Sports Drinks for Kids: A Do or a Don’t?

Guest Post Written by Joy Paley who also writes for online accounting classes as well as other education sites found here

Sports drinks have been getting a ton of bad press lately. Google the subject, and you’ll find a myriad of newspaper articles and blog posts “exposing” sports drinks for what they are—water with sugar and a little artificial coloring. But it’s no surprise that sports drinks have sugar in them; that’s something that’s never been hidden. The real question is, will that extra sugar be bad for your kid? Well, as most things, it depends.

Dental Health: One mark against sports drinks like Gatorade is that they can be bad for your teeth, if you drink them often enough. They all are relatively acidic, which can lead to enamel degradation. Juice and soda are acidic too, though, so it’s not like sports drinks are special in that regard.

Performance: The literature review of the effectiveness of sports drinks on preventing dehydration and increasing performance is mixed. In most respects, water and sports drinks perform equally well. After working out however, kids who have had the sports drink have been shown to have a higher body weight—meaning they lost less fluids during their workout. This is one potential benefit of choosing a sports drink over water.

Calories: Sports drinks are generally full of high-fructose corn syrup, providing many sugary calories to whoever drinks them. For example, 20 ounces of Gatorade Performance has 122 calories! That’s less than 20 ounces of soda, but it’s still nothing to sneeze at.

And, many studies have correlated a higher intake of sugary beverages, like soda and sports drinks, to higher body mass index and worse diet in children. It makes sense right? If a kid is drinking soda all the time, they’re consuming more calories, and drinking less of the beverages that are actually beneficial, like milk or 100% juice; greater intake of those beverages correlated to an adequate intake of calcium, vitamin C, vitamin A, and magnesium.

In Moderation: If you look at all the scientific studies I mentioned above, you might want to make a knee jerk reaction and pull that sports drink right out of your kid’s hands. Those studies aren’t about your specific child or family, however, and it’s important to realize how your particular situation could come into play here.

If you live in a house where kids rarely have soda or other sugary drinks, letting them have a Gatorade at sports practice isn’t going to make them obese. If your kid is already guzzling soda at home, then adding a sports drink isn’t going to help—but sports drinks are only one thing that should be on your list of dietary worries.

What you do want to avoid is having your kid think that sports drinks are somehow “healthy,” when the truth is that they’re not. And, you don’t want a situation where your kid drinks sports drinks in place of water, because they think the sports drink will somehow make them feel better. However, as long as the drinks are had in moderation, like being consumed only at a specific activity like sports practice, they aren’t going to make your kid unhealthy.

Other Possible Beverages: I would caution parents to avoid replacing regularly sugared sports drinks with lower-calorie artificially sweetened ones. The trouble with these? In studies, greater intake of diet soda has been linked to higher BMI. Why? People rationalize that they are consuming less calories, so they “make up” for it by eating more.

Instead, try creating your own fruit-infused water. Cut up strawberries, cucumbers, and apple slices, and let them sit overnight in a pitcher of water. The result is delicious and low-calorie. Or, pick up a low-sugar 100% fruit juice from the store.

The Bottom Line: If your kid eats a healthy diet and avoids most sugary beverages, letting them have a Gatorade at their practice or game isn’t going to hurt. Just don’t let sugary sports-drinks replace water in regular day to day activities.

Table Time: Why Eating With Family Matters

Guest Post By: Joy Paley also known for her musing on sites like sonogram technician programs and christian counseling degree

It’s certainly not getting easier to sit around the table with your family and a wholesome dinner. If you’re a working mom, you probably drive straight from work to pick your kids up from practice or another after-school activity. Grabbing a few burgers on the way home or eating sandwiches in front of the TV can be an inviting option when you’ve such had a long day. And, it’s hard to make kids themselves sit still for 30 minutes to share a little time around the dinner table. There are benefits to making the effort to have a family meal, however. Even if you can’t do it every night, consider making it a 2 or 3 times a week tradition.

Being Here Now: Sitting down to eat is a form of thoughtful meditation. It’s a time to relax and reflect on the day, in a conscious manner. Try it sometime—eating while standing in front of the fridge or while watching TV just isn’t the same. Sitting around a table lets everyone in your family have a little chill out time from work, from homework, from cell phones and other technology. It’s a type of relaxation that we don’t get enough of these days.

Create Stability: For kids, stability is created by events they can anticipate, that happen again and again. Making family dinner a usual occurrence in your household is one easy way to provide this stability, and to give your kids a sense of control in their lives. Several scientific studies have found a significant positive correlation between a family’s eating habits and the amount of conflict they experience. Families with healthy, stable eating habits had less turbulent relationships than those who ate junk in front of the TV.

My own family, while growing up, was not without problems. My older brother decided to drop out of high school and fought with my dad constantly. Through it all, we still had family dinner (although my brother didn’t always attend). As a younger kid, this stability helped me understand that we were going to get through the difficult period, and that things were going to be okay.

Make Time to Talk: Especially as your kids move into their teen years, actually talking to them about anything of note can become difficult. They clam up, and respond to any questions with a head nod or a mumbling “uh huh.” Eating around a table naturally encourages talking; it’s a low-stress environment for sharing and communicating with one another. It’s is a great opportunity to sneak meaningful discussions into your time with your preteen or teen, without them even noticing.

Eat Better: With nearly ¾ of the U.S. population overweight or obese, many people are doing all they can to stay healthy. Eating meals around a table is a simple step you can take for you and your family, to ensure that everyone eats better. Why? The more conscious you are of eating, the likelier you are to only eat the amount of food you actually need. Unlike eating in front of the TV, you won’t be shoveling food into your mouth without even noticing it.

