Back in the 90's, when I first became "Mama," we all gave our kids juice. We watered it down, of course. Pepper didn't have full-strength juice until she got her first juice-box at a party when she was 3. Kids got their 3 cups of milk and the rest of their beverages were juice. It was an improvement over Kool-Aid or Soda, right?
Things have changed. Now we realize that although juice has lots of vitamins and good stuff, it's also mostly sugar, even if it has "no added sugar." Kids also need the fiber and chewing action of real fruit -- so that's the way to go.
The Littles consider juice a real treat. We give them juice on the rare occasions others would give kids soda; birthday parties, holidays, etc. They get so excited about it! I almost feel guilty. Almost.
It turns out that kids who don't know better don't miss it. Who'd have thought? The Littles drink lots of water. Lots. It's inspirational.
Now I have one more reason to be the mean-juice-withholding-mama. Turns out most of our apple juice -- my personal favorite in the 90s -- is imported from China. Their laws regarding pesticide and safe food practices are far less stringent than ours. It just seems like a bad idea.
Please stop giving your kids juice. They don't need it. In 3 weeks, they'll stop asking. Just, water, people, please.
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