I marvel at how we got a tiny thing of chocolate milk and *maybe* 3 sips at a trickling water fountain once a day in a building without AC or any shade for over a decade of our lives, but my 6yo has an emotional support water bottle that his teacher would look at me sideways if I *didn't* send to school every day and has since he was 2. I remember going to amusement parks without so much as a drop of water on us in the height of summer, and my dad would be so annoyed to have to spend a dollar or two on a bottle of water when "it's free at home!" Now we think absolutely nothing of spending $6 on a bottle of water if we get caught without one somewhere, it's a necessity and our oversight not bringing any.
I will regularly make it to dinner time before I realize all I've had to drink today is my morning coffee. I feel like my body has learned to survive in a constant state of dehydration. I'm glad my son won't ever have that problem, but I do think we were chronically dehydrated.
Truth. My 3yo has two thermos brand water bottles. A Bluey one and a Grogu one.
Lord help us if we leave the house without the water bottle of the day.
I'm 39 and my wife makes fun of me because I have a 20oz travel mug for coffee that keeps my coffee hot for hours and hours, and a 32oz yeti water bottle that keeps it could all day (with ice, of course). I don't leave home without them. She calls them my emotional support cups.... š¤£š¤£š¤£š¤£
Whatever drink I have with me goes with me everywhere. Store? Errands? - drink. Garage? - drink. Bathroom? Yes, I take my drink. Everywhere, all the time.
I'm also 39, but I'm currently breastfeeding our youngest (4 months old.) So I'm constantly drinking *all* the water. Those little 16.9oz bottles that come in the big packs? I can suck one of those down in about two gulps, they're a joke. I just keep refilling my hospital cups that are 28-30oz.
1 pint is small AF. My favorite part of my Yeti water bottle (that I got free as a ground score at a baseball tournament. I asked every team we saw the next day is anything lost their water bottle, no takers... SCORE) is that I fill that sucker with ice and can refill it with tap/fountain/bottled water all day and have an insane amount of cold water with no effort. Lol.
I got a 50 oz a few years ago because the 32 wasnāt getting it done. I canāt get my blood pressure down for shit but I can pee a bunch and only have to fill it up twice a day!
Iām 40 and have an emotional support water bottle. Iām so used to be extra hydrated now that I canāt be away from ice water for longer than 15 minutes without a mild panic haha
My wife and I are 42. Iāve called her water bottle her emotional support bottle for years because she never actually drinks it.
Meanwhile I drink the same bottleās worth three times over before lunchā¦.
It only took one excruciating kidney infection when I was in middle school to turn me into a water fiend. I may have to pee 29X/day, but the lack of crippling pain is worth it!
When I learned that it helped with weight loss I started putting down 2 gallons a day minimum in my 20ās. Ran to the bathroom so often my boss pulled me aside to make sure everything was ok. Thankfully she was cool with it and the truth is it really does make a difference
I'm 45 I drink atleast a gallon of water a day, maybe more. It's become a running joke with kids. I explained to them I'm trying to undue all the damage I did when I was younger. Don't want those wrinkles setting in before they have to. To much sun and smoking.
Me too, and I *will* stop at a gas station for a bottle on the rare occasion I leave the house without it. I swear I can feel my throat shriveling up like a raisin if I go more than 30 minutes without a sip. Maybe it's all the A/C and forced air heating we have these days. I almost always feel so *dry*.
9yo girls are bragging about their Stanley to their classmates and pointing out when someone doesn't have a Stanley. I intentionally take my kids to HomeGoods or TJMaxx to buy literally anything but a Stanley. I'll go out of my way to find a water bottle that is cooler than a Stanley. I swear to gawd I will not be allowing my children to participate in mean girl expensive brand affiliation when they can't even keep up with a $10 lunch box for an entire semester!! Then I tell my kids to tell their friends that their Boomer grandmother has been using a Stanley for 20 years. Yeah, your super new fad has Boomer written all over it! And your Papaw took his Stanley fishing for at least 45 years. That shit drives me nuts LoL
ETA: I have no problem with a responsible adult spending their adult money on whatever the fuck they want. I do take issue with young children brand shaming when they can't remember to bring their coat home when it's 30Ā° outside LoL
I had the OG of water bottle/thermos.
https://preview.redd.it/2dnyvmlv9bbd1.png?width=900&format=png&auto=webp&s=8b145a1dad7884443448400c99d3cf1ee4df43c9
Was just with a friend from South America who grew up in the old ways there too this weekend, as they moved to North America few years ago, his 7 year old son goes crazy if he doesn't have his specific water bottle.
Even in the car having left their home, if forgotten, they have to turn around and go back to get that specific water bottle. He was lamenting how he needs to toughen his kid up a bit.
My family went to Disney World, in Florida, in mid July when I was a kid and none of us carried a water bottle. We had drinks with our meals and that was that.
Iām planning a return trip there on next year and itās pretty amusing to me, one of the favorite discussion topics on r/waltdisneyworld is what kind of water bottle to bring. Iāll be going in January and I still canāt imagine spending all day anywhere WITHOUT a water bottle, regardless of the weather.
Did the same Disney dance - never had a drink there when I was a kid. Days were brutal with my parents. We started calling summer vacations anywhere in the south āBataan Death Marchā
Went with my own kids last year. I felt like the trip was partially sponsored by Hydroflask. And of course I get to carry them all in a bag because dad is just a pack mule.
I donāt even particularly like Disney and I follow that subreddit! Itās wild how complicated going to WDW has become. We went in 1986 and Iām pretty sure just bought tickets at the gate and stayed in a motel 6
Yes, same... I constantly forget to drink fluids at all past morning coffee, and I totally blame it on spending so much of my formative years being constantly dehydrated lol
Itās crazy! Iāve been thinking about this a lot recently because I seem to spend so much time refilling my kids water bottles/cups. I canāt remember ever asking for a drink as a child, just being given a drink with meals. And at school, Iād have a juice box for lunch and absolutely nothing in between, even during PE/Gym class. I genuinely think we were always dehydrated. Itās so funny to me that my two young kids sip water all day from their 12oz Starbucks cups! Itās so far removed from my own childhood.
Its all fun and games until you get kidney stones from having nothing to drink but coffee all day. I got my first one 20 years ago, once you form them once, you are likely to form them again in the future. I have had 9 procedures over those 20 years, waiting to do another one sometime in the not too distant future. On top of that not all the kidney stones I've had (too many to count) have required a procedure.
I myself blame the combination of drinking hose water and calling collect from payphones to be the primary cause. /s š
I donāt get kidney stones if Iām dehydrated, but I do get its asshole cousin from Southie: /r/gout. Itās basically the same thing except in a joint, usually the big toe.
I had two kidney stones in my late 20s. They were calcium oxalate and for a while i avoided certain foods but now I just try to stay hydrated. You have my sympathy, worst fucking pain in the entire world
I actually form conglomerate stones where one half is Uric Acid, and the other half is Calcium Oxalate. They also form independently as well.
I also topped that pain this year, but it's still pretty high on the scale.
Hoping you are past your stone issues, and hydrating continues to work for you.
āItās free at home!ā šÆ
Another example of the usefulness of that sentence āback in our dayā: The ice cream truck went by, or maybe the family car passed a Dairy Queen. If you were to say anything, you would be reminded of that half-gallon of xyz ice cream flavor in the freezer at home. š
Still do that. My kids, "Its the ice cream truck!" "Yeah, well, an ice cream truck treat is $5 and it only costs $7 to get a half gallon\* at the store."
>and my dad would be so annoyed to have to spend a dollar or two on a bottle of water when "it's free at home!"
This was my mom. No one dared point out that water at home several hours away didn't help us.
You're not kidding about what a sea change it's been. I've had health issues since I was a child, part of which was eventually needing to drink extra water (and consume extra salt, along w meds) to keep my blood pressure up. But I still vividly recall how much of a fight it was to get school permissions/ accommodations to carry a water bottle. Like I had to keep a laminated doctor's note with me.
Kids should have always had easier access to water! Jeez.
Pfft not to mention getting permission for the additional obviously connected "unnecessary" bathroom trips...š Had to have a Nephrology note and tell each teacher in high school. *so* not embarrassing...
I was thinking about that when we went to Disney recently. We all had big water bottles that were carried and refilled. I went with my choir in HS and donāt know if I drank water that entire week. Iām sure I lived on some type of soda and coffee.
I also have an emotional support water bottle, although mines Pepsi or liquid IV, that I've had for nearly 3 years now that I would be lost without. Just hearing the ice jingling in there makes me feel better.
