I'm a self-professed student of life! It's amazing what you'll discover/rediscover through observation.
This post may or may not resonate with you and that's fine. If you think you can glean something from it, then keep on reading. If not, simply move on. ;)
And for the intro...
We recognize that cultivating good habits early on in a child's life comes with many advantages. To give them a good head start, we parents try to teach our children the right things so that they could get the most out of these benefits, if not all.
One of them is to teach your kids to drink water. As a 2-year-old parent myself, I can vouch how vexing it can be. No matter how much I pull my hair out or coaxed the little boy to drink water, he just won't. Period! Geez, how perplexing!
Until I've discerned, it's not the babe's fault why he won't, what do we keep on giving him in the first place? Juice. Are we being good role models? Hmm...
Children learn by example. They emulate what they see in their environment which leads us to the first point.
[Photo by Joseph Greve on Unsplash]
#1. Model the Right Behavior
As they say, practice what you preach! Thankfully, I'm a water drinker. I'm grateful nobody gets drunk doing this no matter how many gallons of water you pushed down your system. lol.The hubby not so much. Thus, I have to keep showing the little boy mommy likes to drink water, hopeful he'll follow my example.
And while you're at it...
#2. Make it Fun or Appealing
Haha! This is where your acting chops come in. While gulping the water down, I'd explain to him what I'm doing, complete with facial expressions and commentaries on why we should drink water and blah blah. lol.Our technique might not work for you, therefore, add your own dose of creativity here. It could be a colorful sippy cup or tumbler with a straw. You know what your little babe loves most, try different things and see what works. ;)
#3. Place The Water Within Reach
Our boy likes to share mommy's glass so I place my water on top of the coffee table while he's playing or watching nursery rhymes or on the nightstand because I drink water at night too.So place it anywhere within your kid's reach. And then we...
#4. Gently Remind Him Every Now and Then to Drink Water
Apply lots and lots of patience here. Never ever force your kid to drink if he doesn't want to lest he'll come to hate it. We keep on reminding him that the water is there and he can drink whenever he wants.#5. Praise
When he finally does, don't be stingy with praise. Both mommy and daddy shower him with lots of praise to encourage a repeat.This is the cute part. He'd come near mommy, duck his head, eyes trying to search for mom's and push his cute little forehead near my lips so I could kiss him after every sip. lol.
What happens next? A fully loaded diaper and a toddler struggling to walk! Haha.
***
I wish I could say it's as easy as ABC. The next time, we have to repeat the steps above from square one again. Phew! Welcome to parenthood!
If you're on the same boat as us, how about giving the steps above a go? Add, remove or do some tweaking here and there and see what works.
Have an awesome day then! Talk to you soon. ;)
