A Somewhat Mini-Series- Weird Rules My Parents Had that Save Me Money Now: Juice

My parents had some strange rules when my sister and I were growing up. For example, they never bought soda or juice- our choice was water or no sugar added iced tea. (We did not like milk, so we never drank it.) They had reasons, of course. My mom's reason about the juice and soda was that it disturbed her to see kids who would only drink these items, or worse, kids who flat out did not like water! It horrified her, and she wanted to teach us to like water or other unsweetened items that did not come in a can. We were allowed to order a coke or whatnot when we ate out (almost never!) but at home, water or iced tea, end of story. Now that I'm in charge of my own groceries, I almost never buy juice or soda. It's not that I don't like it, it's just that I don't think about it. This saves me a decent amount of money now. (Note: I'm not saying you should never buy juice or soda, I'm just giving my personal experience! If I drank nothing but juice or soda, as some people I know do, I would be spending a lot of money. I drink A LOT of water. I drink so much that I've been tested for diabetes more than once, because of my excessive thirst.)

I was thinking about this particular rule of my childhood as I was reading a discussion over at Vegan Lunch Box. It seems that the author had given her kid tons of juice as a small child, and now that's just about all he'll drink. She is thankful that she finally found a product that is not as sugar filled as juice that her son will drink.

It's not so much the article that I find interesting, but the comments afterwards. Many people seemed to think that a kid needs juice, and that if the child does not get it, they will be secretly buying cases of soda elsewhere, and will become full on sugar junkies as an adult. That water and milk (or in my case, tea) will not be acceptable to a child. I just found it a really interesting discussion, since I was raised without juice or kool-aid or soda, and I'm not a sugar junkie, I almost never buy soda or juice, and that I really did not mind only having water except when I had to bring it in a thermos to school. Water is still my favorite beverage. I don't even buy bottled water, to the shock of some. I also found it interesting that people seemed to allow kids to make so many of these choices for the family, as I grew up in a home where the children's opinion was rarely ever asked, and mom and dad's word was final once the decision was made.

Of course, my sister just about lives on Diet Coke, so grain of salt...

...but she does like water!