Water for kids

Hey kiddos, water for kids is for you; first a bit of science. It's your friend Christopher Robin here. Sorry I can't spell so well, perhaps you can help me put a few things right!

But I thought you might be interested to know some things about water. H2O. Did you know that water covers 70% of the Earth?

And that 90% of the fresh water lies in the The Antarctic ice sheet? That means not salty sea water.

Ask Dad to show you where Antartica is on a map, or better still a globe, if you don't know. It's way down south.

The other ten percent of the water? In that river near you, that lake where your dad goes fishing, and of course some in the clouds too. They're made of water remember, hence it rains cats and dogs sometimes.  Just so you can go singing in the rain.

If that ice sheet were to melt scientists say the sea level would rise by 60 metres (about 200 feet). That would be a catastrophe for me because the dyke behind which I live in Holland is only 15 metres high. We would be swamped! Sixty percent of Holland lies beneath sea level and we don't want too much water for kids here! So we should look after our ice. Ask Dad what you can do to help keep the ice in Antartica frozen.

When glaciers break off they form icebergs. Watch this dramatic video of a glacier calving.

Do you know the name of the continent that you can see that lies closest to Antartica?

And the other two continents that you can see on the edge of the photo?

Would you like to go into space one day? I would! Just imagine being able to see the Earth from a couple of hundred kilometres away in space. Stunning. That 'aint kids stuff, but I'll bet some of you who are reading this will do it. Maybe I will!

Water for kids

Water for kids can be:

• ice,
  
• liquid water and
  
• steam, too, that's also water.

A little experiment: with Mom's supervision. Take an ice block out of the freezer, put it in a saucer and leave it in the sun. What happens?

Now take that water and put it in the kettle. What happens when the water starts to boil? Put something cold like a pot in front of the steam coming out of the kettle. It turns back to water, eh.

Don't burn your fingers. Steam burns are bad! Ask Mom what she knows about 'latent heat?'

More important.

Did you know that you too are mostly water? Honest! Dinkum!

And if we don't drink plenty of water we will get sick from what is called dehydration. Deadly stuff. So, more water for kids.

Mostly, we've been drinking too many sodas to get our water. The problem is that to make those sodas taste good, they are either filled with sugar (which makes you fat! and you know what that means. Right? Right, you do know don't you? Getting fat will make you SICK and SORE, and none of us want that. Right?) or chemicals. They won't make you fat, but they will make you sick.

So, how do we get more of that water inside us, so we can be healthy, and happy and have lots of fun?

If it's HOT, ask mum to squeeze some fresh lemon into a big bottle of water, and A LITTLE honey (that advice I got from my friend Pooh), stir, and keep it in the fridge. Delic!

And in winter, when it's COLD? Pour a little FRESH tea into a big mug, and ask mum to cut a few slices of your favourite fruit into it. I like Mandarins most. Don't use old tea, and not strong - it gets bitter. Don't tell Pooh I said so, he'll be mad at me, but you don't need the honey. The fruit is quite sweet enough.

There! Lots of water in you, without getting fat or sick. That we wouldn't want. Right?!!!! I got into some watery trouble again with my Sunday School teacher. See if Dad can help you find out why?

• ST. JOHN THE BLACKSMITH DUMPED WATER ON HIS HEAD.
• THE PEOPLE WHO FOLLOWED THE LORD WERE CALLED THE 12 DECIBELS.
• ONE OF THE OPPOSSUMS WAS ST. MATTHEW WHO WAS ALSO A TAXIMAN.

The sea

Did you know that the sea is home to 80% of the life on planet Earth? And only 5% has been studied and explored.

More, the seas absorbe over a quarter of the nasty carbon dioxide that our factories and cars produce, and plants in the oceans produce over 50% of the oxygen we breathe.

If we don't look after our seas, and stop polluting them with plastic, we won't have enough oxygen to breathe; we'll become like fish out of the water!

It's time we learned to wean off plastic; reuse and recycle it, and choose paper bags when we can. 

Orange juice facts

Give these delic orange juice facts a try; just add a little water for kids to dilute.

It's all about getting healthier. Notice how lots of your friends are getting fat? How many have diabetes and have to inject themselves every day? Ouch.

You don't want that, right, but it does mean a bit of effort, and some retraining of your tongue. We won't go into the science of it but perhaps ask mom about glycemic index if you are interested; but OJ from a carton is bad stuff; really, it is. 

So make your own. My advice? Start with an orange, but be ready to experiment. There are so many other really delic, healthy citrus fruits. Some are a bit sour, but that's great once you're used to it. Others are a little sweeter like the mandarin.

Here you can see an orange, lemon, grapefruit, and a mandarin. Try mixing them.  Bit of this, bit of that, there are so many exciting new flavours.

