So, as with all things parenting-related another moving target of decision making emerges…..do I give my tiny tot juice? The answer for 20-months has been ‘no’ but on a recent play-date the idea of my child becoming a social pariah got me thinking. For years parenting books and even pediatricians have changed their answers on so many questions like this it can be hard to keep up but on this issue I tend to agree with the latest info that encourages water.

I am not judging or preaching I am just saying that from my own experience, mainly Weight Watchers based, a half-cup of juice is a point and a gallon of water has no points. But as I sat slightly terrified and watched a mother (who incidentally I am very in-sync with on parenting choices) pour  juice in sippy cups  for our children I had to make the split second decision….my choice….I let the kid taste it and to my joy he quickly made his ‘ca-ca face’ and tried to wipe it off his tongue. If we get this reaction to juice I assume that a sip of cola would send him into a vomiting spell or some kind of strange trance.

Now before everyone acts like I am torturing him – he gets all the fruit he wants all day – fresh, organic, appropriately sized fruit but he gets it as a food not a drink so the sugar he is ingesting also fills him up.