What do think about juice?

[sweetness852010]

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.

[playfelt]

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.

[fruitloop]

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.

[Play and Learn]

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.

[fruitloop]

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.

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.

[mimi]

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?

[Dreamalittledream]

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.

[Daycare123]

only water or milk at my daycare

[mommy22kids]

Just water and milk here.

[Toregone]

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.