To think water only at school is ridiculous

[Joanne279]

I'm having a gripe at my kids new school. We werent informed of the water only rule before we started.

Ds aged 6 and dd aged 9 (suffers with autism) now refuse to drink.

Ds, on the grounds he hates water. I gave him flavoured water which he likes, but the school said no!!!!!

Dd, has been allowed to take squash because is her ASD but now refuses to even take a drink because she's different to everyone else. She won't drink water at all.

The teachers all drink coffee/tea in the staff room but kids are water only! Surely the teachers should be setting the example?

I've rang the council who say the healthy rules are at the school discretion. I'm waiting for a call back from the head teacher because I think it's stupid! I could understand if I was sending them with coke or lucozade, but flavoured water a no no? Really?

Just wondered what you all thought x

My dd is diabetic. She drinks water and at school from sep it is a water only rule. This will be fine for her, sometimes she does need juice if she has a hypo but it is in her medical box.

While I don't necessarily disagree with a water only policy, or a healthy eating policy, I do believe in a parents right to feed their child as they chose.

As sending your child to school (or home schooling) is a statuary requirement I don't see how they can impose these rules in a state school.

I also don't think if you sent flavoured water in a coloured water bottle that there was much they could do unless they are going to taste and check everyone's lunch............

In addition to that Molly, some children with 'mild' SN may well not be diagnosed by the time they start school or until they are in moving towards upper KS2. So it's not as easy as saying if they've got SN they should be excepted. And that's before you get onto the school that won't make an exception even with letters from doctors.

As I said before, I don't have any problem with water only in water bottle for the classroom. It is a pain when it spills and sipping sweet drinks constantly is not a good idea. But I do think it should be allowed at lunch and should probably be available for those having school meals as well. It would at least avoid the issue where children with issues end up going throughout the day without a drink.

A teacher can drink what they like. A child only knows what they want, not what they need.

Genuine question - why is an orange healthy but orange juice isn't?

Or apple, or whatever

RedSoloCup - I don't think it is a very good lesson to teach children that if they don't like a rule they can just break it, plus young children are rarely discreet. If you choose to send your child to a school then you should be prepared to support the rules.

As for imposing rules about healthy eating (or anything else) it is done for the good of the children in their care; where do you stop if you allow parents to over rule these. Some parents want their child to drink Red Bull - well it's fine to let children in our care to drink high caffeine drinks then. Some parents tell their child that it is okay to play rough - that's fine then, just let it happen and let a child get hurt. Some parents allow their (primary) children to spend all their free time on electronic devices - so phones and games should be allowed in the classroom.

Intrinsic and extrinsic sugars mostly, Eminybob. It's mostly to do with teeth rather than anything else. But there are some other issues to do with calorie control and intake i.e. if you might drink several oranges worth of juice but you will still be hungry and therefore continue eating. but if you ate several oranges you would be full and stop.

When you eat an orange you get all the fibre of the fruit & obviously it has loads of vitamins.

Orange juice takes lots of oranges just to get one glass so a much higher sugar content & the fibre is removed.

And juice from concentrate the water is removed to concentrate then added again in a process.

Thanks. I think I understand

Eminy - they generally have a higher level of sugar in them to start with. Plus a food means a small burst of sugar and acid in the mouth, drinks tend to be swilled around and sipped at - leading to a longer exposure.

It is generally recommended that children do not eat lots and lots of fruit though; your 5 a day should be heavier on veg if concerned about sugar levels or tooth erosion.

Cookie - teachers cannot just drink what they want. I'm not allowed hot drinks, energy drinks, fizzy drinks (or alcohol for that matter) either when I'm in the classroom. Hot drinks for health and safety, others for setting a good example. This has been the case in every school I have ever worked in.

Because orange juice is made from a large number of oranges, not just 1 single orange. Then they pasteurise it and add preservatives so it 'keeps' in supermarkets for us to buy.

I am crap at grammar which is why I'll send my child to school to learn written language, if I was the one to be teaching my children grammar I'd feel very sorry for them!

I understand that a child might not like water but don't understand how a child can not acknowledge that water is a drink. If a child saw their friends drink water everyday they would soon learn that water is a drink even if they continued to dislike water.

That is such an important point Rafa, one that is also not taken seriously by many people.

You can limit the risk of sugar and acid by only eating the fruit/drinking juice at mealtimes too. Eating something like cheese afterwards will help to neutralise it.

I think school are now expected to be health police as well as educate. And while I believe a ban on fizzy drinks is sensible it's gone too far

'Oh please, it is part of their job to attend to kids whatever they drink and whatever they spill.'

Actually, no, it isn't.

Hence I have a 'no drinks except water' rule in my classroom, & my colleague next door in her ICT suite has a 'not even water' rule.

I don't want sticky squash on my books & she doesn't want any sort of liquid in her computers.

My own primary aged dc have a carton of juice with their lunch. I'm sure tbh that if they just drank that, having had a drink with breakfast & with the prospect of another once they get home, they'd be fine, but they also do have regular access to water if they're thirsty.

If one of them had a particular need for anything other than water I'd discuss it with the school, but on the whole, it's better for children not to sip acidic drinks throughout the day, & it's better for classrooms not to have sticky drinks spilt in them.

It's a perfectly sensible rule, which, like many sensible rules, may require the occasional specific exception to be made.

I hate this sanctimonious "I want my child to be healthy and only drink water, so because the school enforces it it means I can shift the blame on to them so I don't have to explain to my child why I'm such a meany"

I think that's pretty much it!!!

I mean it's clear from the crap half the schools serve the kids and the lunch box polices that make no sense at all that these so called "healthy schools" don't have a clue half the time and no ones afraid to shout out about it or suggest sending in packed lunch versions of the cooked meal, et all f a sudden schools are spot on with this???

A ones size fits all policy is supposed to be the one thing MN is against yet here we are, with Goves ridiculous ideas and testing for six year olds that even the teachers disagree with along side all the other shit thrown on to the teachers that goes against everything they have learnt from years of experience. But yes let's worry about whether little Maisie has water or squash today.

I aver NEVER worked in a school that attempted to tell teachers what they can and can't drink. No one is going to be drinking alcohol in school, we don't need to be told that. Having hot drinks in busy corridors is foolish and a breach of h&s regulations, but if I choose to drink anything else that is up to me, as an ADULT.
If you bring your child up to not drink water, or to not even realise that water is actually the only drink you need past weaning, then you deserve these fussy, pampered children who 'can only' drink liquid laced in sugar.

inthenddotcom I was purely meaning that it is not for a parent to decide what an adult drinks as they're responsible for their own decisions.

Yabu

It's a great idea. I'm glad dd nursery has always done this. I think it's important that children drink water from an early age without being given much else. Promotes a healthy habit.

Crap school meals are crap.

Badly thought out lunch box policies (ie. my dc can't have a homemade bun but could have a school dinner wodge of cake twice the size, with custard) are also crap.

It's just that that doesn't stop kids unnecessarily schlurping squash during lessons also being crap.

indigo - Are you seriously saying that your HT would have nothing to say about you sitting in class drinking Red Bull? We are expected to set and demonstrate high standards plus support the policies of the school (Teachers Standards: Teachers must have proper and professional regard for the ethos, policies and practices of the school in which they teach, and maintain high standards in their own attendance and punctuality).

I'm not talking about in the staffroom or when the children are not in class, but when teaching a class.