I live in Japan and it's still pretty "old school" here. My daughter is 5 and still in daycare, but kids are only allowed to bring water bottles during the summer, and even then they can only drink at designated times. During the winter they only get drinks during breaks and lunch. It drives me crazy because my daughter always has chapped lips and dry skin during the winter, and often gets constipated, so she obviously needs more water. She's not in the habit of drinking so I have to remind her at home on the weekends.
Drinking water from a bike water bottle almost put me off of drinking water forever. That shit was gross and I refuse to drink from a plastic bottle, to this day.
I don't know that I've ever personally bought a bottle of water. It just seems like the biggest waste.
I agree on bike water bottles. I can smell/taste the hot, plastic, rubbery water now
Thatās probably good for you too. I donāt like bottled water. I swear I can taste the plastic and it always feels like thereās tiny sand or something in it.
It's a serious pain in the ass, but my hydro flask goes everywhere with me. The only bottled stuff that I care for is desani and that only makes me slightly less thirsty than aquafina.
I got a water bottle sling so I can carry my 64oz bottle with ease! It also has a couple little pockets for your phone and debit card or whatever. I LOVE it.
Yes. We were.
Iāve had this discussion with so many fellow parents. Drinking anything was almost fucking taboo in my house. Unexplainable. Iāve asked my parents about it several times and all they do is get odd and quiet and avoid any real answers.
āOh you were fineā
āNo mom, Iām asking what your thought process was as a parent at the timeā
āOh did I scar you?ā
āFor fucks sake woman, this isnāt an interrogation, Iām generally curious. This is a question from one parent to another.ā
āYouāll always be my babyā
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccccckkkkkk ššššš
They are unable to look back at this and that sucks. But if we're being kind, I don't think they had the knowledge either.
Remember they were just being taught the food pyramid, which was pretty bunk. And soda was and cigarettes were considered fine by society at large.
Should they have known better? Probably.
My dad HATED that my brother and took up smoking and he told me before he passed that he wished he'd quit sooner as an example. Honestly though, smoking would have happened anyway, given my social circle and how many people did it.
LMAO, this is my mom 100%. My old man left a lot of these things up to my mom, so when I asked him about stuff when we were growing up he openly admitted he had no idea what he was doing. Mom doesn't seem to recall what time were like back then, anymore it seems.
I got in big trouble in kindergarten for hitting a safety patrol who was making fun of my brother who was in his class. He had the chest strap down (didn't want to look like a nerd safety patrol I guess?) so I hadn't noticed he was on patrol at the time. Still mad about that one, he had no consequences for trolling a kindergartner and I had to sit out recess for a whole week.
Do they still make kids police each other like this? Looking back it was a very āStanford Prison Experimentā or Orwellian thing to do to us. I really hope this practice died with us.
I haven't thought about that expression in decades. Did it originate in a movie or something? I can definitely remember everyone, including teachers, saying that.
They used to do that at the school water fountains after recess. Drove me nuts! It was stinkin' HOT outside and we were kids. Let us have a damn drink, for Pete's sake!
We always did A-E-I-O-U (and if it was your friend drinking you'd add "and sometimes Y")
ETA: it's wild that our kids will likely never have to wait in a long line for a sip of water after recess or PE! never thought about that before.
God I hated that at the catholic grade school I attended. Grade school had no A/C and we got maybe 3 water breaks a day. I remember being miserable every warm day because I was so thirsty.
I mean, Id have a small glass of OJ or apple juice and some oatmeal for breakfast, 4 hours later get a half pint of milk and maybe some fountain sips, run a mile 45 mins later wearing jeans, then have nothing else till a soda or Kool-Aid 4 hours after that.
I for sure was not doing right by my body. Slim Goodbody and his unitard would be disappointed.
20 minutes without a water and you would think my kids are going to shrivel up. For awhile I thought something was wrong but it turns out I must have been chronicly dehydrated as a child.
I once asked my kids pediatrician about how much water they drank. She is fresh out of school and at least a decade younger than me or more. She was like, "That's great!" And I flashed back to roadtrips where you didn't drink because "WE WERE MAKING GOOD TIME!" and stopping was forbidden. Glad my kids are better of than we were!
Right? We stopped every 4 hours for gas so you better hold it till then.
Now as a parent, we do ration the kids' water during long car trips, because they drink when they're bored. So they will drain a 32oz of water in 30 min, and then have to pee every 20 min for the next 2 hours. Great for any other time than in the car where exits are 100 miles apart.
Was that a universal phenomenon? I moved to Arizona at exactly that time and I thought it was just a desert thing, which made sense to me. But maybe it was everyone?
I think it was everyone. I grew up in CT, and my cousins and I used to do a grab bag for Christmas every year (before everyone had kids of their own) and i remember one year around that time when everyone got Nalgene bottles in the grab bag š
REI opened in Dallas in ā93. Went there with my scout troop on a field trip.
12 year old me bought a coop membership, a Nalgene bottle, and Tom Brownās Guide to Wilderness Survival.
I wonder if REI had a big impact on the rise of Nalgene because as soon as one was built in Pittsburgh in the early 2000ās, everyone started getting them.
I still have my college branded Nalgene that I got in '98. They might have taken off earlier in the northeast where I lived, since some friends had them by '96 in high school... and tested the "indestructiblity" claim on one til it broke!
. . .
and you just snapped the puzzle pieces together for me perhaps why my kids have never once in their lives complained about growing pains. A few times when they can't sleep I've asked if they have pains in their legs or feet and the answer has never been yes.
I used to have cramps SO bad in the hamstrings of my thighs that my dad would tell me to lay them on the cold of the ceramic bathtub. It worked, but he told me got them all the time and they were "Salt Cramps". Yeah, turns out my alcoholic dad didn't drink a lot of water either.
Yes! I had headaches frequently as a kid and it took me until my last school trip to figure it out when one of the teachers told me I donāt drink enough and that could cause headaches.
The amount of headaches I could have not had, if only my parents/mom made sure Iād drink enoughā¦
The amount of HA (and sinus infections) I could have avoided if I was properly hydrated...I think my Mom had one goal, to limit bathroom time, which was totes aligned with our Public School overlords
My mom took me to the doctor fearing tuberculosis because my dad and uncle (Lived in the basement beside me) chains smoked in the house downstairs by my windowless bedroom.
That's exactly it, dehydration gums up the works. Side effect of being properly hydrated is that my sinuses actually drained. Had to add nuun tabs to at least one water a day to achieve this (it's like gatorade, and looked for a solution that didn't involve more single use plastic).
I told my kids I can count on one hand the number of times I went to the bathroom at school (K-12). When they asked why and how, I realized the only thing I drank all day was a tiny carton of milk. When I got home I maybe had some orange juice and then a glass of milk or water with dinner. It wasn't until my mid 30s when I realized how much water my body needed. Now I drink gallons of water a day and I'm in my best physical condition.
I was watching a documentary of some sort about mountain climbing when I was probably 15. At one point, they were talking about dehydration being deadly, and warned that at cold temperatures, it can be difficult to remember to drink water.
One of the dehydration warning signs they listed was chapped lips! I always had a stick of ChapStick with me, and used it constantly. It was so bad at times my lips would bleed. In fact, as they were explaining that dry lips were one of the early signs of dehydration, I was reaching into my pocket for my ChapStick.
At that point, it clicked, and I went to get a glass of tap water, and resolved to drink more water daily. I can't remember a single instance of having chapped lips ever since.
I used to have the worst chapped lips as a kid because I hardly ever drank water and mostly drank soda. Once I started to drink water more regularly and got off the soda; my chapped lips went away. Now the only time I get them is if I am in the sun too long and I am getting burned.
I remember horribly chapped lips as a kid too. What probably didn't help was huddling outside in -10Ā° winters every recess. I remember fighting for the middle of the pack of children where it was warmest.
I remember being 10 -12 something like that and playing peewee football in the dead of summer. We had this one hard ass coach and whenever you made a mistake your punishment was running and no water breaks. Iām not sure how no one killed over. As a dad if I seen someone do that to my son Iād personally put my foot up the coachās ass.
A High School coach in Texas recently put a post on social media similar in sentiment. (Basically water makes kids weak.... it was out there....) It was quickly removed and a statement issued by the superintendent about how ALL SCHOOLS FOLLOW THE STATE MANDATE WATER BREAK SCHEDULE.
I'm not sure in Texas, but in Florida, it's no joke. We also have the wet bulb that determines if the kids can practice with the heat and humidity combined. High School football is HUGE here too, but we aren't about killing our players.
Iām surprised this isnāt higher. Iāve talked to, idk, at least a dozen people our age who had chronic headaches until they started making sure to drink water every day as teens or young adults.
OMG I suffered from chronic headaches as a kid to the point that I went to the doctor and got some weird meds I took for awhile. I probably just wasn't drinking enough because I drink a ton of herbal tea and water every day now.
