I have never really had trouble with my daughter, Alexis, not doing what she was supposed to do. That is when it comes to things she is in conscious and in control of ( sleep was never one of them). She loves to follow rules… Let me paraphrase this, she is conscientious about following rules, she cares a lot. So whenever I have told her that she is supposed to eat something to stay healthy, or take medicine or drink water, she would take it at face value and run with it, doing what her parents tell her is best.
That makes it super easy to parent. And if you have followed me from the beginning, you know this is Karma playing out here, because we certainly did not have it easy in the first 2 years with terrible nights, inability to stay still or be constrained and around the clock breastfeeding, among some other things. So I’d say we deserve to have a child who trust their parents to help them in life and do what they say when it comes to important things.
All of this to say, hydration was never an issue we struggled with. Or dehydration, I’d say. She was not offered anything else at meals but water. Ever. We’d do juice here and there between meals as a treat, but water was a big staple. As she got older and started going to school and seeing milk and juice and chocolate milk other kids were having, she began wondering if she could have it. To which I explained ( as I always do) everything I could about those other liquids and why it’s better to stick with water. We’d still get juice at restaurants as a treat, she would still drink almond ( not cow’s) milk at home and with her cereal, but her main source of hydration was water which she drank willingly.
A few years ago a company contacted me to see if I wanted to try out a super cool smart water bottle. The company’s name was Gululu and they made a special bottle that helped kids drink because it engaged them. As someone who loves trying out new gadgets in hopes of finding something that can really improve our lives, I was very excited. Lexi was still about 4 years old, but she loved the fun bottle with cute characters and took to the drinking of water immediately to make her new little friend happy.
Fast forward to now, the developers of Gululu Go have come out with a better smarter bottle that has just hit the markets, Gululu Go.
HERE IS HOW IT WORKS
- Your child gets to choose among 3 different pets. Lexi has always picked out Sensa, a pink little creature who likes to play.
- The smart water bottle measures the amount of water drank and refilled and displays that information on the app and the screen of the bottle
- The more and more consistently the child drinks, the faster the level up and the higher their habit score.
- The habit scores shows how they are measuring up against other Gululu Go users, as well as how much they drank on daily basis over the last week
- You can connect friends’ Gululu Go bottles and have them compete and play together
- As you advance in levels, you earn points that you can use to buy your little creature outfits
- While during the day, Gululu Go gets to interact with your child through music, sounds and interactive screen, you can set the bottle to school mode, and it will not play any sounds and function like a normal bottle.
- When it’s bedtime, the pet will go to sleep, urging your child to go to bed, as well.
In the last week of using the bottle, what I’ve noticed is that Lexi treats her smart water bottle like a real pet, is aware of where it is and that she needs to be drinking to keep her pet happy. She would ask me for a glass of water and then remember that she has her Gululu Go smart water bottle and happily jump off the couch to go find it “Oh, wait, I have my bottle, I need to drink from it”. I have not sent her to school with the smart water bottle yet, but I know that’s where its true effectiveness will get tested.
Will she be too distracted to drink or will the idea of keeping her pet happy consistently remind her that she has to drink?
Gululu Go has done an amazing job of taking the job of reminding kids to stay hydrated and turning it into a game. Less things for us, parents to worry about, more time we have for things that truly need our attention.
