I think I have now heard it all.......

[Ppatime]

True anecdote. Child in class wanted some water. Teacher directed child to drinking water tap in class and a clean cup. Child said that mum did not allow water from the tap; child only allowed to drink filtered water. For context, drinking water in our area is wonderful and the child has no medical issues.
Mind. blown.

[rritchie44]

Wow #middleclass problems.

[ZippyBungleandGeorge]

Mummy should've provided a filled water bottle then! Would've been my response. FFS I despair sometimes

[Cryalot2]

Crickey lol . Gosh just when you think you have heard it all.

[IHeartKingThistle]

Wow. Reminds me of the time I taught a (free) parent and toddler cooking class during which one mum refused to let her child use the plastic mixing bowl provided because of parabens.

[DHhasahobbyanditsnotcycling]

so what? They drink filtered water, what's the big deal.

[floraloctopus]

Then the mother needs to send in the water she wants her darling to have. I'd give the child water from the tap and say that we hadn't been told by the parents that it was not allowed.

[InACheeseAndPickle]

Probably a misunderstanding. Child is probably meant to drink filter water at home (for whatever reason) and thought that was the rule everywhere. I can't imagine what the mum would think their kid was drinking all day otherwise.

Side point what does a water filter actually filter away?

[BogglesGoggles]

I grew up drinking holstered water. It’s the norm where I come from. It’s actually quite odd that people don’t do it more here because the quality of tap aster in most parts of Britain is absolutely horrid.

[Passthecherrycoke]

Yeah I think misunderstand too. The parents obviously didn’t think their child would be served filtered water at school

[Quantumphysics]

Chlorine, heavy metals, other chemicals, even products from pharmaceuticals, other toxins, some bacteria. We only drink filtered at home but drink whatever when out.

[YourSarcasmIsDripping]

Then parent should provide the water and enough of it.

The amount of kids that are thirsty and ran out of whatever was sent from home(or worse don't have a water bottle at all) and refuse to have tap water is ridiculous. I have fizzy water on me most days but they won't touch that either(fair enough is unfamiliar and a strange sensation). Sorry love but I'm not going to the shops to get you a special drink.

[Icandothisallday]

We threw a birthday party at home. One childs mother contacted us to say hee child was vegan. We spent quite a bit extra making sure there were lots of vegan options available. Even ordered a vegan cupcake so she got some cake.
As they were leaving the girl asked if she could have one of the spare cup cakes. We explained those werent vegan, but she was welcome to take any of vegan sweets. Hee mother then announced

'Oh she isnt vegan all the time....she will be fine having that's and walked out the door.

[oneforthepain]

Wow. That's enough to blow your mind?

[Ppatime]

Nope. No misunderstanding, this was checked. Parent told teacher that she did not allow child to drink tap water, only filtered.
And yes, children can (and do) bring water bottles from home but these generally don’t hold enough wAter for an active child for 7 (minimum) hours.
Bigger bottles? Hmmmm....storage!.......and also then too big for young children to manage without help.
More bottles? Storage!
Maybe.......tap water?! It’s a school, not a restaurant!

Ah well, each to their own!!

[steff13]

I grew up drinking holstered water.

What is holstered water?

[WeeDangerousSpike]

Then she needs to get her child a bottle with a filter, if the alternative is that they don't drink.

I've never heard anything so daft in my life.

[Springisallaround]

My husband only drinks filtered or bottled water, in his country it is extremely common to do so, although mostly the tap water is safe to drink (not everywhere). He would never drink water straight out of a tap as he says you can smell the chlorine, but he would leave it for an hour and then drink it if it was the only thing available.

I can see if you are from a culture where bottled/filtered water is the norm how a small child might just absorb that message that only bottle/filtered water is safe, which of course is not the case here.

[managedmis]

Holstered water?

What the what?

[quizqueen]

I don't know how I coped through 19 years of education and 40 years of work without a bottle of water constantly by my side.

[VladmirsPoutine]

I don't think on balance this is all that odd. Some people drink only filtered water, others only bottled, some are just fine with tap. The child is only repeating their 'norms'. There's nowt snobbish about it. But then again this is Mumsnet where people can only exist at either end of the any extreme.

[Wodkavodka]

I think what most posters don't understand is that teachers are actually lucky of there is a tap in their room. So when a child refuses, because the tap isn't good enough and there are 30 other children with their hands up asking questions, a water filter seems CRAZY. SORT YOUR OWN KIDS DRINK OUT OR TAKE WHAT IS ON OFFER.

[Wannabeyorkshirelass]

Nah I'd just say 'Sorry at school we drink tap water'. End of.

[Leeds2]

So what happened? Did the DC drink the tap water, or go thirsty?

[InACheeseAndPickle]

@Wodkavodka I don't think anyone's suggesting the teacher should have ran out of the classroom to procure a water filter for the kid! It's just not that unusual for people to drink filter water. If the parents are that fussed about it obviously they'll need to bring in more water for their child during the day.