To create a fuss about my son not having access to water today in school

Wait, you haven't been told you're unreasonable yet!

I honestly wonder about the delicate flowers some Mums are raising.

Because no school aged child has ever died of thirst during a class.

Adults do more physical jobs without a sippy bottle within reach at all time.

@Willyoujust are you the teacher?

You are being very unreasonable. Your son sounds like a PITA.

I only remember having the water fountain at primary school (80s), kind of think there must have been a cup of water or squash at lunch though too. But we're always wondering why our kids have to take water with them, lunch would be enough for me. There seems to be a big preoccupation with water on you at all times.

I’m afraid, OP, that you are in danger of becoming ‘that’ parent. Any teacher will recognise children like your son, continually indulging in low level disruption. Even the alleged comment by the teacher is open to interpretation depending on the way it was said.Try supporting the school.

Eh? I work outside - I walk about 5/6 miles through wheat field a day at the moment. I don’t carry water, I have it at break and lunch! I’m fairly sure he’ll be fine in a classroom without constant access to water and maybe he’ll learn not to muck about with his water bottle in class!

Me neither and I'm in my 50s

YABU. This sounds like Little Prince Syndrome.

Maybe, don’t remember any so perhaps I just didn’t use them.

Exactly this ^^ It sounds like this child is aggrieved at the teacher telling him off, so he’s telling his own story in an effort to get his mum to tell the teacher off. It’s a pretty common reaction to being told off at this age.

However today he comes home from school and tells me he had no water the whole day as the teacher said he was fidgeting too much with his bottle and told him to put it away from the table . All the other kids had their bottles on their table . He has said he had a few sips at lunch time and then nothing until after school club at 4 pm 😳

And this is a major part of the story reframing (above). The child chose to not have water at break and to only have a few sips at lunch and is now trying to blame the teacher for this. Ridiculous! I’d also add that it’s quite possible this ‘few sips’ isn’t actually true. Our students are allowed to refill their water bottles during the day so it’s more than possible that this boy drank lots of water then refilled it and only had a few sips from the refilled bottle, having already had a whole bottle. Any questions about this would allow him an opportunity to blame the teacher for not letting him keep his bottle on the table, with the convenient ‘evidence’ of an almost full bottle.

Even if children don’t have their water bottle on their desk, they’re allowed to ask to get a drink. I’d love to hear the teacher’s side of this!

Did you not have water fountains in the playground? Schools usually did

I’m sorry OP but I would not have left it if the teacher call him out in class for speaking with his mum about an issue he had, I would be straight back in there. They are undermining him and his safety arrangements to talk to mum if he is worried about anything, that’s disgusting. And the water thing, I would have caused a fuss about. That’s ridiculous. Get in there and stick up for your child for god’s sake.

@SendBooksAndTea where

This is an 8 year olds version of events, you don’t think it may have been exaggerated or embellished in some way?
op said the water bottle was not allowed on his table as he constantly fiddled with it, why should the kids that act sensibly lose access to their water bottles cos of one child.
i highly doubt the teacher is shouting him all the time, more likely he is talking or distracting the class and has to be constantly reminded-this version wouldn’t get him the sympathetic response from his mum.
Child by his own admission only had a few sips at lunchtime, does that sound like a child gasping for a drink

Op, has his behaviour been highlighted as a concern previously, by other teachers? Or is he generally good, but a bit fidgety? How do you deal with him fidgeting at home?

I can see how a child fidgeting with a water bottle would be distracting. But I'm also of the view that some teachers' behaviour management strategies are ineffective and needlessly punitive for low level things like this. As someone else has said, how about putting the water bottle under his desk instead? If fidgeting is a more persistent problem, then op and the teacher need to speak about how they manage it longer term. Some kids are higher energy, so getting them to help hand equipment out gives them a movement break and reduces disruption.

I also think that although the vast majority of teachers are doing a great job in difficult circumstances, and that yes, children can be a bit liberal with the truth, bad teachers do exist. I had one at secondary. He was a total bully, all the children knew he picked on the weaker ones and he had multiple complaints against him which eventually saw him fired. Another one was an alcoholic who likewise definitely picked on kids (I wasn't one of them, but I witnessed it on many occasions). My dd had one in Y1 - again, not just my perception, many others felt the same.

We don't know what the situation is here. But I don't think we should be so quick to assume the teacher is always right and the child is always a lying pain in the arse.

Because that's what it says.

That's a completely different scenario.

@SendBooksAndTea how do you know that?

Urine infections ((UTI)
kidney stones
inflammation of bladder
Bladder stones
Kidney failure- multiple causes but dehydration increased risk.
Incontinence.

That's exactly what happened though, he just wasn't allowed it at his desk.

How is this even remotely comparable?

Believe me classrooms are hot places, especially after lunch. If the teaching staff and other children have access to their water then so should every child, no exceptions. You might keep their bottle on your desk so they have to come up for a drink but you shouldn’t deny it outright like this. Especially in these temperatures!

Hate to tell you this but as an adult working at a nurse, I have a tea before I head to work. My first break is 2-4 hours into my shift. Then I have tea and water. The last four hours it's anyone guess at to whether I get second break and if I'm lucky I can grab a 4 oz paper of cup of water in the drugs locker. I next have a drink on the way home.

Nobody is running to management complaining that the nurse isn't getting to drink whenever.