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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To be very cross that school's incompetence may have made DS ill?

331 replies

user1498726699 · 29/06/2017 10:56

DS's year had a mini sports day on Tuesday. Parents were invited to spectate in the afternoon so DH and I went along. I noticed that drinks were not brought outside for DC (which has happened before so I had brought one with me) so tried to get DS to drink the bottle of water I brought but he was worried he would get told off so only took a few sips. This was a 2 hour event with no breaks. It wasn't hot but very overcast and sweaty. DS's hair was soaking. I went to the shop and left DH to wait for DS to come out afterwards.

On the way home with DH, DS said that noise/talking was annoying him as his brain hurt. DH put it down to lots of jumping around, gave him a drink/snack and told DS to lay down for a rest. He took himself off to bed and conked out very uncharacteristically! I woke him later as I was worried and he was very upset that his 'brain was hurting' and his body wouldn't work. He was clammy, and I realised that he was probably dehydrated. He then told us that he had not had a chance to drink his breaktime drink as some of the DC were chosen to practice for the afternoon event so he had spent most of the morning running around too. I asked if they were offered water and he said no. The only drink they were offered was after the afternoon event just before hometime when they were told to have a drink after they got changed. So DS did almost 4 hours of quite vigorous exercise with only his breakfast juice at home, a small cup of water at lunchtime, and a few gulps of water from the bottle I took with me.

DCs are only 6/7. Surely it is irresponsible of the school to not make sure small DC are hydrated during sports events in June?

I had to spend Tuesday night trying to get Dioralyte down DS (big battle as he hates it) and he had a high temp for most of yesterday with headache and lethargy so was off school. He is recovered today and has gone to school with a note that consideration should be given to this at future sports events.

AIBU to think this could have been preventable?

OP posts:

user1497480444 · 30/06/2017 23:37

There is a lot of nonsense talked about the constant need for water, and about us all being supposedly dehydrated.

It isn't true

Its mostly made up by the bottled water industry.

Squash is in any case a better sports day drink.

WomblingThree · 01/07/2017 00:37

Oh god now you've done it user1497480444! Squash is akin to poison on here.

BeaderBird · 01/07/2017 01:02

You were there, you had water, you could have instructed him to drink it or asked a teacher if the pupils were going to be given water.

Weird.

BeaderBird · 01/07/2017 01:29

The loco parentis part was fulfilled by there being a water fountain available for your child to access.

HicDraconis · 01/07/2017 01:54

Would an adult do 2 hours of sports with no break whilst dripping with sweat without having a proper drink break FFS. I cannot believe some of these responses

I don't know about all adults, but me / DH / both children (now 9&11 but have been doing this since they were 5&6) all do 3-4h of intensive exercise on a Saturday morning regardless of weather without a drink break. We do another 2h straight on Sunday without a drink break. The boys obviously run around at school in the day but then 4 evenings a week they do another 1-2h without a drink break. I work from 8am-6pm without a loo break let alone a stop for a drink or food!

I make sure the boys have water before we go and a drink before we come home. They've never been dehydrated enough to get a headache and fever; I suspect your DS had a combination of subclinical viral infection together with getting a bit too hot running around. And you absolutely share responsibility for making sure he has a drink if you're concerned about him running around outside without one.

As for "what about the parents who weren't there" - they aren't on here complaining that their precious DC hasn't been allowed a drink. You are.

I never took water to school in the 70s and 80s. We still did outside sports, even in the summer. Wasn't nearly the water bottle kerfuffle there is now. It's perfectly ok to go for a few hours without constant sipping.

I wonder if your time battling with the school to get your SEN child appropriate support has left you a bit BEC about the whole thing.

Dibbles1967 · 01/07/2017 02:36

Schools must differ in their policies quite substantially. My DC primary & now senior schools ask/expect children to have a bottle of water with them & send out Parentmail reminders during hot weather. They have it on their desks during lessons & with them during long periods of sports. eg sports days.

We never did when we were young, but a correlation has been made between hydration & concentration, so they do try to promote it.

user1497480444 · 01/07/2017 05:14

We never did when we were young, but a correlation has been made between hydration & concentration, so they do try to promote it.

This "correlation" has been largely fabricated and exaggerated and promoted by the bottled water industry.

really, no one in the uk needs "hydration" in order to concentrate! maybe on a handful of days every year, but generally, NOT

in fact water doesn't hydrate best anyway, drinking water is an artificial, unnatural product we would not have encountered during 99.99% of our evolution.

Squash or tea is a closer approximation to what we evolved to drink.

