Who is BU - School or DH

[Ownerofmultiplechimps]

Ds school have said must bring own drinks every day & cannot use cups/taps etc due to Covid restrictions. I forgot to put ds drink in his bag so he’s gone 8hrs without a drink (is fine, had a drink before & as soon as home). Ds did ask but teachers said no as above.

DH is furious, thinks they should not have said no or at least called me/us to drop off his water in a socially distant manner (bottle was in the fridge & I’ve been WFH in office all day so didn’t notice).

School response was just quoting instructions.

I think as a one off, my fault & no harm done just leave it but DH disagrees.

[MitziK]

[quote Ohyesohyeah]@MitziK If the school doesn't have anyone who has time to look up a number and call home (literally a 2 minute job) then it shouldn't be open.

Yes schools are very tight on staff, but to open with literally no one to do this, as you suggest, would be dangerous. Who deals with a first aid incident? A safeguarding incident? A parent phoning with an emergency? A child refusing to come in from the playground? A staff member suddenly taking ill? A delivery to the office? etc, etc...[/quote]
They're probably dealing with all of those, rather than acting as PA to children and parents.

[Pixxie7]

Appalling I agree with your DP and would take it further.

[ItsNotAGameOfSubbuteoMatthew]

Why does common sense go out of the window when there's a change in procedure? Of course the school should have made provision for children who come without a drink.

A child went to school the other day without a coat (sunny in the morning rainy at pick up). I saw the teacher offer the mum a spare coat for the child. But mum had brought an umbrella.

If my child's school can lend out coats, your DC's school can make sure all children have drinks or spare cups if not.

[BabyGirl66]

That is ridiculous. At first I thought he was going to be 13! No sorry a 7YO should go without water-Period!

[BabyGirl66]

That should most definitely say Should NOT be going without water

[Claliscool]

Absolutely shitty and I would make a formal complaint.

[Lessofallthisunpleasantness]

No this is notunreasonable.
We used to go to school and not take lunch and no drink and then go home at end of the day and have a drink and a snack at like 4pm. So maybe 8am to 4pm . Maybe a slurp from the school taps after going to the loo but nothing else. This is normal.

[earthyfire]

Piss poor of the school. To refuse a child water is not on, especially on a very warm day. Would a teacher find it acceptable to go without water all day?

[earthyfire]

The other thing I find shocking is some of the responses on here, some clearly from teachers. Scary to think I could be leaving my children with teachers who think this sort of thing is acceptable.

[ComDummings]

@earthyfire

The other thing I find shocking is some of the responses on here, some clearly from teachers. Scary to think I could be leaving my children with teachers who think this sort of thing is acceptable.

Absolutely.

[candleplaxe]

Your DH is right! You forgot once but how many kids don't have what you give your kids and could end up dehydrated and malnourished! School is the best some kids get

[user1481840227]

That's ridiculous. I would be furious. If a child forgets their drink they need to be provided with one if they ask. A child could spill their drink or it could leak everywhere also.

Agree with the pp who said common sense shouldn't go out the window with things like this. Are people after becoming unthinking robots now?

I saw during the strictest phase of lockdown that a town council had to tell people not to step onto a busy road to stay 2 the required distance from other pedestrians because the risk of being knocked down from a car was worse than catching the virus....because all common sense went out the window!

[Sarahbeans]

As others have said, I would first check what your child exactly said. Nine times out of ten, I have seen this with parents, the parents have stormed up the school, it's not been exactly as perceived and the parent has ended up looking stupid.

Personally, I think a more friendly approach of I'm concerned that we forgot my child's water bottle, was there a reason why he couldn't gave been given a drink / we could have been contacted is more likely to be effective than steaming up the school furious - for the school not doing something that was your responsibility in the first place.

Mistakes happen. Maybe the teacher misunderstood what your child was saying, maybe the child didn't ask until almost at the end of the school day. maybe the teacher was intending to get a drink later and forgot (do bear in mind in some schools atm, teachers have no TAs to get drinks for them and cannot run off to get drinks if water. The tap in my classroom for example is okay for hand washing. But is not suitable for drinking water. So I can't just go and get glasses of water whenever a child asks, because I can't leave students unsupervised), but you also made the mistake in not providing the bottle in the first place.

Worth having the facts first before you shout the school down. As I've said it's usually not quite as it seems on first sight.

[MrsTerryPratchett]

@eddiemairswife

I must be one of the millions of older people who never had a drink during the school day and managed to survive without getting distressed.

How old are you? Because I'm almost 50 and I remember Mrs Thatcher Milk Snatcher taking away drinks. Only thing I ever loved that arsehole for. No more disgusting warm milk.

You must be fairly ancient to be before milk. Pre 1940 something.

[Purpleartichoke]

I would expect either they have a backup or I get a phone call

[AhNowTed]

@eddiemairswife

I must be one of the millions of older people who never had a drink during the school day and managed to survive without getting distressed.

Me too.

On the rare occasion we had those Tupperware beakers with the dodgy lids that leaked and the contents tasted weird.

There was certainly no bottled water in the 70s and 80s. You went to school with a sandwich and if you were lucky a leaky beaker.

[WhitbyGoth]

The school are absolutely disgraceful here, shocking letting a child go that long without a drink.

[AhNowTed]

@MrsTerryPratchett

Not everyone is from the UK.

[trixiebelden77]

Nobody had a drink bottle in the 1980s?

Hahahahahahahahahaa.

How I miss my Ghostbusters drink bottle from 1984. I must have attended (seven different) totally anomalous schools as every kid had a drink bottle or a carton of juice in their lunchbox throughout the 1980s. There were also bubblers throughout the playground from which children regularly drank water.

[Hannsmum]

I totally stand with your DH. I felt soo sad and furious reading the story. How on earth will they leave a 7 yr old without water to drink? Very unfair

[AhNowTed]

@trixiebelden77

Again (sigh) not everyone is from the UK.

I can assure you in Ireland in the 70/80s there were no "bubblers" in schools, and nobody bought water in a bottle.

[timeisnotaline]

@crazychemist he did ask & was told no by a TA & a couple of teachers
He’s 7 and it’s appalling. No need to storm in, walk in and explain your understanding of what happened, hear them out and explain what you expect. Which is reasonable care!!

[myfavouritefudgecake]

I'm pretty much never on the "parents side" of school threads but I do think it's very strange that they wouldn't give your child water and this would be a rare occasion that I would say something to the school. As a child I would have felt dreadful not drinking anything for a school day and as an adult I'd have a migraine after 8 hours without a proper drink.

If he's fine and you don't want to "complain" as such, you could just tell them that you are WFH at the moment and if there are issues (like a forgotten water bottle) you'd like to be rung as DS went without a drink yesterday.

[stayingaliveisawayoflife]

We have plastic cups normally but have paper cups for COVID! Also the children can and are encouraged to refill their bottles at lunch break and whenever needed we just use an anti bac wipe on the tap.

[Rach000]

That's awful of the school to say no. They could have sorted something or given you a ring. Also seems stupid they cant refill bottles. My daughters school refills them during the day and sure they wouldnt be so mean to refuse a drink all day.