I was just thinking about this the other day. I never drank water as a kid. I actively disliked it, but I think that's because I was RARELY given it. When I actually was given something to drink outside of mealtime, it was kool-aid. At dinner, I had to drink a cup of milk before I could have juice or soda... at 7 years old. I actually have a pic of me as a baby with a baby bottle full of red juice. I don't know how I survived, especially when I lived in the FL heat. Thankfully I hopped into the water train in HS when I started playing sports, but it was legit just soda, milk, and juice before that. Wild times.
The first time I heard about bottled water was a gold evian bottle case in Vogue- like a beautiful filigree holder for your evian, complete with a gold chain strap.
The first time I heard of bottled water was in Troop Beverly Hills when Shelly Long is drowning her sorrows in bottles of Evian.
Bottled water was definitely only for rich people and thought of as ridiculous.
A kid I went to college with would only drink Fiji water. Even in 2003 I was likeā¦.you imported water from half way around the world when you go to school on a mountain in Vermont with fresh springs near by?! Then he told me how much each bottle cost š±
In Ireland my memories are of the hose when near our folks house or a massive 3 litre reused bottle of country spring pink lemonade bottles filled with water when we were playing football(soccer). Doubled as a goalpost
Where I grew up, parks had stone water fountains all over the place. Outside of playing sports, I donāt remember carrying a water bottle everywhere, but water fountains were everywhere.
We had those same green bottles but they never had Gatorade in them. Just water. Lol. We also had what we called the trough. It was a pvc pipe connected to the water hose with a bunch of holes drilled in it so we could all grab a drink at the same time.
Yes. Thirst was a thing - remember drinking from the taps at break and at summer playschemes. I started carrying waterbottles in 1994 following an article in New Scientist (my comp had a subscription) so I guess I was an early adopter.
Iāve suffered from acid reflux for a big portion of my life. I took tums for a few months maybe? And noticed that I was having to take them all the time. They were essentially making my heartburn worse. I went from having it sometimes to having it every single meal. Iāve never taken one since. I keep a supply of papaya enzymes just in case of am āemergencyā situation but rarely take even those. I think itās more about figuring out what you can or canāt eat.
Yes. I remember being in grade school and being so freaking thirsty all the time. But who listens to a seven-year old when thereās 30 other annoying kids to deal with, too
Once I told the hydro homies sub how much water I drink daily & they told me I should be dead because I drink too much water. Wtf, hydro homies
I wasn't.Ā every girl magazine included a "beauty tip" about drnking two litres of water a day to help combat acne.Ā Ā Ā dk if it did, but I believed it and drank my water.Ā Ā
My mom was huge on water, and I drank so dang much as a kid that I knew where every bathroom was everywhere. I still drink tons of water, but now I have to taper off before bed, or suffer the consequences.
I remember! But for me it was 64 ounces. I had horrible acne and weight issues, and when you are a self conscious 14 year old, you'll try anything. I tried drinking 64 ounces of water every day, and got "I'm concerned that you're drinking so much water, you're going to overload your kidneys" from my Mom.
Despite my parents being pro water I imagine I was dehydrated at times when I think about the migraines I used to get and how active I was. I think there's more awareness now of just how much water does for us, how much we need to consume, and signs that we're not getting enough. When we were younger the thought process was more that if you didn't feel thirsty then you didn't need water. Now we know that feeling thirsty is a sign of dehydration so waiting until that point isn't what anyone should be doing.
I always wonder what we actually drank back then. And Iāve come to the realization that often when I was probably thirsty, I ate instead. Thereās that belief that when youāre hungry sometimes, youāre actually thirsty.
My house: I couldnāt stand milk, so didnāt drink that. My grandma had RC cola. There was Kool Aid and maybe sun tea in the summer.
I didnāt start drinking water until college. Because a gallon was cheaper than soda or anything else. Not sure why I didnāt drink tap water, but I know growing up I was taught that hot water out of the tap wasnāt suitable for making tea. You had to heat that up more to get the impurities out.
Now, I only have a 24oz clear Owala, because thatās the largest size they make in clear and if the security guy at my job canāt see through it, then Iād have to open the bottle for them to look in, and Iām not fond of them doing that over a bottle Iām going to drink out of.
I only drank coke from age 13-22ish.
And that stopped because I got a kidney stone and the doctor was like āIf you donāt want this to happen again, you need to drink a half-gallon or more of water a day.ā
So, yeah. I was dehydrated.
My wife and I talk about this sometimes. Our kids have grown up bringing water bottles with them everywhere they go. My wife doesnāt even go shopping anymore without bringing some with.
Meanwhile, we canāt remember ever bringing a water bottle with us anywhere growing up. Heck, I have no memory of ever using the restroom in my high school. All Iād have to drink all day is the juice box that came with my lunch. I remember being excited the days my mom packed the ābokuā juice boxes because they were slightly bigger. Yet I still never thought to stop by the water fountainā¦.
I used to survive high school on one Capri sun for the entire day. I didn't want to use the water fountains because I hate city water. They educated us on nutrition but never covered proper hydration. It took me until my 30s to figure out how to hydrate properly. I carry one of those big Nalgene bottles with me everywhere I go now.
You know that meme that compares 35 yr olds then with 35 yr olds now and asks why everyone looked so damn old back then? Iāve often wondered if it was legit just dehydration. Itās not like I do a ton for my skin, but Iām constantly drinking something.
This is a hot topic for an older friend of mine.
I think a lot of the difference today is the amount of water in food is lower. Kids are eating less and less home cooked food made from whole ingredients.
Second, it really truly is hotter now than when I was a kid.
Iām asking for downvotes here, Iāve made my peace with it. Hereās an [NPR Article](https://www.npr.org/2022/09/22/1124590408/how-much-water-do-you-actually-need-heres-the-science) about what Iām about to discuss.
Your point about eating real food vs what ppl give our kids today is accurate. The same Wegmanās Mom following their kids around with a water btl will also give their kids Veggie Straws instead of taking the time to cut up veggies. Significantly less water in Veggie Straws, which is only one of the problems with ultra processed food.
I donāt believe Americans have ever been dehydrated to a level that justifies the attention itās gotten for the last 25 years. Should we drink less calories from beverages, sure. Water is always going to be a healthier choice than soda. Education on signs of dehydration is always a positive as well. Getting a headache or feeling sluggish, drink some water please. The more you know š.
Trying to hit crazy metrics for personal consumption and obsessively bugging kids to drink more water is nuts and unnecessary. Kids are in tune with their bodies and will drink water when necessary if it is available. Adults would be better served by doing the same.
The belief in the hydration panacea and crazy focus on water the last couple decades coincided with two things. Large scale introduction and distribution of bottled water and a smear campaign on the quality of municipal water.
Municipal water and the infrastructure behind it has been one of our countryās biggest accomplishments (Iām speaking in general terms, there are exceptions like Flint). Bottled water itself is often times just municipal water from a different source. It isnāt any healthier or cleaner. It is a high margin item to sell precisely because there isnāt much that needs to be done to it.
Xennials have watched a commodity get monetized in real time. The freak out about dehydration is the marketing.
Drink water when you feel thirsty. Have water available for your kids and encourage them to drink it when they are thirsty instead of the sugary drinks they will ask for. Thatās it. Stop stressing about water bottles or acting like somebody is going to keel over if they donāt have one. For the love of god stop buying single use plastic bottles of water from the gas station.
Ohh, this makes sense. The balance between water and sodium. We eat so much more sodium nowadays so it makes sense that we have to drink more water. Not only does it have less water in it, but you need more water to keep your body in balance.
I don't really agree about kids being in tune with their bodies, though. Maybe some kids are, but mine are decidedly not. They're teens and they'll still feel vaguely bad and don't know why. It usually turns out they're hungry or thirsty or have to take a shit and can't tell. Look no further than their father to find the cause. He's forty fucking three and I have the same conversations with him. Some people are just not blessed with good interoception. Truth is I've really only become aware of these feelings in myself since my 30's.
Yeah. I know for an actual fact that I didnāt drink anywhere near what is now considered mandatory water consumption for my entire childhood. I was and am a perfectly healthy human being. Our ancestors did not evolve carrying 64 gallon jugs of personal water with them everywhere they went. Itās insane.
Is water good for you? Absolutely. A better choice than soda, energy drinks and juice? For sure. Do I encourage my children to drink water? Of course. But everyone acting like they will shrivel up and die if they have to go without it for a few hours makes me roll my eyes so hard.
