5 Back-to-School Tips for Parents to Give Your Child Healthy Hydration Habits

Encourage a Lifelong Love of Water

Though it’s often a day children dread, the start of a new school year can be an exciting time not only for kids, but for parents. With the beginning of a new daily routine, back-to-school time offers families the opportunity to develop new, healthy routines and habits that will improve their children’s mental and physical health, as well as their academic performance.

Though we may not think about it much, drinking water is actually an important daily routine that contributes greatly to health, well-being and focus. Here are five tips for parents to encourage their kids to stay hydrated regularly throughout the school day and their everyday lives:

1. Make Drinking Water Fun With Personalized Water Bottles

A reusable water bottle, personalized with your child’s favorite color, TV/movie character, or design, can encourage your child to drink more water – and be excited to do so! Additionally, keep water within reach at home, and ensure that the bottle is filled before they head off to school. For younger children especially, consider marking the bottle with time goals, so they can see how much they should drink by different points in the day. When hydration is enjoyable and easy, children are more likely to make it a habit.

2. Set a Good Example by Drinking Water Regularly

Children learn by observing their parents, so demonstrating good hydration habits yourself is key. Make a point of drinking water regularly throughout the day and emphasizing the importance of choosing water over sugary drinks for maintaining a healthy and active body, and for feeling good about one’s self. When they see you carrying a water bottle, refilling it, and choosing water over sugary drinks, they’re more likely to follow suit. You can even turn it into a fun challenge, where the family keeps track of how many times each person refills their water bottle daily. By making it a family effort, you’re instilling the value of hydration in your child’s routine.

3. Incorporate Water into Your Child’s Daily Routine

Incorporate water breaks into your child’s daily schedule to make hydration a seamless part of their day. Encourage them to drink water with every meal and snack, and make it a habit to take a sip before and after physical activities, whether at school or home. Set up specific times during the day when they should drink water, such as first thing in the morning, after school, and before bed. Over time, these scheduled water breaks will become second nature, ensuring they maintain consistent hydration throughout the day.

4. Swap Sugary Drinks for Healthier Hydration Options

While it’s tempting to let kids indulge in sodas, juices, and other sugary drinks, these beverages can lead to dehydration rather than quenching their thirst. Explain the downsides of sugary drinks, such as their effects on energy levels and tooth health, and offer healthier alternatives instead. If your child craves variety, infuse water with natural flavors using slices of fruit like lemon, lime, or berries, or offer coconut water as a hydrating alternative. By reducing the availability of sugary drinks and providing appealing alternatives, you’re guiding your child towards healthier hydration choices.

5. Explain Why Hydration is Good for Your Child

Help your child understand why staying hydrated is crucial by teaching them about the benefits of water for their body and mind. Explain how water helps with energy levels, concentration, and overall health, especially during school when they need to focus and learn. You can make this education interactive by using age-appropriate resources such as videos, books, or even simple experiments that show how dehydration affects their performance. The more they understand the “why” behind hydration, the more motivated they’ll be to drink water regularly.

6. Teach Your Child That Water is Wonderful!

Water may not be the most exciting thing for a kid to drink, and it can be easy to not think too much about the fact that water is everywhere around us. Try taking some time to educate your child and make them aware that we are, in fact, extremely lucky to live in a part of the world where clean, safe, and delicious water is just a few steps away at all times. There are millions of people in the world, especially in Africa, who aren’t so lucky. Teaching your children to appreciate the water they have – and to have empathy for the people who don’t – will help them avoid taking it for granted.

At Embrace Relief, we are keenly aware of the difficulties many people face in accessing clean water Africa. That’s why our Clean Water Initiative is working overtime to ensure that families in Africa are able to drink clean water every day, just like you.

Help Embrace Relief provide clean water throughout Africa!

But we can’t do this alone! We rely on the donations of generous people like you to help us build water wells in sub-Saharan Africa. When we work together, we bring transformative change and support to communities that need it the most.

As part of Embrace Relief’s Year-End Giving 2024 campaign, we’ve set an ambitious goal to build 30 water wells before the end of the year. Meeting this goal equals 30,000 people who will be newly benefiting from clean water, in addition to the more than 950,000 people worldwide currently utilizing our wells.

The cost of our water well starts at just $1,500, but the impact you can make is priceless. Click here to learn how to apply to build a water well in your own name with Embrace Relief, or use the donation box below to give a gift of any amount in support of this life-saving program.

Give the gift of clean water today!