I am in total agreement with Sheri here! The child was outside at a BBQ - in warm weather I'm guessing - and most likely eating foods high in salt. Therefore, the child needed SOME water to counter balance the effects of the sugar, the caffeine, the heat, and possibly salty foods (though I wasn't there and so don't know what the child was eating).

If I have it my way (and thankfully DH is in agreement with me here) our son will be 5 yo before he has anything like soft drink or cordial. Unfortunately you have to watch out for what other people do - including family members. I had two ladies at church feed my son a finger full of chocolate cake the day he turned 6 months (I had JUST started solids two days before that so up to that point he had only had breast milk and rice cereal). My SIL wanted to give DS some chocolate cake over Christmas as well and I told her he could wait another 6 weeks until his first birthday.

I just really want to set a good example and get a good basis of nutrition for my son in the early days. There are too many health issues in DH's family to take many risks and he'll have plenty of time when he is MUCH older and can make his own decisions, to eat all the sugary junk.

Right now I'm thrilled that he prefers his veggies (even over fruit - though he is getting better with fruit) and that he guzzles the water down at his solid meals.

And I think the parents who ROUTINELY give their children junk food and drink (I'm not talking about the odd treat here and there) are lazy. They don't want to take the time and effort to teach their child proper nutrition and they also don't want to deal with the tantrums and struggles that come up when they tell their child no.

I'm disgusted with the child obesity level in the US (I moved here in June 2000) and unfortunately Australia will follow in America's footsteps if we aren't careful.