Water is a toxin we have to rid our bodies of by peeing

Wonders71 · 01/07/2017 06:12

Most schools have water fountains so they can get water when they want! Also I have been to school sports days and they don't last 4hrs...they normally go back into school after lunch 1/1.15 and finish at 3/315 that's two hours at most.

Wonders71 · 01/07/2017 06:14

Sorry just 're read 2hrs event...

Ginandplatonic · 01/07/2017 06:20

Water is a toxin we have to rid our bodies of by peeing

Excellent! We haven't had the "water is poison" conspiracy theory aired for quite a while now...

Between that and HoridHenry's sexually transmitted Ospeopathy expertise this is the thread that keeps on giving!

user1497480444 · 01/07/2017 06:26

the "water is poison" conspiracy theory

what are you talking about? It is nothing to do with any sort of conspiracy, just plain straight forward biology

Ginandplatonic · 01/07/2017 06:43

Ok, it's a cold Saturday afternoon here and I'm up for a bit of entertainment. Tell me more about this "straightforward biology".

AwaywiththePixies27 · 01/07/2017 07:15

at 7, could he not just ask for a drink?

Depends what the school is like. DCs old school never allowed you to drink apart from set times, usually lunchtime, and the DCs would often come home with headaches etc.

I ket them know I was far from vest pleased when my DD had a UTI and they banned her from a) using the toilet and b) getting a drink so she wouldn't need the toilet. she'd come out of school screaming in pain some days because of holding it in all day. She's not a disruptive child either so there was really no need.

AwaywiththePixies27 · 01/07/2017 07:17

Same here Dibbles1967

user1497480444 · 01/07/2017 07:25

I ket them know I was far from vest pleased when my DD had a UTI and they banned her from a) using the toilet and b) getting a drink so she wouldn't need the toilet. hmm she'd come out of school screaming in pain some days because of holding it in all day. She's not a disruptive child either so there was really no need.

Did she have a medical note? Thats very odd.

The Brighton marathon was on a very hot day this year, and most of the water stations had run out before the first half of runners had gone through. Many competitors ran the whole marathon without any water at all ( - water is not great for marathon running, but it is better than nothing. Squash is better, but that ran out at the same time too!)

picklemepopcorn · 01/07/2017 07:33

The people who are unsympathetic on here OP probably have children this doesn't happen to.
It used to happen to mine after sports days. It took two for me to make the connection. Then I trained the kids to drink, and took letters to school when the weather was hot about their need to drink more and stay cooler than most children.
DH and I are the same. Some people are less affected by it, I think.

picklemepopcorn · 01/07/2017 07:35

And I think this sounds like what we used to call a 'potted sports day'. Lots of activity stations, less sitting around watching and cheering.

AwaywiththePixies27 · 01/07/2017 07:39

Did she have a medical note? Thats very odd.

Not odd. Just incompetent. She's on a wealth of medication and one of the side effects is a higher risk of recurrent UTIs.

I guess her appointed nurse who sat in on a meeting with the staff the day before this happened to update her action plan thought that'd be sufficient when she was telling the staff about her utis also. Then again this is the same school that left her having an asthma attack all afternoon without trying to contact me because and I quote the teacher "I just thought she was being mardy". It was an ambulance job and she very nearly ended up in PICU that night.

Thankfully she's now in a much better school.

Ginandplatonic · 01/07/2017 07:52

Still waiting to hear the physiology behind your assertion that water is a toxin UserWhatever

Sunnymorningwithbacon · 01/07/2017 08:07

Op. You are a balloon.

You had water and you didn't get your child to drink it. There was a water fountain and you didn't make sure your child had a drink. Totally your responsibility.

As to the like a tan. My mother liked me to have a tan. Two skin cancers later I'm not so keen.

butterfly990 · 01/07/2017 08:18

My daughter's school had a drink tent. It was scheduled in as part of the different events. They were allowed one cup of squash each.

The PTA normally also have a tent selling hot dogs, burgers and drinks. So long as the parents aren't interfering with the events they don't mind drinks being given to the kids.

Wonders71 · 01/07/2017 08:21

squash or tea is a close approximation to what we evolved to drink 😂 what do you have to add to make squash or tea..your nuts

user1497480444 · 01/07/2017 08:23

Still waiting to hear the physiology behind your assertion that water is a toxin UserWhatever

try popping a few of your blood cells in a drop of drinking water on a microscope slide, and watch what happens Ginndplatonic!

Wonders71 · 01/07/2017 08:28

Work in a school at lunch time and trying to get children to drink water is a nightmare! We can't litraly pour it down there throats..

AwaywiththePixies27 · 01/07/2017 08:31

butterfly990 DCs current school had a drinks tent for sports day this year AND a tuck shop for after.

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