Thank you for saying what I've been thinking for years! This hype over staying hydrated and the fear of public water is to sell more bottled water. I live in a decent city, with relatively clean water, and I can't tell you how many people around here buy cases of water every week instead of drinking from the tap. It's so wasteful and all the plastic that leeches from those bottles can't be any better than whatever perceived harm municipal water would do.
Did you grow up in the same 80s as I did? The only time we were lucky enough to get non-processed food it was a āspecial occasionā like thanksgiving, or plain boiled vegetables and plain meat with no seasoning that required it to be covered in processed gravy or sauces.
Whole food is so much more available today than when we were kids.
One summer when I was a kid, we were watched by a lady who ran a "daycare" in her home. We were forced to stay outdoors for much of each day, and I remember not being allowed to come inside for a drink of water so that we "wouldn't let the air conditioning out."
They had a dog they kept in a shed. One particularly hot day, I remember working with a group of other kids to try to get close enough to the dog to steal its water dish without being bitten. (No one was bitten but our mission failed.)
We were so hot and thirsty!
Otherwise, tap water was the normal option most places.
Did you all have to drink at the sink? I definitely remember standing at my grandparents' sinks and chugging glasses of tap water before running off to play some more.
This came up on our family vacation the other day, actually.
My wife and I are Xennials ('80 and '77 respectively). We went on a hike with her younger brother ('97) and our own kids. We ALL had water. I had plenty with me because I'm a high water consumer when hiking.
My wife mentioned to her brother that he's never really known "not" having water with him. Toting water bottles around on or near your person has been pretty ubiquitous for almost 20 years ago now. I mean - it's way more common now than 20 years ago for sure, but prior to that? Only those folks who worked outside had water with them.
Yes, we were ALL dehydrated.
I can't wrap my head around carrying an adult sippy cup everywhere you go. If i go hiking perhaps i would take a canteen, but it seems water is generally available any time i want it. Anything i can't fit in my pocket doesn't usually go with me.
We may have had some Kool-Aid, but with three kids, that went fast. There was a new beverage purchased (pop) or made for supper (sweet tea or Kool-Aid), but once it was gone, that was it. If you were thirsty, youād drink water. The hose was more convenient, colder and you didnāt get in trouble for dirtying a glass.
I was really thirsty. But there were no nice big water bottles to buy. My parents weren't good at buying me things I needed. I managed to get a small lucozade bottle and use that until it broke one day. Back in the day when they were glass. I used to come home and glug a full glass of water
My Mum told me to just ask the dinner ladies fur water at lunch time, which was embarrassing because no one else did. They eventually left a jug out for me.
I can remember how thirsty I always was. When I came home after school I always ran to the faucet in the kitchen and drank a huge glas of water or two. Outside home, there was only sweet stuff avaiable that left you even thirstier. I'm still a tap water person and drink about 3 or 4 litre of water a day.
It's posts like this that make me wonder if we're slowly becoming like the boomers... let's not judge the newer generations, they're manipulated by media in ways we could never comprehend.
A study which wasn't funded by soft drink companies basically stated, if you're thirsty then drink until you're not, if you're not thirsty then you are not dehydrated.
Our body has a built in dehydration alarm, it's called thirst. Only athletes need to front load hydration...
I think kids just need less water. I have an 11yo who barely drinks anything (30 oz on a good day), is never thirsty, and can't be convinced to drink. But I don't know that I drank much more when I was her age. Meanwhile here I am a full-grown adult and I notice that I feel tired if I'm not drinking about 100 oz a day.
I think the hose water trope is not some universal Gen X (or Xennial) thing, but rather something mostly exclusive to suburban white people. Who also happen to be very active on reddit.
While also white I grew up in a major city in a neighborhood with rowhomes that didn't have lawns, so the whole hose water nostalgia trope misses my childhood by a mile. There was also a corner store every 3 or 4 blocks. If you got thirsty you just bought something at one of them. It was snapple for me. I don't remember anyone drinking from hoses much.
The trope about hanging out at the mall is another one I think that is really just the suburban experience, despite it being portrayed as something that was universal for that generation. There was always something going on the city and you didn't need the mall. You mostly went to suburban malls with your parents, not to hang out. The mall equivalent for was maybe hanging out on [South Street](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Street_(Philadelphia)) after going to the tower records there.
At school, we were lucky to get the water fountain that you pretty much had to make love to to get anything from... as did everyone else so those things were a no-go germ fest. Somehow I survived all day on basically no water.
In the summer, I did a lot of hiking and had a canteen that I'd refill or a liter water bottle my folks would freeze the night before.
Today, I drink 1-2 gallons of wter on average, just sitting around doing nothing.
I remember a lot of Kool aid when I was a kid but rarely just plain water unless I was at my grandma's house. Her well water tasted so good!
I started on the water only kick in my freshman year of college when I realized how expensive sodas and other drinks were. The water fountain was free and right outside of my door and I had one of those super big gulp cups from 7-11.
Weirdly that was when my skin cleared up and I stopped having constant migraines.
I actually loved ice cold water as a kid, and still do. At every restaurant I drank 2 or 3 large glasses.
I rarely ever drank from the hose, but I definitely drank from water fountains. Blech.
And from the tap, with ice. Had to have ice. This is often how I drank water at friends' homes.
We got a water softener system back in the day and it was a game changer. Also, Ozarka water coolers. with the 5 gallon jugs. The best.
I drank ice water all the time as a kid. We werenāt allowed to have soda, although in high school I developed a Diet Coke addiction. But as a kid we had one of those gallon size Coleman water thingies with the handle, twist off lid, and flip-up spigot on top. Fountain water at school. I remember everyone in line getting pissed and saying ājeez donāt drink the whole river.ā
I marvel at how we got a tiny thing of chocolate milk and *maybe* 3 sips at a trickling water fountain once a day in a building without AC or any shade for over a decade of our lives, but my 6yo has an emotional support water bottle that his teacher would look at me sideways if I *didn't* send to school every day and has since he was 2. I remember going to amusement parks without so much as a drop of water on us in the height of summer, and my dad would be so annoyed to have to spend a dollar or two on a bottle of water when "it's free at home!" Now we think absolutely nothing of spending $6 on a bottle of water if we get caught without one somewhere, it's a necessity and our oversight not bringing any. I will regularly make it to dinner time before I realize all I've had to drink today is my morning coffee. I feel like my body has learned to survive in a constant state of dehydration. I'm glad my son won't ever have that problem, but I do think we were chronically dehydrated.
"Emotional support water bottle " hahahah
Truth. My 3yo has two thermos brand water bottles. A Bluey one and a Grogu one. Lord help us if we leave the house without the water bottle of the day.
I'm 39 and my wife makes fun of me because I have a 20oz travel mug for coffee that keeps my coffee hot for hours and hours, and a 32oz yeti water bottle that keeps it could all day (with ice, of course). I don't leave home without them. She calls them my emotional support cups.... š¤£š¤£š¤£š¤£
I take my water bottle with me if Iām going to drop something off at the post office. Because god forbid I be without water for 20 mins.
Whatever drink I have with me goes with me everywhere. Store? Errands? - drink. Garage? - drink. Bathroom? Yes, I take my drink. Everywhere, all the time.
I'm also 39, but I'm currently breastfeeding our youngest (4 months old.) So I'm constantly drinking *all* the water. Those little 16.9oz bottles that come in the big packs? I can suck one of those down in about two gulps, they're a joke. I just keep refilling my hospital cups that are 28-30oz.
1 pint is small AF. My favorite part of my Yeti water bottle (that I got free as a ground score at a baseball tournament. I asked every team we saw the next day is anything lost their water bottle, no takers... SCORE) is that I fill that sucker with ice and can refill it with tap/fountain/bottled water all day and have an insane amount of cold water with no effort. Lol.
Those hospital cups are the best! I still have mine from when I had my youngestā¦8 years ago!
Those hospital cups are the best!
I got a 50 oz a few years ago because the 32 wasnāt getting it done. I canāt get my blood pressure down for shit but I can pee a bunch and only have to fill it up twice a day!
Iām 40 and have an emotional support water bottle. Iām so used to be extra hydrated now that I canāt be away from ice water for longer than 15 minutes without a mild panic haha
My wife and I are 42. Iāve called her water bottle her emotional support bottle for years because she never actually drinks it. Meanwhile I drink the same bottleās worth three times over before lunchā¦.
We must be peeing so much more than we did 35 years ago
It only took one excruciating kidney infection when I was in middle school to turn me into a water fiend. I may have to pee 29X/day, but the lack of crippling pain is worth it!
When I learned that it helped with weight loss I started putting down 2 gallons a day minimum in my 20ās. Ran to the bathroom so often my boss pulled me aside to make sure everything was ok. Thankfully she was cool with it and the truth is it really does make a difference
Did it promote weight loss the way you'd hoped it would?
