#WaterMadeExciting Challenge

Me and my kids where asked to take the SodaStream Water Made Exciting Challenge. It's aims was to get children to drink more water at meal times. Below are a few fact's found from a recent study on the amount of water children drink :

WATER TURNED EXCITING BY SODASTREAM

A recent study revealed that 45 per cent of UK parents don’t give their kids water at mealtimes. Almost half (48 per cent) stated the reason they choose not to serve water is to avoid the additional stress this would create at the dinner table.

The study also revealed that 55 per cent said it was because their children prefer to drink fruit juices, squash or fizzy drinks and that they find water boring, even though 70 per cent of those parents are aware of the high sugar content in such drinks.

The research also found that 45 per cent of parents admit their children don’t have the recommended daily intake of water, with one in 20 claiming that their kids drinks no water whatsoever.

However, the study of 2,000 parents revealed that a staggering 80 per cent want their kids to drink more water and will try tactics such as using novelty cups, straws and ice cubes and have even tried bribing them with treats or money. Researchers found that 45 per cent of parents suggested that one answer to persuading their kids to drink more water if it was fizzy.

Fiona Hope, UK Managing Director of SodaStream, which commissioned the research, said; “This research shows us that boredom is a key factor in families and children not drinking enough water at mealtimes.

Independent research shows that people with a SodaStream drink one more litre of water every day compared to people without one.  As such, SodaStream is on a mission to get the UK drinking more water by making it exciting, simply by adding bubbles, meaning families can have fun drinking more water this January.”

This short video - http://bit.ly/watermadeexciting - gives an insight into the battles families deal with at mealtimes with serving water to their kids and the response children give when presented with a SodaStream. 

SodaStream has teamed with government public health programme Change4Life campaign as part of the solution to encourage parents to cut down the amount of sugar their children consume by making drinking water fun and exciting.

http://www.nhs.uk/change4life/Pages/change-for-life.aspx

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I don't really have problems getting my kids to drink water. I think it's because I have always given it to them from an early age. At mealtimes they normally drink squash and have either water or squash through the day and they take a beaker of water to bed with them.  All 3 of my kids don't drink fizzy pop, my boys don't like it, but my little girl does. We don't buy pop, so she'll only have it when she goes to her Nanna's. 

The challenge was to have my kids drink plain water at mealtimes for three days. Then the next few days to drink sparkling water made with the SodaStream. 

They drank the plain water with no problems at all. They did ask for squash, but when I said we are just having water today, they was fine with it. 

When the day came to try the water made using the SodaStream, they were really excited and couldn't wait to try it. But unfortunately none of them liked it at all. They all only had a sip each. Both me and my husband don't like sparkling water either.

I was slightly disappointed that they didn't like it, as even though they will drink water, I don't think that they drink enough and I thought this might encourage them to drink more. 

So, even though most SodaStream users, do tend to drink more water, It wasn't they case with my kids. 

So the result of our challenge is that plain water gets the thumbs up.

Why not take the challenge yourself and see what your kids find more exciting. Use the hashtag #watermadeexciting on twitter to @SodaStreamUK

I was sent a sodastream for taking part in this challenge and writing a blog post about it. All opinions are mine

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