To think the school were neglectful?

If you read the replies rom teachers on here, you'll see that we have all "used a bit of common sense" and offered extra opportunities and given extra reminders.

Ive stood in front of children and said, "It's 32 degrees outside today. Your body needs water. Have a drink."

But I still can't force them to if they choose not to.

Because it’s free childcare, that’s why. I’ve said for many years that if education were no longer free in this country or if there were more children than school places (I think that will happen eventually as teachers are leaving in droves - I wonder why! When we’re called neglectful for not placing a hat on top of the heads of children and holding bottles to their mouths) then parents might just realise that it’s a privilege to attend school. Honestly if my children’s teachers had taken my children on a trip in that heat yesterday then I would have been saying “Thank you for today, I bet you’re ready for a cold drink tonight.”

@frogshead
I think this should be a reality check for you as a parent.

Is your daughter expected to listen to direction and do as she is told, when appropriate, or is she always encouraged to do as she sees fit.
So, are you a parent who would “ask” if she feels tired, hungry, thirsty, and expect her to follow her instincts?
This type of parenting is all very well, but it often puts pressure on young children to know what’s best for themselves, when in reality, they don’t. An adult should be making decisions regarding day to day keeping healthy, and children( SEN aside) should generally be able to go along with this.
The problem when children aren’t encouraged to follow direction is that when they leave the protected structured environment, say the classroom, and do something different, a trip out, is that not doing as instructed, ie “put your hats on” has consequences in the real world.

At 8 my child( we live abroad) went on a 2 hour train journey with his class to visit Venice for the day with temperatures in the mid 30’s and had an amazing time. When children are used to doing as they are told they can participate in more things and have more opportunities.
You should be demonstrating to your daughter your disappointment in the fact that she didn’t wear her hat and drink the water you had provided and presumably told her was there. You shouldn’t expect her to be treated like a toddler unless you want her opportunities to be those of a little child.

If you didn't want her to go then you shouldn't have sent her.

If you've babied your 8 year old to the point that she dehydrates herself if nobody reminds her to drink, then that's a failure on your part. Nothing to do with the school.

OP - 'AIBU' - unanimous response: ' yes you are'. OP 'No I'm not'. What's the point of asking, or is it a rhetorical question?

I think you should be getting the message loud and clear by now OP, YABU.

I've had thirty plus years experience supervising primary school trips.
There is absolutely no way the teachers weren't giving constant reminders to drink and wear hats. All day they will have been giving instructions, taking breaks and watching over the children like hawks.
They will not have been physically administering water nor physically placing hats on heads of 8 year olds. That is not their job.

If an 8 year old does not have the sufficient autonomy to drink the water she is carrying, when thirsty, or to wear the hat she is carrying when hot, then that seems like an issue for the parents not the teacher.

It seems your dd has learned from you she can only drink if an adult tells her to. That's a bit controlling. Let her drink when she wants to. Much better for her health to drink whenever she feels the need.

The lucky teacher who is to be interrogated by the OP will hopefully tell her that her daughter wilfully disobeyed the teachers and didn't drink water or wear a hat. as they were told and the OP should make sure her daughter knows to follow important instructions in future.

There's a difference between expecting a child to take some accountability for themselves and reasonably expecting someone in charge of young children to make sure they are drinking enough in exceptional circumstances.

As much as MN loves to pretend that children out of nappies should essentially be fully formed grown ups, 8 is still young. And anyone in charge of transporting said young children should use a bit of common sense to have regular stops specifically for everyone to take a drink - and to monitor whether hats are on etc. It doesn't have to take more than a minute or two.

The heat was exceptional yesterday, steps should have been taken accordingly. While this certainly is a teaching moment for your daughter, @frogshead, I don't think you're unreasonable for being surprised more care wasn't taken considering the circumstances.

If your 8 year old hasn’t the sense she was born with to wear the hat you provided (and I guarantee school will have reminded the class), that’s an issue for you to address with her.

She’s 8, not 4.

If you didn’t think it was a safe activity for your daughter, why did you let her go?

She's 8! An 8 year old knows if they're thirsty. Personal responsibility needs to become a thing here. She isn't a 2 year old who needs to be regularly encouraged to drink their water and forced to wear a hat. She had one and chose not to wear it. She had water and chose not to drink it.