I'm 45 I drink atleast a gallon of water a day, maybe more. It's become a running joke with kids. I explained to them I'm trying to undue all the damage I did when I was younger. Don't want those wrinkles setting in before they have to. To much sun and smoking.
same. 45 and drink more now than I ever did as a kid. my kids though... they think I'm insane putting down a gallon of water a day (I track it)...
Iām so obnoxious I have a water bottle that tracks how much I drink, and sends me reminders when itās time to drink š¬
I have my 50oz cup. I drink atleast three a day usually closer to four. I am doing my best to keep myself healthy now...
Is r/hydrohomies still a thing?
Me too, and I *will* stop at a gas station for a bottle on the rare occasion I leave the house without it. I swear I can feel my throat shriveling up like a raisin if I go more than 30 minutes without a sip. Maybe it's all the A/C and forced air heating we have these days. I almost always feel so *dry*.
It's the millennial in you weighing heavily.
Those thermos brand ones are the absolute best tho !
9yo girls are bragging about their Stanley to their classmates and pointing out when someone doesn't have a Stanley. I intentionally take my kids to HomeGoods or TJMaxx to buy literally anything but a Stanley. I'll go out of my way to find a water bottle that is cooler than a Stanley. I swear to gawd I will not be allowing my children to participate in mean girl expensive brand affiliation when they can't even keep up with a $10 lunch box for an entire semester!! Then I tell my kids to tell their friends that their Boomer grandmother has been using a Stanley for 20 years. Yeah, your super new fad has Boomer written all over it! And your Papaw took his Stanley fishing for at least 45 years. That shit drives me nuts LoL ETA: I have no problem with a responsible adult spending their adult money on whatever the fuck they want. I do take issue with young children brand shaming when they can't remember to bring their coat home when it's 30Ā° outside LoL
I had the OG of water bottle/thermos. https://preview.redd.it/2dnyvmlv9bbd1.png?width=900&format=png&auto=webp&s=8b145a1dad7884443448400c99d3cf1ee4df43c9
Soon Stanley will in Home Goods/TJ Max next to the Hydroflasks and some other brand will be trending
Owala has entered the chat.
Is Stanley an aspirational brand now? When did this happen? lol
This video might explain it (parody). https://youtu.be/e1ooRlVk59U?si=gJZ-LUVNaDNFagU_
Donāt forget this one! [Big Dumb Cups](https://youtu.be/L2tUO2mp99Q?si=JIX1qU8j-FOBUlAw)
Off topic but my oldest daughter has an emotional support scrunchie.
Was just with a friend from South America who grew up in the old ways there too this weekend, as they moved to North America few years ago, his 7 year old son goes crazy if he doesn't have his specific water bottle. Even in the car having left their home, if forgotten, they have to turn around and go back to get that specific water bottle. He was lamenting how he needs to toughen his kid up a bit.
My family went to Disney World, in Florida, in mid July when I was a kid and none of us carried a water bottle. We had drinks with our meals and that was that. Iām planning a return trip there on next year and itās pretty amusing to me, one of the favorite discussion topics on r/waltdisneyworld is what kind of water bottle to bring. Iāll be going in January and I still canāt imagine spending all day anywhere WITHOUT a water bottle, regardless of the weather.
Did the same Disney dance - never had a drink there when I was a kid. Days were brutal with my parents. We started calling summer vacations anywhere in the south āBataan Death Marchā Went with my own kids last year. I felt like the trip was partially sponsored by Hydroflask. And of course I get to carry them all in a bag because dad is just a pack mule.
I donāt even particularly like Disney and I follow that subreddit! Itās wild how complicated going to WDW has become. We went in 1986 and Iām pretty sure just bought tickets at the gate and stayed in a motel 6
Honestly Camelbaks at a themepark do SO much to improve group morale.
Yes, same... I constantly forget to drink fluids at all past morning coffee, and I totally blame it on spending so much of my formative years being constantly dehydrated lol
Itās crazy! Iāve been thinking about this a lot recently because I seem to spend so much time refilling my kids water bottles/cups. I canāt remember ever asking for a drink as a child, just being given a drink with meals. And at school, Iād have a juice box for lunch and absolutely nothing in between, even during PE/Gym class. I genuinely think we were always dehydrated. Itās so funny to me that my two young kids sip water all day from their 12oz Starbucks cups! Itās so far removed from my own childhood.
Its all fun and games until you get kidney stones from having nothing to drink but coffee all day. I got my first one 20 years ago, once you form them once, you are likely to form them again in the future. I have had 9 procedures over those 20 years, waiting to do another one sometime in the not too distant future. On top of that not all the kidney stones I've had (too many to count) have required a procedure. I myself blame the combination of drinking hose water and calling collect from payphones to be the primary cause. /s š
I donāt get kidney stones if Iām dehydrated, but I do get its asshole cousin from Southie: /r/gout. Itās basically the same thing except in a joint, usually the big toe.
I had two kidney stones in my late 20s. They were calcium oxalate and for a while i avoided certain foods but now I just try to stay hydrated. You have my sympathy, worst fucking pain in the entire world
I actually form conglomerate stones where one half is Uric Acid, and the other half is Calcium Oxalate. They also form independently as well. I also topped that pain this year, but it's still pretty high on the scale. Hoping you are past your stone issues, and hydrating continues to work for you.
Fuck dude I'm drinking coffee right now, why'd you do this to be me bro?
āItās free at home!ā šÆ Another example of the usefulness of that sentence āback in our dayā: The ice cream truck went by, or maybe the family car passed a Dairy Queen. If you were to say anything, you would be reminded of that half-gallon of xyz ice cream flavor in the freezer at home. š
Oh look at Richie Rich over here who had ice cream at home! We had miller lite, leftovers and microwavable shit.
We had Strohās. At least you had something drinkable š
And that ice cream had crystals on top and a slightly gummy texture.
Still do that. My kids, "Its the ice cream truck!" "Yeah, well, an ice cream truck treat is $5 and it only costs $7 to get a half gallon\* at the store."
š youāre passing on a tradition!
We're slaves to "big water"
Conversely, are we currently living in the most well hydrated time in all human history?
>and my dad would be so annoyed to have to spend a dollar or two on a bottle of water when "it's free at home!" This was my mom. No one dared point out that water at home several hours away didn't help us.
Lol. I feel the same way. Around 2 or 3 I realize all I've had was cup of coffee around 6am. Have to force myself to remember to drink anything.
Coffee actually hydrates you. Drink more coffee
It actually cools you down in the summer, too. Learned that one from an old WWII veteran.
You're not kidding about what a sea change it's been. I've had health issues since I was a child, part of which was eventually needing to drink extra water (and consume extra salt, along w meds) to keep my blood pressure up. But I still vividly recall how much of a fight it was to get school permissions/ accommodations to carry a water bottle. Like I had to keep a laminated doctor's note with me. Kids should have always had easier access to water! Jeez.
Pfft not to mention getting permission for the additional obviously connected "unnecessary" bathroom trips...š Had to have a Nephrology note and tell each teacher in high school. *so* not embarrassing...
I was thinking about that when we went to Disney recently. We all had big water bottles that were carried and refilled. I went with my choir in HS and donāt know if I drank water that entire week. Iām sure I lived on some type of soda and coffee.
I also have an emotional support water bottle, although mines Pepsi or liquid IV, that I've had for nearly 3 years now that I would be lost without. Just hearing the ice jingling in there makes me feel better.
I live in Japan and it's still pretty "old school" here. My daughter is 5 and still in daycare, but kids are only allowed to bring water bottles during the summer, and even then they can only drink at designated times. During the winter they only get drinks during breaks and lunch. It drives me crazy because my daughter always has chapped lips and dry skin during the winter, and often gets constipated, so she obviously needs more water. She's not in the habit of drinking so I have to remind her at home on the weekends.
Drinking water from a bike water bottle almost put me off of drinking water forever. That shit was gross and I refuse to drink from a plastic bottle, to this day.
I don't know that I've ever personally bought a bottle of water. It just seems like the biggest waste. I agree on bike water bottles. I can smell/taste the hot, plastic, rubbery water now
You could really taste the cancer and forever chemicals in those 80s/90s squeeze bottles.
Thatās probably good for you too. I donāt like bottled water. I swear I can taste the plastic and it always feels like thereās tiny sand or something in it.
Microplastics!
It's a serious pain in the ass, but my hydro flask goes everywhere with me. The only bottled stuff that I care for is desani and that only makes me slightly less thirsty than aquafina.
I got a water bottle sling so I can carry my 64oz bottle with ease! It also has a couple little pockets for your phone and debit card or whatever. I LOVE it.
