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I think it is naive to think that I can keep her from having it until she is ten or older. We live close to family and especially the inlays looovveee their Pepsi.
we occasionally have diet coke in the house here, but not often.
I am sure she will be offered it at a party, someone's house, etc.
pop isn't healthy but I don't think sips here and there will harm her or make her less healthy of a child. -
I have soda maybe once a month; i enjoy an occasional diet coke! Like many of the previous posters, we don't keep it in the house unless we're entertaining. I won't let my future LO drink it regularly, but think it's fine to offer it on special occasions.
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I'm a total diet coke fiend and I also drink coffee on a regular basis... so it's a constant "this is MOMMY'S drink" explanation when we're eating together. Luckily Wagon Jr. is totally obsessed with milk so even though he's curious about the drink in my cup, he's always desperate for his milk so doesn't ask for any. (We even have to keep his milk away from him so he won't snatch it and chug the entire cup down before he gets enough food in his tummy.) We also try to get a fruit smoothie for all of us to share juuuust in case he gets too curious.
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@Mr. Bee no more diet peach snapple...!!!! I'm shocked, great discipline!!!
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The more I think about it, the more this topic reminds me of the constant one upping we do as parents...Sally didn't have any sugar until she was 14, Bobby only ate organice foods until he was 15 and so on.
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@looch: huh?? How did you get that out of my post.
Will respond more later, have guests over.
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@mrbee: Not specifically out of your post, but it's just the general thing we seem to do as parents...comparing milestones. We all do it without thinking about it...oh, Sally walked when she was 9 months old, was never sick and never drank soda for entire life.
Just kind of made me more aware of what comes out of MY mouth with respect to my son.
Enjoy your guests!
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@looch: Not my intent at all, trying not to feel judged over here.
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I will occasionally drink soda when I have a real craving, though I no longer just automatically buy it when I'm doing my grocery shopping. For the most part I have made the switch to drinking seltzer water and while it doesn't always satisfy my need for soda, I feel a lot better about drinking it.
Growing up, we always had access to soda and while I don't necessarily want that for my kids, I don't want to be so uptight that I'm banning it. Moderation is what it's all about, in my opinion.
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Im sure my kids will try it at 1-2. I don't want it to be a daily thing, but I always had soda at restaurants as a little tot.
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@mrbee: I am not sure why you feel judged, I find that for me, I feel judged when I do something contrary to what another parent says. Like if someone says they have a super sleeper, I feel like it's a dig at my parenting because I have a terrible sleeper...even though I know it's not really true at all.
Ohh, and I should also mention, my 21 month old has tasted soda. He was dying to try my husband's, so my husband put his glass to my son's mouth and that was the end of that. I think he didn't like the bubbles.
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I'll probably do what my parents did - they always had sodas in the house but it was just for them. All meals at home my brother and I drank milk, and once we got to be a certain age at meals out we could have soda. So may 6,7,8 or so they can do that?
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I don't drink pop ever, and my husband occasionally gets it when we have take out but we never keep it in the house. It's just junk food, we try not to give them any, but don't freak out if they do. That said, I'm certainly not letting near caffeine yet.
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Ideally never, we don't even keep it in the house.
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Probably not until she goes to her first kid party, if they have it. I want to encourage her to drink water, but we live near a cider house where they make local juices and ciders, and they probably have as much sugar in them! She'll get to try them, but only sips, definitely not for everyday consumption!
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i'm hoping for as long as possible! DH and i don't drink too much pop(i rarely drink it, prefer water or juice) and i just don't want him to become dependent/always wanting it. plus my (step)nephew is 5 and drinks pop like crazy(mainly mountain dew) and has some of the worst teeth around!!!!!!!!
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@looch: I was pretty shaken by your comment the other day:
"The more I think about it, the more this topic reminds me of the constant one upping we do as parents...Sally didn't have any sugar until she was 14, Bobby only ate organice foods until he was 15 and so on."
I do want to clarify that I am not some super healthy parent who is constantly one-upping other parents. If I'm come across that way in this post or others, I am very sorry. To be honest, if someone else had felt that I was one-upping them, then I might not have cared as much; but I feel like we've known each other (virtually) long enough at this point, that I thought your comment was not fair.
But then again I see now that you were coming at the topic with your own experiences and I want to respect that. As for me, I haven't been super healthy in my life, and I'm making an effort to be healthier to set a good example for my kids. I'm not militant about it, and I do recognize that outright banning something gives power to it. I think we have more in common here than you may think.
You had mentioned that "I am not sure why you feel judged," so I wanted to respond to you one last time with an explanation.
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I can't remember but I think we've let DD have a sip of soda already. I don't think she liked the bubbles! I am surprised that people serve soda at birthday parties?? I do make exceptions for bday parties. That's the only time when I let DD eat sweets like cake or ice cream so I guess if they were serving soda instead of water/milk/juice I would be fine with it, too. I hope it won't be until she is at least 5 though!
