To think it's primary school teacher's responsibility to ensure children drink during the day?

[LondonGrimmer]

Happy to be told otherwise. Child is in year 3. Frequently comes out pale, lethargic and today with stomach cramps. Transpires his full water bottle was still in his backpack so hadn't drank all day again (8.45 - 3.15) and he doesn't have a drink at lunch time either. He's an introvert who struggles with anxiety at times if that makes any difference.

Yes I have tried to explain to him the importance of staying hydrated and tell him he should try really hard to remember. I emailed the teacher last year and she said she'll try and remember to remind him (there are 23 kids in the class and one TA so I know they have their hands full).

Just frustrated and not sure if I'm being unreasonable?

YABU - your child is 7 or 8 and fully responsible for taking his water bottle out each day and remembering to drink.

YANBU - the teacher/TA should be helping more.

Based on you title alone with no other detail...YABU. Teachers are not responsible for making sure every single child in the class drinks - I would expect whole class reminders during a heatwave etc. but generally no.

If there is a specific reason the child needs reminding (as here) YANBU - however, you should also take it upon yourself to let the teacher know this is something your child is still having trouble with.

I would also see if there is anything you or your child can do to help - e.g the suggestion of sending the bottle in in his hand is a good one. Would a reward for drinking water help? Or can you work with him to try and work out when would be a good time for him to have a drink and try and do this? Setting an alarm on his watch (if digital) for the end of break might help him to drink as he goes in?

I know when I changed jobs from a desk job (where I always had a cup of water on the go) to a more active job, I was getting headaches. I soon realised it was because I wasn't drinking enough- if adults can do that of course children will forget to drink.

Your son sounds like my daughter at his age. I had to constantly remind her to drink or use the toilet. It turned out she's autistic and has problems with her processing. I managed to get the teachers and her childminder on side with me to prompt her before we got her diagnosis in. It helped a lot but she would drink more if I disguised her water by putting still, flavoured water into her own water bottle (they're only allowed plain water or plain milk).

She's now in year 6 and happily takes plain water to school which she tops up during the day.

Maybe this could be an option?

Another suggestion is buying him a digital watch with an inbuilt alarm that you can set for a few times during the day to take a drink. This may or may not work, if he is averse to certain sounds or the element of surprise.

My children's teacher used to remind the class as a whole but they used to be allowed to drink water in class, bottles kept on a table in the classroom.

YABU. Of course its not teachers responsibility to make sure all the kids drink. I cant believe you emailed the teacher to remind him to drink.

If your that worries get a watch that buzzes or something.

@steff13 no it'll be jugs of tap water and stacks of cups.

I'm also really surprised he is so adversely affected by not drinking water.

This. If you give him a big drink before he goes in and plenty after school, he really shouldnt be getting lethargic/stomach cramps in 6 hours! Theres water in food. Can you put plenty of fruit, salad & yoghurt in his lunch, food with a high water content?

Not rtft but a lot of kids don't drink much at school . Can you try these tops to encourage drinking more:-
Bottled water often tastes stale quickly - if you add a bit of squash or freeze it to keep it fresher it might be nicer to drink
Two small drink bottles might be less daunting than one big bottle
Our markers on the bottle eg/ drink this much at break - you can buy them ready marked but keep it simple with a few markers for different times
It's better to sit and have a 'proper' drink rather than sipping throughout the day - make sure he has a full drink before and after school as well

I'm not talking about constant reminders but like others say just a quick "don't forget to drink" once a day at break time or something can't be too difficult?

How do you know she doesn't?

I don't think it takes much effort for teachers to remind children to have a drink at break etc. Obviously they can't monitor water intake but the person saying it would take half an hour .......come on ...really?

@HappyDays40

I don't think it takes much effort for teachers to remind children to have a drink at break etc. Obviously they can't monitor water intake but the person saying it would take half an hour .......come on ...really?

There's no confirmation yet that the teacher never reminds the child to drink. Just because he isn't drinking, doesn't mean nothing is said. They can't force him to drink.

Child being bullied? Not an academic issue.
Child wheezy due to asthma but not having an actual attack? Won’t kill then, just ignore it.
Child has wet themselves? Not a teacher’s concern, wet trousers never hurt anyone.

See how ridiculous it is when you dismiss anything that doesn’t fall under “teaching”?!

Those examples all fall under 'teaching'- it's Maslow's hierarchy of needs. You can't learn if basic needs aren't being met, and none of the above can be sorted out without adult assistance (well, the wet trousers can in year 3). That said, you can't hold a teacher at key stage 2 responsible for making sure every child drinks- there's a point at which basic bodily functions have to be passed on to the child. They'll find it hard to learn with an itchy bum too, but we don't hold teachers responsible for making sure they've wiped after the toilet once they're fully toilet trained.

I would say YABU. I don't get the water bottle thing, it just wasn't a thing when I was at school. You drank water from the bathroom taps between classes and at break. I can't imagine being reminded by a teacher to drink water in Y3 Yes, I know times have changed, but is it for the better when we're babying kids so much.

