As a parent, your goal is to see your child thrive in what they enjoy. One simple but often overlooked way to support their success is by ensuring they drink enough water daily. Staying hydrated improves your child’s concentration and development. It also keeps their breath smelling fresh and their joints, bones and teeth healthy. 

Learn what makes hydration so important and how you can encourage your child to boost their water intake. 

The Impact of Water Intake on Children’s Concentration

The human brain is 80% water, so even the slightest drop in hydration can affect brain function. Your brain also uses 20% of the oxygen in your body, and water helps the brain’s oxygen flow. Children who drink more water may end up with better focus and performance outcomes in school and on other tasks. 

How does drinking water help you focus? If your child consistently drinks water, it will improve their concentration levels by ensuring their neurons function efficiently. This helps the brain think more clearly. Hydration also contributes to headache prevention, which allows the brain to concentrate. 

Increasing your child’s water intake can improve their cognitive development and brain plasticity and regulate their mood. If your brain feels 1%-3% dehydrated, it affects your memory, attention span and sense of awareness. 

Hydration improves brain plasticity by helping your brain adapt and create neurotransmitters to help you learn. Neurotransmitters are responsible for regulating moods. When your brain has a low hydration intake, the neurotransmitters cannot adequately function, causing you to feel irritable, tired and confused. 

Signs of Dehydration

When your child is hydrated, they may feel fatigued, moody or inattentive,  making it more challenging to focus and learn. Common signs of dehydration include: 

• Feeling thirsty: Thirst signals that your body requires more fluids. 
• Dark yellow urine: When your body has a low fluid count, your urine becomes dark yellow, indicating that you need to increase your hydration to prevent kidney issues. 
• Feeling tired: When your body lacks sufficient fluid, it slows down bodily functions like blood flow and oxygen to the brain. 
• Smelly breath: When your child’s hydration is low, their mouths produce less saliva, which helps clean. This can increase odor-causing bacteria in the mouth.
• Feeling dizzy: When your body loses fluid quicker than it receives it, you may feel dizzy. 

5 Practical Tips for Building Healthy and Sustainable Hydration Habits 

Staying hydrated is easier when drinking water or eating water-rich foods becomes part of your lifestyle. With a few strategies, you can incorporate hydration into daily routines to benefit the whole family physically, mentally and emotionally. Lead by example — children often imitate parents, so if you want your child to stay hydrated and eco-friendly, adopt these changes too.

Here are a few tips to turn hydration into a habit: 

1. Create Water Break Times

Link water breaks to regular routines, like drinking water after completing homework or brushing your teeth. These small anchors can help form daily habits.

2. Develop Incentives

Getting your children to hydrate — especially if they don’t understand its importance — can be challenging. Try a reward system until they’re old enough to know why they need hydration. Choose small rewards like a bedtime story or watching television for 30 minutes longer over the weekend. 

3. Set Reminders

Life is busy, and it’s easy to forget to hydrate until your body signals that it’s sensing dehydration. Setting reminders helps you prevent the risks of low water intake. Whether it’s a sticky note on the fridge or periodic alarms, reminders can help you make an intention an everyday habit. 

4. Make Hydration Fun 

Buy water-rich snacks, like oranges, cucumbers and strawberries. Try making smoothies or popsicles filled with healthy fruits. You can also add fruits like lemons, cucumbers or strawberries to water to flavor it. 

5. Get Reusable Water Bottles and Straws

You’re raising the next generation who will care for the environment. Encourage your children to stay healthy physically and mentally while being eco-friendly. 

Use refillable water bottles made from BPA-free materials. This durable material reduces dependence on single-use plastic and protects the environment. Many schools offer bottle-filling stations, making it easier for children to refill their bottles throughout the day. 

Buy a specific bottle your kid loves and tell them they can only drink from it if they have water. The water bottle could be their favorite color or feature a character from a movie they love. You can also find colorful reusable straws to make drinking water more engaging and appealing to children.

Create Habits That Last a Lifetime

Creating simple routines, setting reminders and offering encouragement can make drinking water a natural and enjoyable part of your child’s day. Every sip counts toward building a healthier future and improved focus and learning. 

Author: Beth Rush