Watering your children

"Watering is like telling our spouse, "I love you." the more you do it, the better the result."

I know when I've slacked on watering my gardens, the leaves are droupy and some may lean over or get crunchy if it's been too long since they've gotten good hydration. Funny thing is that same goes for the boys too!

With all this cool fall weather creaping up on us the boys and I have been playing outside and at parks more frequently. I usually bring juice boxes for portability and ease of use since they arn't that good yet at drinking from a bottled container. But the juice boxes hold only so much and I can tell when Gavin's face turns red and he starts to become sluggish or Carter's steps turn to a slower pace than his normal hand waving run when he's charged and ready to go. It also effects their, sorry for the lack of better wording, going to the bathroom. They never go enough in a day if they haven't had water to help flush out their system.

They love their water just as much as their juice or milk but here lately I haven't been giving it to them due to us going places without sippy cups. If water is in a cup they'll drink it right down and get all the hydration they need for outside play but if it's in a bottle they'll only take a few sips (half water in the mouth and the other half on their shirts) and go running back to play.

That said, a big helper in getting my kiddos to drink enough while playing is to have their sippy cups on hand for frequent re-fills or using straws. If they ever tire of the water then all I have to do is add a packet of those Crystal Light water flavors to make instant juice and I know it'll be gone by the time we leave to go home!

Just reminding everyone the importance of watering the garden and your kids to help them stay healthy in this fun new season :)