Is Bottled Fancy Water Bad For Kids?

Is fancy water hurting your teeth? Fancy water is any water that has something added to it. Some dentists will tell you fancy waters that have flavor added are no substitute for tap water. Apparently the concern is that these bottled waters don’t contain enough fluoride to adequately protect and maintain your teeth from decay. Most of them don’t contain any fluoride at all. Fluoride is actually added to city water at the water filtration plant. This is terrible on your kid's teeth. I don't really give my kids more expensive flavored waters more often. Only when it is hot.

A controversy has been raging about whether or not fluoride actually causes tooth decay for more than a decade. There are some people that think that the addition of fluoride to our water is part of a big conspiracy to keep our teeth rotten and keep dentists in business. Does your kid need fluoride? This is something that you might want to do in moderation. I don't know what to do because all of the messages are so mixed so I make sure my kids drink half bottled water and half tap water. The key is variety when it comes to water types. That way you are hedging your bets. They are not getting too much fluoride from the tap water or too much artificial flavoring or even sugar (!) from bottled fancy waters.

People who love bottled water are very aware of their health, and tend to want to sample the water “straight from the source.” They think that because they are drinking water bottle straight from an iceberg or bubbling spring that it must be pure because it’s fancy water. However there are absolutely no regulations, worldwide or otherwise, that determine the overall purity of bottled fancy water. So I really do worry about my kids.

Before I give my kids any kind of doctored up water I make sure I read the label. Nowadays they are pepped up with all kinds of things. Mostly these substances are uppers and include things like ginseng. Sometimes really toxic stuff is added like food coloring.

You also see weird things on bottled water labels like ozone. Have any studies been done on what that could be doing to a kid? Apparently this helps the body absorb water faster but are there really any studies regarding that. There is no scientific evidence to back up this claim that oxygenated water is absorbed quicker by the water.

Flavored fancy water, the ones that have a hint of orange or lime in their brew are the favorites of many people who get sick of drinking their water plain. You can also get a charge one day drinking caffeine water. However you can just drink a cup of coffee for much cheaper. I don't feel like giving my kids a cup of water that is as peppy as a cup of coffee. Waters sometimes have things added to them like ginseng, kola nut and other natural uppers. Is your kid acting like he needs to go on Ritalin? Maybe the culprit is the additive in the water.

Parenting Tips
, , , , , , , ,

The Worst Health Habits for Kids

According to the April 2008 edition of NEWSWEEK, kid's fitness experts have identified their six worst health habits.

If you want to keep your kids healthy and happy you are supposed to avoid Eating in front of a television or a computer. Both habits keep the kid too distracted and they do not figure out when their stomach is full. This can lead to mindless overeating.

Playing too many videogames and watching too much television can make your kid too fat. Way too many kids play hours and hours of videogames instead of getting outdoors to exercise. The problem is getting so bad that The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that kids under age 2 have no screen time at all. Kids older than two should watch no more than one to two hours of, and that kids older than 2 watch no more than 1 to 2 hours a day of TV. Kids that watch too much television tend to eat twice as much food. Part of this is their exposure to ads for junk food. The answer is to substitute television-watching time with more exercise.

Kids choose foods that they find visually attractive so when introducing new foods that may be more nutritious then that pink cocooned encrusted snowball you need to make it more attractive. You also shouldn't force your kids to eating everything on their plate at once when introducing a nutritious food. There is something called the two bite rule where you give the child two bites and no more. This can make the child think about the food and request it next time.

You should also not keep too much junk in the cupboard. This is because older kids will raid the kitchen cupboards for food as soon as they come home from school. Fill the bottom drawers of your fridge with healthy foods like carrot sticks and keep the unhealthy stuff out of sight. You can also prepare cheese chunks; fruit slices or celery sticks and make them readily able for your child.

It is also a bad idea to get your kids used to prepackaged meals or frozen dinners. They are usually loaded with high levels of fat and sodium. The answer to this is to make a week's worth of lunches and freeze them all a head of time. This will reduce the busy mom temptation to send something unhealthy to school with your children.

Another thing to remember is that you are your child's main role model and they are going to eat in the same way you do. So if you are tearing open a bag of potato chips every time you watch television your kids are going to want to do the same.

Parenting Tips
, , , , , , , ,