School is the primary learning platform for kids everywhere in the world. The school provides education, social behavior skills, the sense of fighting for your rights and promoting healthy hydration and eating habits. The students are under various sources of dehydration like heat, stress, and mere carelessness. As per a recent study in the European Journal of Nutrition, more than 60% of the students across 19 countries failed to meet the water demands and were not properly hydrated.
Therefore, this responsibility falls on the shoulders of teachers to promote healthy drinks and keep the kids hydrated. There have been various cases where the students had a syncope due to dehydration. The level of hydrations makes your body ready to face daily challenges. In this article, we will look at some of the ways to promote hydration by healthy school drinks.
Ways to Keep the Kids Hydrated at School
All the kids need supervision even when it comes to hydration. They probably do not understand the need and importance. Various schools have taken a few steps towards better hydration as per research. That is why the school management has to take responsibility to spread awareness and prevent dehydration among the students. Following are some ways that can be taken:
1. Kick the Soda
Soda is not the replacement for water as everybody thinks it is. Healthy hydration can be provided only by water. Water contains the mineral that needs to be replenished. Soda adds to the gas being formed in the intestines. That might seem like not a good idea because of stomach ache and related digestive problems.
Usually, all the soda drinks contain a lot of sugar which impacts the kids negatively. You might think that Diabetes is a disease that sets in older people. But this disease comes in due to a habit which starts with the soda drinks. Healthy drinks must contain water without any gas and sugar.
2. Super Hydrators
Give the students a program that involves customizing a water bottle for themselves. That way they will be excited to use it. Also, make an effort to follow the number of times, the students are filling the water bottle. If you are exhausted and dehydrated by your assignment, check that. You may give them a star or an encouraging sticker every time a student fills in their water bottle.
You may also give some small price to the students who fill their bottle with water maximum number of times by crowning them as “super hydrators”. This positive feedback mechanism helps to activate their reward center in the brain. In this way, all the students would want to do the same and receive that small reward.
3. Meet the Daily Requirement
If “super hydrator” is not possible, maybe giving the kids the minimum level of hydration would be a better idea. Since their thirst signaling mechanism is developing, they are in danger of developing symptoms of dehydration. For kids aged 4 to 8 years old, five cups of water are advised to be drunk daily. Once they cross the age of 9, girls must receive 7 cups of water while boys should drink no less than 8 cups of water. Maybe encouraging the children to drink one cup in an hour would be a great idea to keep track of their requirements.
4. Add Flavor, Not Sugar
If the school management wants to introduce funky methods to attract the students towards hydration, you may add some varieties in the water they are drinking. But make sure you aren’t adding sugar syrup. A simple tinge of flavor might bring some excitement to the water drinking activity. Also, you might want to add a digital machine similar to a coffee maker. That will be encouraging for the students to try new favors.
5. Awareness About Dehydration
The students must know the importance of drinking water. That can be done by bringing awareness about dehydration and the consequences. The school management can also add drinking water as an activity in the physical education classes. In this way, they would know why they are being asked to drink water. Maybe they won’t have to be told anymore once these small educational camps give them the knowledge.
Conclusion
Those are some of the methods to keep the students hydrated enough at school. Dehydration is not something to gain sympathy. It can be a dangerous thing if not treated properly and in time. This is especially important in tropical countries where heat adds to the dehydration and fastens the process. You may add hydration as a part of the fitness curriculum.
Banning soda containing products or sugar drinks is not enough. The school management has to incorporate new techniques to make the kids drink water through a positive reward system. Negative backlashes, punishment, and rules will just make them want to rebel. Also, as mentioned in the points above, you may create some healthy drinks for kids but ditch the sugar.
Author Bio
Nicole Cowart is an excellent promoter of the best hydrating agent-water. She is a writer and lifestyle blogger. Nicole has always believed that kids require a lot of assistance as far as hydration is concerned. She has been writing about ways to help teachers and parents cope with the problem of dehydration and how to make the kids drink water willingly. Her writing has inspired many others to promote healthy drinks and hydration.