Notice I've taken out the strainer. You want the pulp too, that's where most of the vitamins are. You can use a teaspoon to take out the pips, or just strain them out between your teeth.

So, about a quarter of a glass of neat fruit juice.

You know about halves and quarters, right? Ask Mom if you can cut an apple into two halves, and then four quarters. Now you know what a half and a quarter is. It'll help you with telling the time too. Now eat them! Apples are full of stuff called pectin that keep your cholesterol down, and more stuff called phytosterols; they're the ones that stop you getting cancer.

Yes, alas, kids get cancer too. But an apple a day, keeps the doctor away, right? Oranges and lemons too.

Fill the glass nearly to the top and taste it. Sour.... ugh! You've got to start retraining that tongue, but to start with, perhaps cheat a bit, and add just a little OJ. Just a little now....

And as soon as your tongue is retrained, you don't need that OJ. Junk food.

Here it is. Just taste that! Three quarters water, one quarter fruit juice that you've squeezed yourself. Remember, pulp and all.

We all need to drink more water, but water for kids is especially important. That's you! Water for kids.

And how long did it take? About three minutes? That includes cleaning up the mess, skins in the garbage, rinse out the squeezer, juice back in the fridge.

Do it every day, and you'll be much healthier. Much. No one likes being sick, but it does take a bit of effort to eat and drink better.

Do you have a howling kid brother or sister? Please don't dump water on his head, but you might think about giving him a drink; thirsty babies cry.

Water is for all the little people, including babies.

Colic chiropractic

Mom, do you know the Rule of Three for crying babies? Colic chiropractic may have something important for you; it has nothing to do with water for kids.

Read more … COLIC CHIROPRACTIC ...

There is solid research confirming our chiropractic opinion:

Water you want to drink

Hey, Mom, do you want your kids drink more water instead of colas? Then you've got to provide them with water they want to drink.

Never will I forget my four years in Chicago. I swear the tap water came straight from that sewer called Lake Michigan! My kids refused to drink it, nor would She Who Must be Obeyed. I wish I knew then about HOME WATER PURIFICATION … the filters cost only $25 for six months of drinking water. How many cokes is that? Pay a visit to Cindy's Eco Wellness Store ...

Perthe's disease

Hey kiddo, here's a message from Chiropractic Help. This has nothing to do with water for kids, but if you get pain at the top of your leg - in the groin - please tell mum or dad straight away; especially if it starts to make you limp. It could be serious and one day it may cause a short leg and other nasty things like hip arthritis. You don't mess with Perthe's disease.

I don't think growing pains exist. It's just another way doctors have of saying: "I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS MAKING YOUR LEG SORE!" and Water for Kids won't cure this one. Fortunately Perthe's disease is not common.

Kid's recipes

Bored with the junk they sell you at the supermarket, kiddo. Ask Mom if you can try a few of these recipes. Easy and lekker as we say in Holland. Delic. Clean up nicely, when you're done, eh!

It really bugs me to write in bad grammar, but Bill Gate's web doesn't recognise the '. The apostrophe. Really, this should be Kid's recipes, but I'm sure you understand that. Mmm, more than one kid, so kids' recipes. Notice the difference? If not, ask Mom. And jup, you're quite right, Perthe's disease, with the 's.

Healthy breakfast

Different foods have different flavours, each just a little different.  Experimenting and blending them can be such fun. How about this citrus drink?

Know what citrus is? Oranges and lemons, grapefruit and mandarins... squeeze half of each, pulp and all remember, no strainer, and fill the glass up with water for kids. Delic... you really don't need any sugar. Bad stuff. Makes you fat and sick.

How's this for a healthy breakfast? Oats and raisins and water (nuke them for one minute). Add yoghurt, chopped strawberries, see the dollop of raw honey? Mmm, shall I have a boiled egg? Maybe.

Know how to crack a pecan nut? Learn the art. Pecans nutrition is so delic on your cereal. Healthy too.

Don't forget to top up your citrus juice with water for kids.

Raw honey

Talking of honey, did you ever think of keeping your own bees? I've kept bees for over fifty years! And it's my very best hobby. Better than gliding, better than gardening, better than carpentry, better than making websites, better than writing books. Bees... but there you need some help. My grandfather got me started... such fun.

Raw honey is very difficult to get these days; it's mostly been processed. Water for kids with a tad of genuine sweetness from the garden is just lovely.

Jup, better than all these. But you've gotta turn the TV off if you want to have this kind of fun.

Only ONE thing better than all these hobbies. Grandkids! Even better than their parents!

I wonder if I teach her to keep bees? Or become a glider pilot? Or a good cook of fun, healthy foods?

USEFUL LINKS

• HIP ARTHRITIS ...
  
• To go from WATER FOR KIDS back to the Teddybears Picnic ... actually Teddybears'!

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