How Much Milk Do You Give The Kids?

[countrymom]

Honestly? I don't give any...except to babies. I'm not on the food program and therefore am not required to offer milk. I strongly disagree with the government's idea that dairy milk is so freaking wonderful and is *the way to go* for everyone, all the time, the best/only source of calcium/etc. Really, really, really, REALLY do not agree with this. For a lot of reasons that I won't go into unless someone asks me.

We eat lots of things that provide us with calcium and protein--cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese (yes, all dairy, but marginally better than regular dairy milk due to the fermentation process), dark leafy greens, etc. I get our "milk" in in a variety of ways.

My kids are offered nothing but water at all meals and snacks. They all drink it, too, though it took a long time for some of them. Now they guzzle water like it's going out of style

My daycare parents are all well aware of my views on milk and fully understand and support my decision to not offer it to drink. Most of them don't push the milk at home either.

yup, here too. Acually I started to find that I was dumping alot of milk out and in ontario milk is expesive. And my kids love yogurt and cheese.

[CheekyChick]

I serve milk with breakfast and lunch. Water and juice in between. I let them carry their cups around for the most part in between meals because I don't want them to get dehydrated. Especially the little ones who can't tell me they are thirsty. It's a bit messy, but I'd rather they stay hydrated than worry about a few drops of juice.

[Lianne]

Mine get 3-4oz at lunch time then water at both snacks. I don't serve breakfast

[Angelwings36]

I fixed the milk problem by asking parents to supply the milk. Parent's will bring me however much milk they feel their child needs for the week and I use only the milk they bring. If the child wastes the milk, not my problem, not my penny. If we run out (which rarely happens) the children are offered water only. I do not believe in giving children juice.

[wdmmom]

4 oz is the suggested serving size so that's what my kids get with breakfast and lunch. I serve water with snack unless it's cookies, then we gotta have milk.

[itlw8]

I found if you let them fill the cup with water they LOVE it and drink alot more water. also it does not take long for children to do what all the others do.

[Lucy]

Cute cups, twisted straws, a couple drops of food coloring to make it "look like" juice, ice in the cup, their OWN cup sitting in an assigned spot for whenever they want some. Maybe with names on them?? Does Oriental Trading Company have something like that? Or maybe just use a Sharpie.

Those are just a few ideas off the top of my head to make water more appealing.