice of eating or drinking. If it's right before a meal, I would remind them that we're eating a meal soon and they should leave room. Other than that, they are too old for adults to restrict them. (If they are overweight etc, I would probably work with them to make smarter choices. But ultimately they are in charge of what they eat and drink.)

FYI as a child (younger elementary), I was only allowed to have one snack bag a day and had to bring fruit for my other snacks. All I can say is that I could not concentrate in school because I was so hungry and just thought about when I can eat next. My memories of school are just of always feeling hungry. My kids are allowed to take a morning snack, afternoon snack and bus snack to school. They are something filling and no one is restricted to just fruits and vegetables. I want my children learning on a full stomach.

amother

Mintcream

Thu, May 30 2024, 12:07 am

I know this thread is old but just seeing it now.

I hear you, OP. I have 2 teenagers and several younger children and they always ask permission for everything but water. They even ask permission to take stuff from the fridge. Maybe the difference is that we don't demand it but they naturally ask on their own. our oldest is independent and away in yeshiva yet when he's home, he would never take a seltzer without asking. I wouldn't mind if he did, but I appreciate the respect he shows in asking and realizing that this is something extra his parents buy and therefore he check with us first. We don't have soda in the house, just seltzer and occasional juice and I guess after so many years living like that they naturally realized that anything but water is "special". I can understand making rules if they're not being responsible. Again, we did not enforce this permission asking, but nor will we discourage it. I see it as being an asset to their personalities that they don't think the world is theirs for the taking and everything's coming to them. I do find it rather disconcerting when strange children help themselves to the contents of my fridge without asking and so I hope this sets my children up to behave similarly in others homes.

Also there are lots of things that adults do that kids can't yet like drive and have a phone. While I would not constantly drink sweet drinks while telling my kids they can only have water, I do occasionally indulge and they've never questioned that.

Ima03

Thu, May 30 2024, 12:53 am

If you are drinking snapple in front of him, I'm not sure what you expect him to say.

If it's the mess, make a rule they can only have if they clean up their messes.

I found in life that most things can be given within reason.

We open soda for shabbos. I'm fine with my kids finishing off the bottle during the week. But we don't open a new one during the week once it's finished.
Some of my kids aren't big water drinkers and I want them to drink, so we allow mio. It's not messy and adds flavor to water. My water drinkers still drink mostly water.
I have no problem with them having juice. They often on their own water it down. And because it's available, they don't drink it all that much.

In terms of snacks my younger ones ask 1st. Unless they are eating out of boredom, I let most of the time. But my teens just take. Unless it's right before meals I really don't mind. A snack in my house is anything outside of a meal. Fruit is a snack as is yogurt as is cookies or pretzels.