In my growing up days, we occasionally had soft drink, but not daily, or even weekly.
It was always Cottee's Cordial.
The sugar in the cordial wouldn't have time to turn into fat, as we would head of to the old shale mine near home on our bikes, and construct jumps and obstacle courses to test our bike riding skills.
Ditto the skateboard, trespassing on the school grounds to skate around the quadrangle. and jump down steps and up over gutters etc.