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as a toddler, i'll hold off on the soda, but when she's a little older, like school age, ill let my LO drink some every once in awhile, but teach her about moderation and making good choices. I agree with other posters that soda will be around at parties, other people's houses and social events, so it would be unrealistic to think that I could keep her away from it. i remember my friend who was never allowed to drink any and whenever at a party or some one's place with soda, when the parent wasn't there, would drink it like crazy. i grew up allowed to drink freely, but was also taught to make good choices and eat with moderation and exercise.
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We don't really drink soda, so I'm hoping my LO doesn't touch it for a long time. Realistically I'm sure some relative will let him have some at a family party when we aren't looking.
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@mrbee: I posted on your wall so we don't derail any further. Thanks for the honest discussion!
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My nephew is 4 and while he's occasionally had soda as a treat at birthday parties and family get-togethers, my SIL & brother have a strict no caffeinated beverages rule for him. They've told him "no brown sodas" for so long that he was scared to taste root beer. Ha.
I'm not sure what our approach will be. We rarely eat fast food - at this point, anyway, but everyone assures me I will start forking McD's into my kids mouth on the regular once he's able to eat solids - and the only soda we regularly keep in the house is ginger beer, which I can't imagine having appeal for a young child.
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Never in our house.
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We don't drink soda at all. We really only drink water so I'm hoping our kids will follow suit.
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Ugh, this is an issue at our house. I'm a total Diet Dr. Pepper addict. Just in the last couple of months my daughter got curious about it and started trying to sneak my drinks. So, she's had a few sips. And I took the plunge and told my husband to stop buying it for me at home so I can set a good example.
I'm still buying one from the vending machine at work a couple times a week. And I get one if we go out to eat. But I think teaching my kids it's a special treat is my goal. I grew up drinking pop ALL THE TIME when I was a kid, and my husband grew up with it as an occasional treat. We both have carried that attitude to adulthood, so I want to do it my husband's family's way for my kids so they don't end up like me!
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9 or 10?! is that even possible? not to ruin your good intentions, but i'm sure most of your children will have soda before they are 10. children's birthday parties, slumber parties, hanging out at friends, etc... they're bound to have soda before they are 10.
i don't really care for soda too much, but i'm obsessed with sweet tea, so i know she'll be drinking that as a youngster. we were started on sweet tea at 2 and 3. hubs is a huge soda drinker, so i'm sure our lo's will get some soda occasionally (probably sprite to avoid the caffeine). my mom is a huge diet coke drinker, and has dipped pacifiers in diet coke to calm down all of the grandchildren. it's just a bit and it works, so it doesn't really bother me.
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@photojane: It's crazy how crunchy parents are in our neighborhood... many of them eat organic and never eat junk food! I feel like we're the least healthy out of everyone I know!
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@mrbee: ha... well, i guess your kids may make it to 10 after all! here in the south, we're as far from crunchy as you can get!
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@photojane: I'm totally realistic about it... especially since Bee told me yesterday that Charlie had a sip of soda when he was 18 months haha!
My main goal is to have the kids look to water first, and see soda as a treat. Growing up, I actually saw soda as a great way to hydrate... *facepalm*. For me, this is less about being super healthy and more about just not being as unhealthy as I was growing up!
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@mrbee: I am the same way! We ate junk like it was normal food. I honestly ate Oreos for breakfast and it was totally normal. I don't know how I never got overweight because I ate total garbage most of my life. Well, we had healthy dinners and half healthy lunches, but the rest was just junk food.
I don't mind my kids eating junk food every once in awhile, but I at least want them to realize that it's junk food and not something to eat on a regular basis!
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@Rock n Roll: I drank most of my junk food... ugh, still can't believe I used to make Kool-Aid all the time.
Here's to hoping our kids eat and drink better than we did!
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I have been desperately trying to make changes in our diet. Our kids have tried soda before and my MIL has given them sodas at parties. They don't drink them regularly but they have had them. My oldest is about to turn four. I was a major diet soda addict so I have given it up. I have been soda free for four weeks (except at a wedding when it was the only non alcoholic option and on the airplane I had a ginger ale to calm my motion sickness). Hopefully with it out of the house they will continue to drink water and milk like they do now.
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I have no idea when I will let my kids try it (I don't even have kids yet!) My best friend growing up NEVER had pop in the house. But even from the time she was 6 she would get it at school (pop machine/pizza day lunch!) or at my house! LOL! Her mom would have flipped because she is a dental hygeniest.
I have water as my go to drink all the time, so I will try to get my kids to do that too, and know that pop/juice is a sugary treat. -
@mrbee: we had kool aid all the time too, because we were poor when we were very young and as my parents' economic situation improved, we were used to it. I never drank water growing up.
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