Young Children copy parents’ sugary drink habits… is an article written by Emma Derbyshire, children’s nutrition adviser to the Natural Hydration Council; and it cleary states that childred will mimic their parents behavior and not “just follow advice”. She goes on to give all of the stats and percentages but the quick, and in my opinion true, summary is that is you have a specific behavior, your child will have that behavior also. If you are drinking sugary and fizzy beverages on a regular basis; then, your child statistically will drink them as well.

Key Takeaways:

• Young children copy the drinking behaviour of their parents, whatever they are consuming, but that the effect is most worrying when it comes to consumption of beverages linked to health problems.
• Children in the UK consume three times more sugar than is recommended, and soft drinks are the biggest source.
• If you’re giving children water and drinking fizzy drinks, it’s natural for them to want to taste your drink and the moment the child can get their hands on a fizzy drink they will do so.

“Four- to eight-year-olds whose parents drank fizzy drinks were 192% more likely to consume them than other children their age.”

https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/sep/01/young-children-copy-parents-sugary-drinks-study-suggests-fizzy&ct=ga&cd=CAIyHDVhYzUwNjJkOWI1NjJhN2E6Y29tOmVuOkdCOlI&usg=AFQjCNHM5ufoPtdGE8miWS-AOjCHpgLnpQ