I'd let my kids have it once in a while, but they don't like bubbles. They have juice or lemonade once in a while.

A Sprite maybe twice a year. But that's it

Every now and then at the movies. We don't make it a big deal, and kids don't obsess

^^kid not keep...

We allow our kids to have a soft drink when we are out at a restaurant but not at home. They drink water, carbonated or sparkling water, fruit juice and milk at home. I buy Cokes for my husband. Neither keep child likes Cokes. I did buy diet soda at one time but found they didn't really drink those so stopped. They are now teens and it is not an issue. I think had I started letting them have soft drinks at a young age, they may have developed a taste for them.

There is not one ounce of nutritional benefit to drinking soda. Why would you give it to your kid. My DD went on a playdate and the mom gave it to my child. Thankfully she hated it!

At around seven he started to taste soda, and he kind of likes it. So he gets one a week, usually on "Friday takeout night". He's not into sweets in general, though, so he's generally light on the sugar side.

Not going to kill him.

None. But I also never drink soda and neither does my husband (or at least we never drink it in front of the kids, once in a while we may grab one at work during a lunch event).

Rarely. Once in a while as a special treat but nothing with caffeine.

That's not all they serve.

Anonymous wrote:Exactly why would any intelligent parent give their child garbage to consume?

Because they aren't an uptight idiot like yourself and know a rare treat never hurt anyone.

Once in a blue moon I don't think it is a big deal. (5&7 here.) It isn't any worse than candy or anything else. Regularly, though, we don't do soda. We also don't drink much soda in our house so that helps. I used to drink a lot and my kids were always asking for it. Once I stopped drinking it and keeping it in the house, they stopped asking.

Anonymous wrote:Exactly why would any intelligent parent give their child garbage to consume?

I'll ask my DH and get back to you.

Very occasionally we have sparkling juice like from trader joes or Izzy at a party or with popcorn and movie. I usually water it down with some seltzer. Or we just do lime in seltzer. Fridge just has milk and water and only orange juice if someone has a cold or if my parents are visiting because for some reason they need orange juice. I don't think my kids have had regular soda, but if they had some at a party, okay. Restaurants we get milk or water.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ohhhh...

Does anyone have a policy for dessert and soft drinks in the same day or *gasp* at the same meal?

We usually say he can have soda OR dessert. 7 yo. He will almost always choose dessert and get lemonade or idea tea or water. We eat dessert most nights at home and are not candy-shy. His dad and I drink soda but we don't let DC have a lot of it and it's very rare he gets soda at home.

Real iced tea or the premixed stuff? The premixed isn't much better than a soft drink.