Yes and although this trip was a free one there likely was some sort of staff member from the museum holding a Q&A session or little chat that may have cost school money that wasn’t passed on to parents and certainly would have needed booking. It was very hot yesterday and I did worry about my own children drinking and wearing a hat etc but I have a realistic expectation that I send the hat and fluids, I put on the lotion and school encourage children to be sensible. Other than that it’s a case of reminding your own child and pulling permission if you think it’s unsafe and that your child won’t do as they’re repeatedly told and they stay in school with a different year group (in a roasting hot classroom because none of them have aircon) There will have definitely been some slow walkers / overweight children that struggle with mobility / SEN children that walk slowly so I doubt it was a sprint to get there as you all have to stay together.

I am absolutely confident that the teachers regularly reminded the children to drink and wear their hats, but your daughter wasn’t paying attention or didn’t think it applied to her.

That's the advantage of only having 1 child to be responsible for, the teacher probably had a large group. At what age do you expect her to learn to do as she's told?

No. She will likely have been told repeatedly to drink. And she’s 8.

I am very sure she would have been asked repeatedly by all the adults with them to wear her hat,
if she refuses to then what do they do ? force her ?!!!
no all they can do is keep asking/telling.

Same with drinking her water. They will all have been encouraged / asked to drink from their bottles, yet again if one child doesn't wish or want to what do you think all of these adults are going to do ?
open her mouth and force it down her ?!!!
no.
can you imagine the uproar if they did.

You now have the opportunity to remind her / tell her all weekend that she feels poorly due to her actions / choices / decisions and explain why.

My year 3 class do nothing but ask for their water bottles.

Same! 😁

OP, she'll have been reminded throughout the day and given the opportunity to do so. She'll also have been surrounded by other children drinking which should have served as a reminder.

I had one 8 year old child tell me the other day that he didn't have a water bottle with him and hadn't had a drink all day as he was collecting his things to go home.

I've been telling them to have a drink as soon as they come in, put their water bottles under their tables, allow them to drink as necessary, remind them to take their water bottles out at break and lunch, and stop at various points during the day and remind them drink to make sure they're well hydrated.

We even have a stack of cups at the back of the classroom that the children can help themselves to if they've forgotten their water bottle.

And at not one of these points did this child tell me he hadn't got a water bottle 🤷🏻‍♀️

Why did you send her to school then? If you took a child out it would be 1 or 2 children, not 30 or 60 (depending on how many classes went). You could have kept her off school and explained you thought it wasn't a good choice to do a long walk in the heat.

She's a young, fit, healthy child. My DC went on a school lake trip this week. Younger than yours. In this heat. I knew they might not drink enough, but one hot day without enough water wouldn't and didn't kill them.

My NT 6 & ND 7 year old both are capable of hydrating themselves when necessary too. Some days my eldest comes home with a full water bottle I never blame the teachers I just remind him he has to drink or his head will hurt.

Ex secondary teacher.

on sports days and outside trips when it is warm we are constantly telling them to put hats on, keep hats on, drink water and keep in the shade.

it’s literally pretty much all you do all day.

the teachers will have been telling them to wear hats, drink water etc.

they won’t have listened.

and don’t get me started on unsuitable clothing!

I would expect teachers to ask a child to put their hat on if they were carrying it instead of wearing it, however they might not have known she even had one if she put it in her bag. Not all parents would have provided a hat sadly.

I would also expect there to be a breaktime or lunchtime where all children were encouraged to eat something and drink water as a group, but not expect the teachers to check individual water bottles. My son is 8 and at the very least he would have wanted a drink with food.

Oh, and my 'favourite' are the whingy parents who say their children won't drink water so they need to bring squash or juice.

Yes, they do drink water. Constantly. As evidenced by them constantly leaving their seats year round to drink water at the back of the room. We keep bottles under seats during heat waves and they treat them like baby bottles half the time, constantly sipping on them. 😂

So, no. Don't send in squash. It attracts the wasps to them this time of year, too.

At 8 she is old enough to understand that she needs to wear her hat and drink water. The teachers can't possibly go round 30 children individually and insist that they need to take a drink. One of mine got heatstroke at school aged 5 and she knew after that the importance of drinking in hot weather.
As to those suggesting that the trip should have been cancelled, other countries manage just fine to carry on as normal in weather like the UK is currently experiencing.

I'm surprised they did the trip with a long walk in such hot weather. Ours were kept in at lunch due to the heat but I suppose that is the middle of the day (although think it's often hotter late afternoon these days).