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Hi everyone
i was wondering your thoughts on giving dk or you kids juice? I personally dont give my own kids juice all the time as its bad for thier teeth but some of my daycare kids come in with there water bottles full of juice. I asked mom if they drink juice at home they say yes all thetime. What are your thoughts on juice? I give milk for lunch and water for am snack and pm snack. And juice maybe twice a month.
My attitude on juice is you either give it or you don't. The idea of only once a week or whatever defeats the purpose. While I don't think it is a good idea continuously for the teeth reason I do think it has a place for children in the sense that not all little ones will chew and swollow enough actual fruit and veggies to get the required number of servings. They also don't need milk at every turn either. Juice when counted in the diet as a fruit serving to me is ok but then I tend to be old-fashion that way - note I didn't just say old even though from a caregiving standpoint I am, lol. I serve 2-3 oz of juice when they wake from nap. It is a quick way to restore the balance of sugars/water etc in the diet and has the added nutrients of the fruit that just water can not do. Then we have our snack when everyone is up and changed and ready. For that we usually have milk and a fruit and a cracker of some sort. When I serve the juice it is half orange juice and half some sort of red juice so covers the extra vitamin C for the day which many say wards off colds and other ailments.
They get only one 4 oz serving of milk or juice at any snack or meal. If they are still thirsty they get a refill of water and it is water in between snacks and meals.
I don't serve juice in my daycare. My own kids only get juice during school time because I'm not comfortable sending milk in their lunches. I use the reusable juice containers and water it down to about half and half. I'm a believer in chewing your fruit, not drinking it.
Only water and Milk is served here. If a parent drops off with juice, I just keep it in their cubby until pick-up time, and remind the parent not to bring it.
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Originally Posted by Play and Learn
If a parent brings a cup of juice (which never happens really because I supply my own cups), I dump it out and replace with juice. I did some drop in care over the summer for about a week and the kid always came with a sippy cup of juice. I put it up on the counter and dumped it out every day and replaced it with water. Parents can do what they want at their house but I don't do juice.
I used to serve diluted apple juice, but the last couple of years it is just water with milk at lunch. The kids don't complain about the water (filtered) and never ask for juice. While sugar does play a role in healthy brain function, why give them more than they need?
When I started out I used to serve juice, then I stopped that and just milk at snack & lunch times....I then found that I throwing out/wasting so much milk. Now, I simply serve water and make sure that they are well compensated in fruit & dairy at mealtimes. I put this right in my contract. Also, the children have their own cups here...I don't allow outside in.
only water or milk at my daycare
Just water and milk here.
On a regular day only water and milk but on a "treat" day I will serve some watered down apple juice. The kids look at juice the same way they look at cookies: a yummy treat that is ok to have once in a while.
I haven't read any of the other replies yet. Just wanted to say that I thought kids needed juice when my oldest dd was little. I still feel badly. I gave her pure juice a couple of times a day, and thought I was doing right by her. :(
I don't serve juice at all any more. My own kids (12, 10 and 8) can have orange juice on a Sunday morning if we're having a big breakfast, but other than that, it's water.
I dont give my daycare kids juice at all, we are one cup of milk at lunch and water ALL day long. They get juice at my house maybe once a year. My reasons are more for "mess" and "expense" rather than the health aspect, however it makes it easier to say no to juice because I really dont feel it is a neccesity (sp) in life. The child can get much more from fresh fruit and a glass of water. Now as far as parents bringing juice into the house at drop off? If they do , I ask the child to bring it directly to the table, if they dont drink it within minutes after drop off, I dump it, rinse their cup and put the cup by the front door for going home. Then they get their cup of water at the kitchen table.
I am another water as the main liquid, I serve milk with one meal/snack if the child wants it ~ but most of children once they get about 18 months start to just choose water and self wean off milk here and opt to just eat their meals.
We refer to water as 'natures juice' here so the children do not really realize that they are being 'deprived' of juice in the program ;)
Over the course of my career I have just seen too many children with rotten teeth from 'juice rot' as dentist calls it .... they graze on juice all day long in sippy cups and their teeth constantly have that layer of sugar on them and sadly it rots not only their baby teeth but starts to impact their adult teeth as well ~ just not worth it to me.
I'm a water & milk person too for the most part.
Some days I'll give diluted fruit juice (what I drink) but that's maybe 2 times a month at the most....and when the cold-season hit us and I see everyone is in a crumy-feeling-stage I will give orange juice for the extra vitamn C boost duing lunch instead of milk.
Oops, I'm the bad one! I do serve juice for breakfast and all morning, but it's less than 1/4 juice and over 3/4 water in their cup, so basically I'm just flavouring their water. I want them to stay hydrated all summer. Then I serve milk for lunch and afternoon snack. However, the juice I serve is not concentrate or sugary, it's all natural.
I don't serve juice either. I think it is a very bad habit to get into, to let children drink something sweet. I only serve water. I prefer to serve almond or soy milk rather than cow's milk as well. I've read a few articles on how people are the only species that drink the milk of another mammal, and it convinced me. I haven't quite gotten rid of cow's milk altogether, but I do use it sparingly. The only baby I have right now is a vegan child, so he's not wanting milk anyway. My 3.5 year old granddaughter and my 3.5 year old dcg will both drink water. I have another one year old starting in January, so I'll wait and see what her Mom wants her to have.
i do half juice, half water, but only in the morning. the afternoon snack they get water and at lunch they get milk
I do milk with morning snack since for some kids it is a top up to breakfast. I do juice with the afternoon snack and for lunch it is water since I want them to eat their lunch not drink it. Water just doesn't satisfy the growling tummies like som nice yummy veggies will. Right now all my kids are gone by 4:30 but if kids are later I will also offer a milk and graham cracker to them as a tide me over till supper since snack was over an hour earlier.
I serve only water or milk. I will serve juice on a special day (Halloween or Christmas party) but other than that juice is out. Its very bad for their teeth and the sugar makes the kiddos jump off the walls which in turn makes me miserable. I rarely even have juice in the house.
I used to serve juice to older kids but watered down to about half and half. Now I only serve milk at breakfast then try to give another dairy serving in the afternoon in cheese or yogurt and water for am and pm snack. It actually saves alot of money to serve milk once a day and cut out juice all together.
I only serve water milk here too !
I used to serve juice.... when my oldest kids were little, it wasn't such an issue. It was totally normal to give them juice.
I don't let them drink anywhere near as much anymore. And the dc kids only get it as a special treat, on "party" days. You don't realize how much sugar is in juice (even 100% real, as it has naturally occuring sugars) until you give it to 6 little kids!!
And; to play devil's advocate here... in regards to the comment about humans being the only mammal to drink another species' milk? We are also the only carnivorous mammal that does not eat the bones of it's food, thereby taking in the various nutrients that would provide. Milk gives many of those things to our body. But I do agree that the milk we buy off grocery store shelves is not nearly as "healthy" as it used to be. Too much stuff added/done to it. Scary.
Once every two weeks, I buy a jug of Oasis juice. They will have juice after naptime.
\serve with meals are water and milk on alternate basis.