Kids Cuisine

Since my first child began drinking juice, I have always diluted the juice in my kids’ sippy cups. Juice contains a lot of sugar, and kids can quickly chug many ounces of juice in a day.

The main issue with that plan is the juice box. I love juice boxes! They are easy. Your kid whines about being thirsty, and you can grab one and be done with it. They are also the best option when on the go or traveling. You can premix your juice, but that’s a bit of a hassle and it requires a cooler.

It always bugged me that no juice box manufacturer made a box that contains already-diluted juice. Well, Mott’s has finally stepped up. They now have the Mott’s for Tots juice box which contains about half juice and half filtered water. It has 13 grams of sugar. By comparison, a Minute Maid grape juice box the same size has 23 grams of sugar.

That isn’t the only good thing about the Motts for Tots juice boxes. They are also smaller in size than some juice boxes, further cutting back on the calories. You might be surprised to learn how little juice children should actually be drinking.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children ages 6 months to 6 years drink between 4 to 6 ounces daily. That’s it. Many juice boxes are bigger than that for a single serving. The larger Juicy Juice box contains 8.4 ounces of juice, for instance. The Mott’s for Tots is actually a hair over the recommendation, at 6.75 ounces, but only half of that is really juice.

It also retains the main benefit of juice, the nutrients, with 100 percent of the recommended daily allowance of Vitamin C.

Mott’s for Tots is available in apple, apple white grape, fruit punch, and strawberry banana flavors. You can find out more information and print a coupon at the Mott’s Web site.

For an entertaining and enlightening look at the health concerns related to juice boxes, check out the video juice box taste test at DadLabs.com. It includes a list of the five most annoying things about juice boxes. Those straw sleeves, for example, are critiqued. “I’ll bet there are sleeves on every minivan floor in America,” notes one of the dad testers.

I know there are a plenty on the floor of mine.

Photos of Mott’s for Tots fruit punch by Kelby Carr.