Are you sure that your children are drinking sufficient water every day? According to a survey of 2,000 parents with primary school children conducted by the Natural Hydration Council (NHC), their children could be going without water for as long as eighteen hours.
Reasons for this were that children were not allowed to leave the classroom for a drink of water during lessons, and the water fountains at their schools are either too far away or are dirty or broken so the children do not use them. Around 27% of parents also said that their children do not drink water , and very few parents give their children bottled water to take with them to school. Less than 40% of schools provided water on the tables at lunch-time.
This is a national catastrophe as a child especially needs to drink sufficient water during the school day to keep their bodies fully hydrated and their brains functioning at optimal levels.
Children have higher water requirements than adults do in relation to their body-weight; added to this the fact that they don’t always recognise the early stages of thirst, and the fact that they expend a lot of energy and perspiration while playing, and this makes for a perfect recipe for dehydration to occur.
While making sure that there are sufficient water fountains in schools and that they are kept in good condition, it is also incumbent on the teachers to ensure that children are taught the importance of good hydration and perhaps also making time for water-breaks. Drinking water should also be made available on tables at lunch-times.
Parents should also see that their children had a least a glass of water to drink in the morning before school and in the afternoons after school. Good hydration is vital to children as it can help boost their concentration and improve their performance in key activities such as handwriting and doing sums or mathematical calculations.
Children should be encouraged to have at least eight drinks per day, mainly consisting of water, fruit or vegetable juice and milk. The drinking of sugary drinks should be discouraged as they do not help with hydration and are largely responsible for current obesity and bad dental health rates.
Get bottled water coolers and mains water coolers from Living-Water.
