Refreshing fruity drink
Except for the occasional carton of OJ, we don’t have juice in the house. The adults aren’t big juice drinkers and when my first son was born, I wanted to prevent the daily addiction to juice drinking. Both my kids have since been to preschool, where they did have juice at lunch. But a need for juice never carried over to our home.
It’s not that I think juice drinking is a bad thing. It’s simply one of those dietary behaviors that easily becomes habit when introduced to young kids. Plus, it’s so easy to overdrink the darn stuff. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that young children drink no more than 4-6 oz of juice per day. Given that most juice boxes contain more than that, it’s hard to stick to this guideline if kids drink juice every day.
The other benefit of not stocking up on juice or other sweet drinks each week is that when juice does make an appearance, it can cause genuine excitement.
Our latest special occasion drink is limeade. It all came about when I had half a bottle of lime juice that I needed to use. Searching the internet for what to do with lime juice, I came across an easy recipe for limeade and, voila, instant kid friendly drink. And I think the fact that we whip it up instead of simply opening a carton of it makes everyone enjoy that much more.
I agree about the juice issue, and though my kids are past the “dilute the juice with half water” stage, I still often do this, especially if it is one of the “nectar” type juices that are rather sweet. What we often do (which my dad did for us as kids and it was a special treat) is make kid “cocktails” with juice, seltzer water, and sometimes other fun additions like a frozen fruit or fruity syrup (black cherries or a splash of pomegranate syrup add a special touch).