Today's PSA is Brought to you by H2O

Aaric is easy. He drinks water all day long. Its not something I've ever had to think about with him - he just drinks all the time. He gets that from his father. Mikayla is wired like me. When our mouth starts feeling dry, we go "oh yeah, I should get a sip of water." We then drink enough to quench that thirst, and go on about our business.
I do not recommend this hydration method. This method combined with extreme laziness, honestly isn't a horrible path to take, though there are much healthier alternatives to both the lack of hydration and the lack of exercise. This method combined with playing outside on a hot afternoon is not a good plan at all.
We went to the park. I took a picnic lunch. Mistake number one had nothing to do with hydration, but with the fact that one of the kids we were meeting there has a severe peanut allergy. I'd forgotten about that, and we took PB sandwiches. Luckily, he's not one of those that has an airborne allergy to it - just touch and of course eating. So I had to watch closely and scrub the kids hands every time they left the table after a few bites. Mistake number two was not pushing Mikayla to drink more water. She ate and drank a little and played. We went home and she played outside for a while. She came inside and went upstairs to play - where the afternoon sun comes in and heats it up. She never drank any water after eating lunch. She came downstairs a while later whining and feeling a bit damp all over. She said her belly hurt, and that it started after she went potty. She said she didn't flush, so I went to do that and saw that her pee was dark. Thats when I thought of dehydration. Then she threw up. I put her in the tub for a cool bath (she actually prefers them COLD).
Wondering what it was, I remembered things from my days as a lifeguard. Things like "heat exhaustion" that I learned about in the First Aid certification part. Yep, she had the classic symptoms. After her bath, she was quite perky and seemed to have fully recovered.
So the moral of the story is: Force your children to drink lots of water, especially when its hot. And drinking more water yourself isn't a bad idea either. And investing in a fan for the upstairs might be a good idea too.