The study revealed that 55% said it was because their children prefer to drink fruit juices, squash or fizzy drinks and that they find water boring, even though 70% of those parents are aware of the high sugar content in such drinks.
However, the study of 2,000 parents revealed that a staggering 80% 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. 45% of parents suggested that one answer to persuading their kids to drink more water was to make it fizzy.
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.
We were challenged to take part in a campaign to get us drinking more water at mealtimes. I have to admit to being in the 55% of parents whose child prefers juice drinks or squash to plain water. In fact Freddy really dislikes drinking water so I was interested to see that if I let him make his own fizzy water using a SodaStream, whether he would be more inclined to drink it.
Being involved in making the fizzy water was something that he really enjoyed doing (kids love that farty sound!), and letting him pour his own drinks also proved fun. Unfortunately, Freddy was happy doing all this and served us all cups of his fizzy water with our meal, but when it came to the crunch, he simply couldn't drink it. He did try, but it just wasn't going to happen without tears. However, as I think that keeping him hydrated is more important than sticking to principles, I was happy to compromise, adding a small amount of organic cordial to the fizzy water. He drank it with gusto and declared it to be better than fizzy pop!
So for me, I may have cheated a little bit, but this is so much better than chemical ridden bottled pop or neat fruit juice in terms of sugar content. The fizz definitely makes drinking much more exciting and it's a cheaper and greener alternative to buying bottled drinks, Mealtimes are happy, Freddy is happy and he is hydrated...I call that a success! I'm sure that as he gets older he will drink more water, as his siblings all have done, but for now I'm bending the rules a little to keep him as healthy and as happy as I possibly can.
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.