And, meals served around a table are likelier themselves to be healthier. When is the last time you served a butter-laden bowl of instant mac and cheese for a family meal around the table? You’re more likely to put together a balanced dinner when it’s served in a bit more formal setting. So what’s the bottom line about family dinners? They help you relax, reconnect, eat, and feel better. They take a little more energy, but will certainly pay off over time for you and your family.

Since there’s wintry weather in many areas of the country, I thought this would be a fun recipe for kids who are at home due to school closings.  Like S’mores?  Here are more variations I found in a Walmart ad one time:

• Basic S’mores – Put square of a Hershey’s Chocolate Bar (or other chocolate) on top of a graham cracker.  Top with marshmallows.  Put in microwave for 10 seconds or so, until marshmallow doubles in size. Top with another graham cracker.  (or put in regular oven for 10 minutes at 350 degrees)
• Peanut Butter Chocolate S’mores – Fix basic S’mores.  Spread peanut butter on the graham crackers that go on top, then place on top of S’mores.
• Strawberry S’mores – Heat marshmallows on graham crackers.  Spread strawberry preserves on the top graham crackers and then place on top of S’mores.
• Chocolate Chip Cookie S’mores – Substitute chocolate chip cookies for graham crackers and then fix like basic S’mores.
• Rolled-Up S’mores – Place marshmallow on a skewer and heat it.  Next, roll the marshmallow in melted chocolate.  Finally, roll it in dessert sprinkles or peanuts to suit your taste.

Choosing the best child care for one’s children is an important aspect of being a parent. There are some good child care facilities and some that aren’t so good. A good babysitter should have training in babysitter safety. The American Red Cross offers an American Red Cross Babysitter Class that would be excellent for those in child care.

When our kids were little and growing up, we never had to leave them at a babysitter. I’m thankful that my parents were able to help keep each of our children when they were little.  Our grandchildren go to an excellent preschool that has well-trained and loving staff members. They have cameras in the classrooms but not because they’ve ever had any problems. The cameras reassure parents that their children have the best of care. As you can see, it’s important for parents to research and do their homework. Then they can choose the best child care available for their children.

I had a nice surprise this week! Family Dollar sent a package to me, and this is what I found inside the box:

When I opened the gifts, I found two children’s gifts. There were boxing gloves for a boy and this adorable baby doll for a girl. Both gifts are only $5 at Family Dollar. If you’re needing some last minute inexpensive gifts for kids, then check out Family Dollar. Last time I was there, they had a good selection of children’s toys for $5 and $10.

I was excited when a large box arrived on my doorstep, and when I opened it…this is what I found!  I knew that Family Dollar was sending me something, but I had no idea it would be this big!

Inside this beautifully wrapped package were all sorts of goodies. There were things for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas!


In my gift basket for “Halloween Happiness,” there were Spooky Lollipop Rings and Halloween Suckers plus a Halloween pumpkin. (Family Dollar has good prices on their candy for trick or treaters! Note the Lollipop Rings are just $2.) For Thanksgiving, there were several things: an apron (a bib apron with two large pockets AND with DuPont Teflon fabric protector to protect from stains), two holiday dessert recipes from the Family Dollar Holiday Recipe and Coupon Booklet, and a fall leaves bowl.

By the way, you might want to get the Family Dollar Holiday Recipe and Coupon Booklet to help with your entertaining needs and your budget.

The “Christmas Corner” included a Family Dollar Christmas Toy Book which has 24 pages of value packed Christmas toys, affordable for every family.  Our daughter (Christi from Frugal Novice) was visiting when I opened my Family Dollar “Fall Entertaining Toolkit” basket of goodies.  When she saw the toys they sent me, which are in the Family Dollar Toy Book, she was impressed and said that she would definitely be going to Family Dollar to purchase some toys for gifts.

They have $5 toys for kids of every age, and they feature popular name brands like Hot Wheels, Disney, and Bakugan.  In fact, they sent me a Bakugan toy.  I have to admit that I had no idea what that was, but our daughter was very familiar with Bakugan toys.  When I gave it to our grandson (Christi & Brian’s three year old), he was fascinated with it.  In the picture, you can see our grandson, dressed in his red pajamas, playing very intently with his new toy. He liked it so much that he slept with it that night, and even went to sleep with it clutched in his little hand.  It was definitely a hit!

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Family Dollar has everything from kids’ favorites like full-function Radio Control Kid Cruisers to $5 board games to Kidget clothing for newborns-toddlers to hot-priced electronics.  They have play huts for $10 such as the Disney’s Tinker Bell and Disney’s Princess.  They have something for everyone!  What is really impressive is their great selection of $5 toys and gifts.  Also available are wrapping paper and seasonal home decor accents at great prices. No wonder they’re one of the fastest-growing discount chains in the United States and also a Fortune 500 company.

If you visit Family Dollar.com, you can enter the Family Dollar Holiday Dream Dash Contest for a chance to win a 90 seconds holiday shopping spree in one of their stores.  You can enter now through November 19, 2020.  Be sure to go back and vote the week of November 22nd.

Note:  Family Dollar offers a 10% discount on bulk toy purchases of $100 or more, perfect for the charitable gift-giver!

There’s something about books that’s appealing to so many people.  As an educator, I enjoying looking through children’s books and have a small collection from my years of teaching.   I especially look for children’s books with wonderful illustrations.  Being a visual learner myself, I think pictures can capture the imagination of a young child and help them to fully enjoy a story and want to look at books on their own.   And I can’t think of a better gift to give children than a book they will enjoy for a long time!