And kids dropping the dirtiest snot all over the water bubbler
Yes. We were. Iāve had this discussion with so many fellow parents. Drinking anything was almost fucking taboo in my house. Unexplainable. Iāve asked my parents about it several times and all they do is get odd and quiet and avoid any real answers. āOh you were fineā āNo mom, Iām asking what your thought process was as a parent at the timeā āOh did I scar you?ā āFor fucks sake woman, this isnāt an interrogation, Iām generally curious. This is a question from one parent to another.ā āYouāll always be my babyā Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccccckkkkkk ššššš
They are unable to look back at this and that sucks. But if we're being kind, I don't think they had the knowledge either. Remember they were just being taught the food pyramid, which was pretty bunk. And soda was and cigarettes were considered fine by society at large. Should they have known better? Probably.
My dad HATED that my brother and took up smoking and he told me before he passed that he wished he'd quit sooner as an example. Honestly though, smoking would have happened anyway, given my social circle and how many people did it.
LMAO, this is my mom 100%. My old man left a lot of these things up to my mom, so when I asked him about stuff when we were growing up he openly admitted he had no idea what he was doing. Mom doesn't seem to recall what time were like back then, anymore it seems.
One Mississippi Two Mississippi Three Mississippi You've had enough!
There was always one kid that said "save some for the fishes"
5th grade, they assigned me to guard the water fountain. Gave me a badge. I said those exact words. Nobody thought it was funny.
lol I was safety patrol too and we had those across the chest orange belts
I got in big trouble in kindergarten for hitting a safety patrol who was making fun of my brother who was in his class. He had the chest strap down (didn't want to look like a nerd safety patrol I guess?) so I hadn't noticed he was on patrol at the time. Still mad about that one, he had no consequences for trolling a kindergartner and I had to sit out recess for a whole week.
Do they still make kids police each other like this? Looking back it was a very āStanford Prison Experimentā or Orwellian thing to do to us. I really hope this practice died with us.
I haven't thought about that expression in decades. Did it originate in a movie or something? I can definitely remember everyone, including teachers, saying that.
We always said "Save the whales".
OMG, I forgot all about the Mississippis
Right? They had us count for the kid in front of us, becoming our own hydration police!
They used to do that at the school water fountains after recess. Drove me nuts! It was stinkin' HOT outside and we were kids. Let us have a damn drink, for Pete's sake!
We always did A-E-I-O-U (and if it was your friend drinking you'd add "and sometimes Y") ETA: it's wild that our kids will likely never have to wait in a long line for a sip of water after recess or PE! never thought about that before.
And that weird kid that put his mouth on the metal part
There was always one in every grade.
Same kid that chewed his pencils to sharpen them after the teacher told him he couldn't use the sharpener a 5th time the same day
God I hated that at the catholic grade school I attended. Grade school had no A/C and we got maybe 3 water breaks a day. I remember being miserable every warm day because I was so thirsty.
Oh this brings back memories
Yes, OP needs to listen to the Gary Gulman bit about how dehydrated we were in āthe Great Depreshā I am still chronically dehydrated.
Donāt you dare get back in line!
On two three. That's enough for me!
Then some kid snaps your training bra.
I mean, Id have a small glass of OJ or apple juice and some oatmeal for breakfast, 4 hours later get a half pint of milk and maybe some fountain sips, run a mile 45 mins later wearing jeans, then have nothing else till a soda or Kool-Aid 4 hours after that. I for sure was not doing right by my body. Slim Goodbody and his unitard would be disappointed.
I was the same. To this day, I don't really even like water. My kids cry if they have to go 20 minutes in the car without water.
20 minutes without a water and you would think my kids are going to shrivel up. For awhile I thought something was wrong but it turns out I must have been chronicly dehydrated as a child.
I once asked my kids pediatrician about how much water they drank. She is fresh out of school and at least a decade younger than me or more. She was like, "That's great!" And I flashed back to roadtrips where you didn't drink because "WE WERE MAKING GOOD TIME!" and stopping was forbidden. Glad my kids are better of than we were!
Right? We stopped every 4 hours for gas so you better hold it till then. Now as a parent, we do ration the kids' water during long car trips, because they drink when they're bored. So they will drain a 32oz of water in 30 min, and then have to pee every 20 min for the next 2 hours. Great for any other time than in the car where exits are 100 miles apart.
Yes!
I remember when Nagene bottles suddenly became really popular in college, but I donāt think it was until 2003 or so.
First came the Nalgene, then came the camel bags. The late 90s were a helluva time for hydration.
Was that a universal phenomenon? I moved to Arizona at exactly that time and I thought it was just a desert thing, which made sense to me. But maybe it was everyone?
I think it was everyone. I grew up in CT, and my cousins and I used to do a grab bag for Christmas every year (before everyone had kids of their own) and i remember one year around that time when everyone got Nalgene bottles in the grab bag š
REI opened in Dallas in ā93. Went there with my scout troop on a field trip. 12 year old me bought a coop membership, a Nalgene bottle, and Tom Brownās Guide to Wilderness Survival.
My buddy studied under him for years, now he has a YouTube survival channel.
I wonder if REI had a big impact on the rise of Nalgene because as soon as one was built in Pittsburgh in the early 2000ās, everyone started getting them.
I got one in my freshman orientation pack at college in Florida. They were everywhere. And they made water taste terrible.
Yeah it seemed to start at college campuses and amongst outdoor enthusiast groups around that time.
Yup the classic blue Nalgene. Around 1999 at my college
I now know why I had an epic Nalgene collection. I was trying to make up for years of dehydration lol.
About the year I bought my first one! Now I have one for the office.
I remember then being a big thing when I worked summers at a Boy Scout camp in the late ā90s.
I still have my college branded Nalgene that I got in '98. They might have taken off earlier in the northeast where I lived, since some friends had them by '96 in high school... and tested the "indestructiblity" claim on one til it broke!
Someone pointed out to me that all of those āgrowing painsā we had in our legs? That was cramping from dehydration. š¤Æ
. . . and you just snapped the puzzle pieces together for me perhaps why my kids have never once in their lives complained about growing pains. A few times when they can't sleep I've asked if they have pains in their legs or feet and the answer has never been yes.
I used to have cramps SO bad in the hamstrings of my thighs that my dad would tell me to lay them on the cold of the ceramic bathtub. It worked, but he told me got them all the time and they were "Salt Cramps". Yeah, turns out my alcoholic dad didn't drink a lot of water either.
Yes! I had headaches frequently as a kid and it took me until my last school trip to figure it out when one of the teachers told me I donāt drink enough and that could cause headaches. The amount of headaches I could have not had, if only my parents/mom made sure Iād drink enoughā¦
Iām 90% sure that the cure for all my headaches when I was a kid was the glass of water I drank to swallow the Tylenol, not the Tylenol.
The amount of HA (and sinus infections) I could have avoided if I was properly hydrated...I think my Mom had one goal, to limit bathroom time, which was totes aligned with our Public School overlords
Being constantly surrounded by smokers probably didn't help that department either.
My mom took me to the doctor fearing tuberculosis because my dad and uncle (Lived in the basement beside me) chains smoked in the house downstairs by my windowless bedroom.
Damn, those are caused by that too? I had frequently clogged up sinuses. I still have a problem with not drinking enough in my adulthoodā¦
You gotta stay hydrated to keep the snot moving! Dried up snot gets stuck. I'm not a doctor, but this is my understanding š
That's exactly it, dehydration gums up the works. Side effect of being properly hydrated is that my sinuses actually drained. Had to add nuun tabs to at least one water a day to achieve this (it's like gatorade, and looked for a solution that didn't involve more single use plastic).
I was always dehydrated and constipated. Made it easy to avoid needing the bathroom
I told my kids I can count on one hand the number of times I went to the bathroom at school (K-12). When they asked why and how, I realized the only thing I drank all day was a tiny carton of milk. When I got home I maybe had some orange juice and then a glass of milk or water with dinner. It wasn't until my mid 30s when I realized how much water my body needed. Now I drink gallons of water a day and I'm in my best physical condition.
I was watching a documentary of some sort about mountain climbing when I was probably 15. At one point, they were talking about dehydration being deadly, and warned that at cold temperatures, it can be difficult to remember to drink water. One of the dehydration warning signs they listed was chapped lips! I always had a stick of ChapStick with me, and used it constantly. It was so bad at times my lips would bleed. In fact, as they were explaining that dry lips were one of the early signs of dehydration, I was reaching into my pocket for my ChapStick. At that point, it clicked, and I went to get a glass of tap water, and resolved to drink more water daily. I can't remember a single instance of having chapped lips ever since.
