To think that school children should have easy access to drinking water?

[Schnullerbacke]

I'm sure this has been done before so apologies.

My DD (7) has just had a new teacher who changed the routines around a bit. They are now only allowed to drink water at lunch and are not allowed to quickly grab their bottles whilst going down / coming back up from break time or assembly. This is apparently done so they won't have to go to the toilet too often (which is just outside their door).

I think its a bit out of order but before I have a word I wanted to check whether IABU. I know its important to stay hydrated and I don't think this is achieved by drinking before school start and only then drinking again some 3 hours later.

In my class children can drink before school, at break, as soon as they come in from break, lunchtime. They can also get a drink during the day but not when i am doing the whole class teaching part of a lesson, nor during the main plenary session. They are not allowed drink bottles on desks...too much fiddling and spilling, but they keep them on a trolley by the door. Each child also has a cup by the sink....

"Consultant told us (he is 7) should be drinking 750ml water before 4pm and that most primary school age children are dehydrated."

Interesting. Him against every other authority except those funded by the bottled water industry.

750ml is 3/4 glasses of water her can drink that in the morning at break and at lunch time and on the way home, I have a kidney complaint it was worse when i was at school I had to drink at least a pint during the day I managed that without drinking all through school forever you should have him get specific drinks at specific times for his medical condition

"Consultant told us (he is 7) should be drinking 750ml water before 4pm and that most primary school age children are dehydrated. Clearly to drink that amount need to sipping water all day not just a little from a fountain."

Why? 750 ml equals 4 glasses (just tested with measuring jug). Why would you need to sip all day to ingest 4 glasses? Surely a glass at breakfast, a glass at breaktime, one at lunch and one just after school would cover the 750 ml?

A cup of water is what - 150ml? So breakfast, break, lunch, break, after school = that's 750ml before 4pm without having to sip all day.

And, at a risk of being accused of pofacery, I do so hate the use of the word "dehydrated" to mean "hasn't had a drink for an hour". It's just.........tactless.

Pretty sure ofsted require children to have water available at all times.

This is why nearly all schools have a labelled drinking bottle for every child.

And why the school policy says what it does. The teacher should be following the policy, that's what policies are for.

Apparently it is true that an adult needs 8 pints of water a day, but almost all of this is supplied in the food we eat. You do not need to drink 8 pints of liquid as well.

I don't think children need water at their desks all the time. The trouble is that once they are teenagers many of them switch to energy drinks, which they drink all day, and that causes all sorts of other problems.

I think 8 pints might be pushing it a bit...............

"Bad Science" also has good explanation of the utter lack of convincing research into the need for constant "hydration".

I teach Secondary and the children are allowed to have drink bottles on the desk according to school policy.

It drives me crazy. Bottles on desks results in: constant sucking at the bottle like a baby with a dummy, answering questions with bottle half in mouth which I consider to be bad manners, rolling the bottle around, cracking the bottle noisily, picking the label off the bottle, requests to leave the lesson to fill up bottle, requests to go to the toilet.

I ask the students to keep the bottles in their pockets, to take a sip if they need to and then put them back. This is "well out of order, Miss", and against school policy. Yet it's amazing how the need to have a bottle continually in one's mouth diminishes when the bottles are out of sight.

I would never prevent a child who was genuinely thirsty, unwell or had a medical condition from taking a drink, but this constant access to water is not necessary, no one will dehydrate in two hours.

YY Lizzie.

And, at a risk of being accused of pofacery, I do so hate the use of the word "dehydrated" to mean "hasn't had a drink for an hour". It's just.........tactless.

I agree with you no child is dehydrated with normal drinking

People don't need constant hydration.

They just need to replace any lost water when necessary I.e. a few glasses spaced out throughout the day when you are thirsty

Thirst is the body's way of signalling the need for fluids.

I blame the crap that is Brain Gym for perpetrating this ridiculous nonsense.

Brain Gym has been proven to be nonsense in any case.

And I find it fascinating that people agonise over whether to let their toddlers have one bottle of milk at night, and a couple of years later are agonising over the same child having to wait 30 minuts for a different sort of bottle!

Of course children don't need to be constantly sipping water. It's ridiculous to suggest a child is going to get dehydrated between breakfast and morning break.

I teach secondary and kids come to us assuming it is their right to keep a huge bottle of water/squash in their blazer pocket and to take it out and drink it at any point they choose. It's not like that in the real world. Plenty of adults can't drink whenever they want whilst at work.

I blame the crap that is Brain Gym for perpetrating this ridiculous nonsense.

brain gym first started when dd was in primary her sister managed to get through primary before hanf quite happily, was brain gym invented by a water company it drove me mad, she hardly drank any water anyway as it wasn't cold enough

There's so much crap about this - like tea and coffee not counting as a drink. Yes water is better for a number of reasons but tea definitely hydrates you - otherwise my dear old mum would have shrivled up years ago.

I'll bet our ancestors back in Paleolithic times didn't stop to have a slug of water every 30 seconds...

We managed fine at school with drinks at break and lunch. I am sure that if it is hot in the summer she will change the policy.

I wonder how often the teacher has a drink, & if she is restricted to water. I also wonder whether she allows them to have access to water before/after physical activity or if a child is or has been unwell, & whether she would apply the same rules to herself.

Most teachersI know are lucky to get a cup of tea at break!

At the primary school I went to we were only allowed a glass of squash at lunch time, there weren't even any drinking fountains. Because of this I have a phobia about not having access to water. I panic and can't concentrate if I don't have a glass of water within reach. Just reading this thread is making my heart beat faster with panic and making me angry!

I really don't see the point in restricting a child's access to water. Sounds like someone on a power trip to me.

Also, I worked as an advisor or an incontinence care line and we always made sure to tell customers bit to restrict their water intake in order to wee less as it is bad fir the kidneys and can cause uti's.