Our kids generally drink regular, chocolate or soy milk, water and OJ, but my son does drink soda in moderation which has meant approximately twice per week since he was six or so. Just recently though, I have begun to include a short can of diet caffeinated soda (in addition to milk) for his school lunch because he has to get up at 5am each morning now for school. I�m still considering whether this is a really bad idea (the soda, not the school).
Watch out for most kinds of chocolate milk --- they have high fructose corn syrup and other icky ingredients.
Re: caffeinated soda. Have you thought about giving him dark chocolate instead? A portion of a dark chocolate bar has the same amount of caffeine as a soda (see
this link). Chocolate (provided it's made with cocoa beans, meaning, real chocolate) is also said to be less apt to promoting tooth decay than many other sugary foods. Just do a google search for "chocolate 'tooth decay.' "
This is NOT to say that eating tons of chocolate will prevent tooth decay. I'm merely saying that the cocoa in chocolate appears to have a protective effect against tooth decay. This is probably one of these eat-in-moderation type things (similar to a little wine being good for you, but not a whole bottle all in one go with every meal!).
Hmm. This may qualify as a science factoid for the week?
Val
