Say No to Soda

Today's first time parenting tip - Don't give your infant soda for the first two years of their life

This tip seems pretty obvious to me, and hopefully to a lot of other parents. But I saw someone driving with their infant, couldn't have been more than a year old, and they were sucking down a bottle of Faygo orange pop in the rear-facing baby seat of their old Toyota Camry.

Call me a stickler, but I think you should teach a child how to eat right before they learn to eat wrong. And sugary, caffeinated and carbonated drinks don't figure into that mix.

The nutritional value is nil. The effects of being addicted to caffeine are real. And the weight gain throughout their childhood years can be real too.

The best way to make it easy to say no to soda? Lead by example. Don't drink it in front of your kids, and don't keep it in the house. The less access they have to it and the less they see you, the number one person they learn from drinking it, the better.

Providing lots of healthy alternatives like juice, water, milk, etc. is key too. A cold soda every now and again is fine, you don't have to be a warden, but be reasonable. And if their too young to remember kicking back a cold coke with their dad on a hot summer's day, then there's really not point in giving it to them.

See all the first time parenting tips