@ElphabaTheGreen
We go out, and suddenly he’s begging for my water bottle. No, I do not let him have it, because, from experience, he will drink it down to the dregs, my medication alarm will go off, and I’ll have nothing to take my pills with. No, I will not carry a bigger, heavier water bottle to accommodate him, when he hasn’t planned ahead knowing we were going out and not drunk all morning. I made him wait for a drink until we got home
Do you not wonder why he drinks it to the dregs? Could he be thirsty??
So you don't buy him a drink; you "make" him wait, which means you did have a way of getting him some fluid and don't, presumably to teach him... something. So indeed he has had barely any fluid by your own account, because you say yourself he hadn't drunk all morning and you don't let him drink when you're out. At eight years old, that's not all on him!
I would rarely need to spend money on a drink because I always carry water and my child can drink from it as often as she wants. It's not some massive heavy thing that I can't carry in my bag. If you're carrying one anyway for your medicine I truly can't see why you can't take a slightly larger one. Or just make him carry one in his own bag if that really is too much for you. He's eight and you're the parent.
yes, I think ‘hydrate’ as a noun is a wanky term.
Er, well, it's both a noun and a verb. The noun is a type of chemical compound, the verb means to absorb water. I think you meant you dislike it as a verb, but either way, it's a real word with a pretty normal meaning, and the fact that you think it's "wanky" is indeed the exact point I was making: that it shows you don't appreciate the importance of keeping fluid levels up. And you don't.
Which is your choice, for you. But the example you set affects your child and you're setting him up for dehydration and lack of understanding about thirst and fluids. I mean heck, you actually have water with you, but he can't have it!
Look, I know I've pissed you off and this is an Internet discussion, so you're not going to want to say anything that you think I'll like hearing. So never mind that. But please, please, I beg you, start hydrating your child properly. There is loads of advice online on how to encourage reluctant drinkers (again, examples matter: that's why he does actually want to drink when he sees you do it, and anyway there's nothing wrong with drinking on habit if it keeps you hydrated properly), what to do if they don't like water and so on. You don't need to tell me you're doing it if you think it'll make me feel like I've "won" or something. Just get your child to drink properly and stop raising him to think it isn't important or that at eight years old, he should know and be solely responsible for all his needs and "plan ahead" himself. He needs you to do it with him. Please do it.