What do think about juice?

[Sandbox Sally]

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.

[kidlove]

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.

[Inspired by Reggio]

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.

[Mamma_Mia]

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.

[Momof4]

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.

[treeholm]

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.

[Littledragon]

i do half juice, half water, but only in the morning. the afternoon snack they get water and at lunch they get milk

[playfelt]

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.

[Bugaboo]

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.

[happyheart]

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.