I used to have the worst chapped lips as a kid because I hardly ever drank water and mostly drank soda. Once I started to drink water more regularly and got off the soda; my chapped lips went away. Now the only time I get them is if I am in the sun too long and I am getting burned.
I remember horribly chapped lips as a kid too. What probably didn't help was huddling outside in -10Ā° winters every recess. I remember fighting for the middle of the pack of children where it was warmest.
This is a really good point! I bet ChapStick and the like had their sales suffer after bottled water became the norm.
I remember being 10 -12 something like that and playing peewee football in the dead of summer. We had this one hard ass coach and whenever you made a mistake your punishment was running and no water breaks. Iām not sure how no one killed over. As a dad if I seen someone do that to my son Iād personally put my foot up the coachās ass.
A High School coach in Texas recently put a post on social media similar in sentiment. (Basically water makes kids weak.... it was out there....) It was quickly removed and a statement issued by the superintendent about how ALL SCHOOLS FOLLOW THE STATE MANDATE WATER BREAK SCHEDULE. I'm not sure in Texas, but in Florida, it's no joke. We also have the wet bulb that determines if the kids can practice with the heat and humidity combined. High School football is HUGE here too, but we aren't about killing our players.
It seemed like every asshole coach would use water restriction as a punishment or a misguided means of training. It was absolutely insane.
*keeled over (as in a boat's keel)
I often think about this. I used to get headaches a bit when I was a kid too so I think we were!
Iām surprised this isnāt higher. Iāve talked to, idk, at least a dozen people our age who had chronic headaches until they started making sure to drink water every day as teens or young adults.
OMG I suffered from chronic headaches as a kid to the point that I went to the doctor and got some weird meds I took for awhile. I probably just wasn't drinking enough because I drink a ton of herbal tea and water every day now.
I was constantly on antibiotics as a kid for sinus infections. I'm 99% sure it was entirely from dehydration and constant smoke inhalation.
I was just thinking about this the other day. I never drank water as a kid. I actively disliked it, but I think that's because I was RARELY given it. When I actually was given something to drink outside of mealtime, it was kool-aid. At dinner, I had to drink a cup of milk before I could have juice or soda... at 7 years old. I actually have a pic of me as a baby with a baby bottle full of red juice. I don't know how I survived, especially when I lived in the FL heat. Thankfully I hopped into the water train in HS when I started playing sports, but it was legit just soda, milk, and juice before that. Wild times.
The first time I heard about bottled water was a gold evian bottle case in Vogue- like a beautiful filigree holder for your evian, complete with a gold chain strap.
The first time I heard of bottled water was in Troop Beverly Hills when Shelly Long is drowning her sorrows in bottles of Evian. Bottled water was definitely only for rich people and thought of as ridiculous.
A kid I went to college with would only drink Fiji water. Even in 2003 I was likeā¦.you imported water from half way around the world when you go to school on a mountain in Vermont with fresh springs near by?! Then he told me how much each bottle cost š±
It also came up in Heathers when they were planting evidence of the gay double suicide.
Letās bring this back
In Ireland my memories are of the hose when near our folks house or a massive 3 litre reused bottle of country spring pink lemonade bottles filled with water when we were playing football(soccer). Doubled as a goalpost
I remember drinking a lot of water from water fountains. At school, the park, museums, etc. I think a lot of people forget this.
Where I grew up, parks had stone water fountains all over the place. Outside of playing sports, I donāt remember carrying a water bottle everywhere, but water fountains were everywhere.
I remember gulping water from the drinking fountains at school
Playing sports we were given Gatorade squeeze bottles but only the first game had Gatorade. After that it was ice and hose water.
We had those same green bottles but they never had Gatorade in them. Just water. Lol. We also had what we called the trough. It was a pvc pipe connected to the water hose with a bunch of holes drilled in it so we could all grab a drink at the same time.
Frozen orange juice concentrate
Yep. We always had a couple containers of Minute Maid (or generic) in the freezer.
Yes. Thirst was a thing - remember drinking from the taps at break and at summer playschemes. I started carrying waterbottles in 1994 following an article in New Scientist (my comp had a subscription) so I guess I was an early adopter.
I was the kid that would turn the hose full bore while you drank š
I KNEW it was you!
https://i.redd.it/0joxyhx2zabd1.gif
Sometimes I wonder if my dehydration as a kid, coupled with my overuse of Tums in my teens led to my kidney disease in my early 20s.
Iāve suffered from acid reflux for a big portion of my life. I took tums for a few months maybe? And noticed that I was having to take them all the time. They were essentially making my heartburn worse. I went from having it sometimes to having it every single meal. Iāve never taken one since. I keep a supply of papaya enzymes just in case of am āemergencyā situation but rarely take even those. I think itās more about figuring out what you can or canāt eat.
Yes. I remember being in grade school and being so freaking thirsty all the time. But who listens to a seven-year old when thereās 30 other annoying kids to deal with, too Once I told the hydro homies sub how much water I drink daily & they told me I should be dead because I drink too much water. Wtf, hydro homies
One of my core memories of childhood was melting away playing youth soccer in Alabama, mid 80s, and at intermission our snack was Orange SODA. WTF.
I wasn't.Ā every girl magazine included a "beauty tip" about drnking two litres of water a day to help combat acne.Ā Ā Ā dk if it did, but I believed it and drank my water.Ā Ā
My mom was huge on water, and I drank so dang much as a kid that I knew where every bathroom was everywhere. I still drink tons of water, but now I have to taper off before bed, or suffer the consequences.
I remember! But for me it was 64 ounces. I had horrible acne and weight issues, and when you are a self conscious 14 year old, you'll try anything. I tried drinking 64 ounces of water every day, and got "I'm concerned that you're drinking so much water, you're going to overload your kidneys" from my Mom.
It's just good for the skin & body in general. Acne can be caused, exacerbated, and treated by a variety of factors in a variety of ways.
Despite my parents being pro water I imagine I was dehydrated at times when I think about the migraines I used to get and how active I was. I think there's more awareness now of just how much water does for us, how much we need to consume, and signs that we're not getting enough. When we were younger the thought process was more that if you didn't feel thirsty then you didn't need water. Now we know that feeling thirsty is a sign of dehydration so waiting until that point isn't what anyone should be doing.
I always wonder what we actually drank back then. And Iāve come to the realization that often when I was probably thirsty, I ate instead. Thereās that belief that when youāre hungry sometimes, youāre actually thirsty. My house: I couldnāt stand milk, so didnāt drink that. My grandma had RC cola. There was Kool Aid and maybe sun tea in the summer. I didnāt start drinking water until college. Because a gallon was cheaper than soda or anything else. Not sure why I didnāt drink tap water, but I know growing up I was taught that hot water out of the tap wasnāt suitable for making tea. You had to heat that up more to get the impurities out. Now, I only have a 24oz clear Owala, because thatās the largest size they make in clear and if the security guy at my job canāt see through it, then Iād have to open the bottle for them to look in, and Iām not fond of them doing that over a bottle Iām going to drink out of.
I only drank coke from age 13-22ish. And that stopped because I got a kidney stone and the doctor was like āIf you donāt want this to happen again, you need to drink a half-gallon or more of water a day.ā So, yeah. I was dehydrated.
My wife and I talk about this sometimes. Our kids have grown up bringing water bottles with them everywhere they go. My wife doesnāt even go shopping anymore without bringing some with. Meanwhile, we canāt remember ever bringing a water bottle with us anywhere growing up. Heck, I have no memory of ever using the restroom in my high school. All Iād have to drink all day is the juice box that came with my lunch. I remember being excited the days my mom packed the ābokuā juice boxes because they were slightly bigger. Yet I still never thought to stop by the water fountainā¦.
I used to survive high school on one Capri sun for the entire day. I didn't want to use the water fountains because I hate city water. They educated us on nutrition but never covered proper hydration. It took me until my 30s to figure out how to hydrate properly. I carry one of those big Nalgene bottles with me everywhere I go now.
You know that meme that compares 35 yr olds then with 35 yr olds now and asks why everyone looked so damn old back then? Iāve often wondered if it was legit just dehydration. Itās not like I do a ton for my skin, but Iām constantly drinking something.
This is a hot topic for an older friend of mine. I think a lot of the difference today is the amount of water in food is lower. Kids are eating less and less home cooked food made from whole ingredients. Second, it really truly is hotter now than when I was a kid.