Teachers may remind children to have a drink at break time but it's not the teachers' responsibility.
At lunchtime, all children will be given a cup filled with water. Whether they drink it or not is entirely up to the child.

It's up to the child to ask for a drink. Occasionally a teacher may be alerted to a UTI and the child should be encouraged.

Unless it's 35 degrees outside, children generally don't bother much with drinks inside the class.

@madisonbridges

I also personally hate the "we survived" rhetoric. I want my children to thrive, not survive thanks.

Blimey, do you think that in the 60s and 70s we just hung on by a thread til our drink at lunch or something? That's so daft but it makes me realise why kids have so many mental health worries these days. They get it from parents, scared a child won't thrive if they don't have a sip of water every half hour.

Barely scraped through it @madisonbridges. Like lickle dehydrated pickles, hanging on with our bare fingernails we were. Plus it was worse after you'd had coal for breakfast, you got ever so thirsty then, but there was never time to dig the well before lunch...

C'mon OP. I get it would be better if your DC had a drink, but we did genuinely all do fine on a sip of water at lunch if we remembered.

I'm sorry, I can understand you being worried about your child, but it's not a primary school teacher's job to ensure each child in their class of possibly 30 kids or more drinks a bottle of water each day. (I would think a nursery teacher should encourage kids to drink, but I was firmly told by my kid's nursery when I raised it that it was up to the kids to go and pour their own water if they wanted some!) You could make sure your child has a glass of milk or water with breakfast and then the same after school and then with dinner. Fruit and veg also have a high water content and will count towards their liquid intake for the day.

I don't mean to minimise, but in the 70s and 80s, no kids took water bottles to school and we didn't collapse from lack of liquid. There were bubblers in the school playground and if you were thirst at playground you had a quick drink and that was that.

It is also possible the teacher was being polite by saying she was "try to remind" your child to drink more...

When did taking a water bottle to school become a thing? You had your drink at lunchtime, not at any other time. Certainly not in my day, and I don’t think in my DC’s day either - they are now in their early 20s.

@Snowiscold there was a massive push to get everyone including children drinking loads of water around 20 years ago but more recent advice is that it's not really necessary as we get most of the fluid intake we need from food if we're eating a balanced diet. I guess schools haven't caught up with the most recent thinking yet.

"I guess schools haven't caught up with the most recent thinking yet."

Schools? Think you're pointing the finger in the wrong direction there.

The children in my class (Yr 4) certainly don't need reminding to drink water. They're forever glugging from their bottles; surely the OP's son must be seeing people around him drinking?

This "back in my day" thing is irrelevant.

Back in my day there were no school lunches and barely anyone had packed lunches, and even then it would be a croissant or some type of cakey thing.

Does that mean that you'd be ok with no snack or lunch for kids too?

I’m a primary school teacher in year 1 and I tend to remind my class generally as a whole after break/lunch/during lesson change overs. Not that many of them listen

That being said, if a parent raised this with me I’d try and do what I could to help in terms of gentle reminders. I’d feel awful if one of the children in my class were sitting feeling poorly all day

@Snowiscold

When did taking a water bottle to school become a thing? You had your drink at lunchtime, not at any other time. Certainly not in my day, and I don’t think in my DC’s day either - they are now in their early 20s.

Well thank heavens times have changed. Water is a pretty basic human right.

I would say YABU. I don't get the water bottle thing, it just wasn't a thing when I was at school. You drank water from the bathroom taps between classes and at break.

I remember this. I remember being unbearably thirsty and keeping my full cup of water/juice at dinner until the very end of the meal to try and and assuage thirst best I could over the afternoon. We're talking about letting children drink water, not fanning them with feathers as they lounge on a chaise lounge having their nails filed. Lots of kids were thirsty at school when water bottles were (inexplicably) banned.

Are you sure it’s not mainly the anxiety itself that’s causing these symptoms?

I am also - just out of interest - wondering when it became a thing to have a water bottle in school. We just had water fountains and that was the 2000s. (I never drank from them though because I was afraid they were poisoned and I am aware retrospectively that that makes no sense, but that’s anxious children for you.)

Can you get him to take the bottle out of the bag before he goes into school? If he's holding it separately when he goes in, then hopefully he will remember to take it into the classroom, and that's the first hurdle sorted.

Another teacher here, yr 4. I have 2 children in my class of 30 whom I have agreed to try to remind about drinking. One who has a genuine medical issue, and one who has a parent who is a bit hyper sensitive. I remember about 50% of the time. When I remind them, both look a bit 🤨 and mildly embarrased, and neither ever drinks when I remind them, they just say “Yes, I have had plenty” (though maybe they then drink when I’m not looking). So whilst I agree that it can be part of a teacher’s remit, I’m not sure it’s actually helpful at all.

The cups being dirty is….sorry just silly. As if cups in school are dirty! And if somehow they are, fgs raise it with the school!

The description of how your son is having not had a drink…yeah that’s not medically normal or right.