Iām asking for downvotes here, Iāve made my peace with it. Hereās an [NPR Article](https://www.npr.org/2022/09/22/1124590408/how-much-water-do-you-actually-need-heres-the-science) about what Iām about to discuss. Your point about eating real food vs what ppl give our kids today is accurate. The same Wegmanās Mom following their kids around with a water btl will also give their kids Veggie Straws instead of taking the time to cut up veggies. Significantly less water in Veggie Straws, which is only one of the problems with ultra processed food. I donāt believe Americans have ever been dehydrated to a level that justifies the attention itās gotten for the last 25 years. Should we drink less calories from beverages, sure. Water is always going to be a healthier choice than soda. Education on signs of dehydration is always a positive as well. Getting a headache or feeling sluggish, drink some water please. The more you know š. Trying to hit crazy metrics for personal consumption and obsessively bugging kids to drink more water is nuts and unnecessary. Kids are in tune with their bodies and will drink water when necessary if it is available. Adults would be better served by doing the same. The belief in the hydration panacea and crazy focus on water the last couple decades coincided with two things. Large scale introduction and distribution of bottled water and a smear campaign on the quality of municipal water. Municipal water and the infrastructure behind it has been one of our countryās biggest accomplishments (Iām speaking in general terms, there are exceptions like Flint). Bottled water itself is often times just municipal water from a different source. It isnāt any healthier or cleaner. It is a high margin item to sell precisely because there isnāt much that needs to be done to it. Xennials have watched a commodity get monetized in real time. The freak out about dehydration is the marketing. Drink water when you feel thirsty. Have water available for your kids and encourage them to drink it when they are thirsty instead of the sugary drinks they will ask for. Thatās it. Stop stressing about water bottles or acting like somebody is going to keel over if they donāt have one. For the love of god stop buying single use plastic bottles of water from the gas station.
Ohh, this makes sense. The balance between water and sodium. We eat so much more sodium nowadays so it makes sense that we have to drink more water. Not only does it have less water in it, but you need more water to keep your body in balance. I don't really agree about kids being in tune with their bodies, though. Maybe some kids are, but mine are decidedly not. They're teens and they'll still feel vaguely bad and don't know why. It usually turns out they're hungry or thirsty or have to take a shit and can't tell. Look no further than their father to find the cause. He's forty fucking three and I have the same conversations with him. Some people are just not blessed with good interoception. Truth is I've really only become aware of these feelings in myself since my 30's.
Yeah. I know for an actual fact that I didnāt drink anywhere near what is now considered mandatory water consumption for my entire childhood. I was and am a perfectly healthy human being. Our ancestors did not evolve carrying 64 gallon jugs of personal water with them everywhere they went. Itās insane. Is water good for you? Absolutely. A better choice than soda, energy drinks and juice? For sure. Do I encourage my children to drink water? Of course. But everyone acting like they will shrivel up and die if they have to go without it for a few hours makes me roll my eyes so hard.
Thank you for saying what I've been thinking for years! This hype over staying hydrated and the fear of public water is to sell more bottled water. I live in a decent city, with relatively clean water, and I can't tell you how many people around here buy cases of water every week instead of drinking from the tap. It's so wasteful and all the plastic that leeches from those bottles can't be any better than whatever perceived harm municipal water would do.
Did you grow up in the same 80s as I did? The only time we were lucky enough to get non-processed food it was a āspecial occasionā like thanksgiving, or plain boiled vegetables and plain meat with no seasoning that required it to be covered in processed gravy or sauces. Whole food is so much more available today than when we were kids.
There's definitely a huge stigma associated with junk food, fast food, and soda today that didn't exist when I was a kid.
One summer when I was a kid, we were watched by a lady who ran a "daycare" in her home. We were forced to stay outdoors for much of each day, and I remember not being allowed to come inside for a drink of water so that we "wouldn't let the air conditioning out." They had a dog they kept in a shed. One particularly hot day, I remember working with a group of other kids to try to get close enough to the dog to steal its water dish without being bitten. (No one was bitten but our mission failed.) We were so hot and thirsty! Otherwise, tap water was the normal option most places. Did you all have to drink at the sink? I definitely remember standing at my grandparents' sinks and chugging glasses of tap water before running off to play some more.
We had water fountains everywhere.
This came up on our family vacation the other day, actually. My wife and I are Xennials ('80 and '77 respectively). We went on a hike with her younger brother ('97) and our own kids. We ALL had water. I had plenty with me because I'm a high water consumer when hiking. My wife mentioned to her brother that he's never really known "not" having water with him. Toting water bottles around on or near your person has been pretty ubiquitous for almost 20 years ago now. I mean - it's way more common now than 20 years ago for sure, but prior to that? Only those folks who worked outside had water with them. Yes, we were ALL dehydrated.
Have you seen close up photography of a 40 year old from the 70s?
I can't wrap my head around carrying an adult sippy cup everywhere you go. If i go hiking perhaps i would take a canteen, but it seems water is generally available any time i want it. Anything i can't fit in my pocket doesn't usually go with me.
The orange juice was also concentrate from a can. So that certainly didnāt heighten the appeal.
We may have had some Kool-Aid, but with three kids, that went fast. There was a new beverage purchased (pop) or made for supper (sweet tea or Kool-Aid), but once it was gone, that was it. If you were thirsty, youād drink water. The hose was more convenient, colder and you didnāt get in trouble for dirtying a glass.
I was really thirsty. But there were no nice big water bottles to buy. My parents weren't good at buying me things I needed. I managed to get a small lucozade bottle and use that until it broke one day. Back in the day when they were glass. I used to come home and glug a full glass of water My Mum told me to just ask the dinner ladies fur water at lunch time, which was embarrassing because no one else did. They eventually left a jug out for me.
I can remember how thirsty I always was. When I came home after school I always ran to the faucet in the kitchen and drank a huge glas of water or two. Outside home, there was only sweet stuff avaiable that left you even thirstier. I'm still a tap water person and drink about 3 or 4 litre of water a day.
It's posts like this that make me wonder if we're slowly becoming like the boomers... let's not judge the newer generations, they're manipulated by media in ways we could never comprehend. A study which wasn't funded by soft drink companies basically stated, if you're thirsty then drink until you're not, if you're not thirsty then you are not dehydrated. Our body has a built in dehydration alarm, it's called thirst. Only athletes need to front load hydration...
My mom made sun tea and I remember that being my main source of fluids in the summer. š¤£
I think kids just need less water. I have an 11yo who barely drinks anything (30 oz on a good day), is never thirsty, and can't be convinced to drink. But I don't know that I drank much more when I was her age. Meanwhile here I am a full-grown adult and I notice that I feel tired if I'm not drinking about 100 oz a day.
I think the hose water trope is not some universal Gen X (or Xennial) thing, but rather something mostly exclusive to suburban white people. Who also happen to be very active on reddit. While also white I grew up in a major city in a neighborhood with rowhomes that didn't have lawns, so the whole hose water nostalgia trope misses my childhood by a mile. There was also a corner store every 3 or 4 blocks. If you got thirsty you just bought something at one of them. It was snapple for me. I don't remember anyone drinking from hoses much. The trope about hanging out at the mall is another one I think that is really just the suburban experience, despite it being portrayed as something that was universal for that generation. There was always something going on the city and you didn't need the mall. You mostly went to suburban malls with your parents, not to hang out. The mall equivalent for was maybe hanging out on [South Street](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Street_(Philadelphia)) after going to the tower records there.
I have had 42 kidney stone. Yes
At school, we were lucky to get the water fountain that you pretty much had to make love to to get anything from... as did everyone else so those things were a no-go germ fest. Somehow I survived all day on basically no water. In the summer, I did a lot of hiking and had a canteen that I'd refill or a liter water bottle my folks would freeze the night before. Today, I drink 1-2 gallons of wter on average, just sitting around doing nothing.
Makes me wonder how many bad moods couldāve been avoidedā¦.
I remember a lot of Kool aid when I was a kid but rarely just plain water unless I was at my grandma's house. Her well water tasted so good! I started on the water only kick in my freshman year of college when I realized how expensive sodas and other drinks were. The water fountain was free and right outside of my door and I had one of those super big gulp cups from 7-11. Weirdly that was when my skin cleared up and I stopped having constant migraines.
Orange juice was in tiny glasses because it was expensive. Whenever I got a big glass of orange juice it was watered down.
I actually loved ice cold water as a kid, and still do. At every restaurant I drank 2 or 3 large glasses. I rarely ever drank from the hose, but I definitely drank from water fountains. Blech. And from the tap, with ice. Had to have ice. This is often how I drank water at friends' homes. We got a water softener system back in the day and it was a game changer. Also, Ozarka water coolers. with the 5 gallon jugs. The best.
I drank ice water all the time as a kid. We werenāt allowed to have soda, although in high school I developed a Diet Coke addiction. But as a kid we had one of those gallon size Coleman water thingies with the handle, twist off lid, and flip-up spigot on top. Fountain water at school. I remember everyone in line getting pissed and saying ājeez donāt drink the whole river.ā