Juice in school

[Fubar01]

My DD’s teacher is being very combative about her taking juice to school (primary) in a clear drinking bottle. He says it’s against school healthy eating standards, but if she brings it in a non clear bottle it’s fine! She brings a very healthy lunch and has perfect teeth. She is also very sporty . She point blank refuses to drink water. Yet others in her class bring crisps and chocolate and nothing is said .
AIBU to stick with the (new) clear bottle?
i dislike petty rules that have no bearing on her education ! Especially when the rules are not enforced for others !

He is trying to help by turning a blind eye. If she brings it in a clear bottle, the other children/parents will question why they too cannot drink juice instead of water. Just bring it in a non-clear bottle.

Well you could try teaching her to follow the rules. Or you could accept that the teacher is trying to accommodate your fussy daughters wants.

No the juice isn’t the issue. The issue is you OP. The teacher has recognised that you genuinely have a problem following the rules and offered a compromise to help you. Your child will drink water if you stop giving juice, but you haven’t done that. The teachers solution takes away the problem for his/her pupil. Excellent teacher, rather oddly demanding parent.

Then the op should raise it with the school. There will always be exceptions, kids with sensory issues, those who need to balance sugar levels, those who need flavoured drinks to take with medication. If it’s a rule that can be broken here, there, everywhere then it’s a bit of a pointless one isn’t it.

Well, no, the rule is clear - juice is not allowed. However, it is important to make allowances for kids with special needs, and OP is effectively claiming that her daughter has special needs in this instance

Yes, obviously. But literally no one is stopping your child to go without a drink, they’re asking you as an adult to ensure some discretion so that the children who will drink water don’t see an unhealthier alternative and demand that instead.

The issue here isn't the teacher or the school policy, the issue is your weak parental skills.

Your DD clearly does like water as she drinks juice which contains mostly water, she just probably finds it boring.

Presumably your can talk to DD and explain the importance of a healthy diet etc, and if she refuses to compromise on drinking water sometimes then you punish accordingly (no unhealthy snacks, limited screen time etc).

It's like parents that allow their kids to not eat vegetables. Rather than tackling the challenge with the DC they take the lazy option and accept defeat.

You're justifying that becuase she's sporty, has clean teeth etc it's acceptable for her to tell you what she will and won't drink. That's pretty lazy attitude that is opening yourself up to bigger issues in the long run.

No she’s not. She just wants her child to be hydrated during the day, which is important for learning and health. I say that as a parent of autistic kids, it’s not fair that the rules can be bent for my kids when it’s not something worth making a rule over to start with. Not that my kids schools have ever once made an issue over juice in bottles - both say clearly that no glass bottles or fizzy pop is allowed.

Juice is full of chemicals, you don’t need them, drink water - what’s the problem?

@Fubar01 So given 85% of people think YABU, are you still going to make this into an issue or will you take everyone’s advice and leave it alone?

The water where I live is vile, we have a filter plumbed in an it is still vile. I can well understand kids refusing to drink it.

Drinks bottles in primary classrooms leak and get spilt all the time when they are being filled up, transported, dropped etc-with squash or juice in, no matter how dilute, this causes a sticky mess.

I would far rather 29 children have water and one who absolutely won’t drink squash, has that, but in a coloured bottle, so you don’t get endless comments from children, ‘x has squash, my mum says we aren’t allowed squash’ and, ‘I want squash, I’m going to tell my mum so I can have it tomorrow.

If most of the spillages are water, and the very odd one is squash, that makes my life much easier.

I am so pleased I’m giving up teaching-this is just creating another unnecessary battle for classroom teachers.

Geez OP. The teacher is trying to do you a favour. The (perfectly sensible) rule is no juice. The teacher has a brain in his head and sees your sporty DD with a healthy diet and thinks that this isn't a hill to die on, and so bends the rule to allow her bring juice so long as she doesn't flaunt it.

Either use a different bottle or send water if you don't want to be "sneaky".

It's not a big deal.

DD refuses to drink water but it's ok because OP can put juice in a non clear bottle,so problem solved.

Plot Twist: DD refuses to drink from a non clear bottle.

Either you send the juice in the non-clear bottle or you don't and she's going to end up with it confiscated and not being able to drink in the day.

I just don't ever want to hear people say we live in a obesogenic environment any more. We don't. People just don't want to follow sensible rules made for the good of everyone.

Not taking in juice is a fairly common rule particularly for the classroom even at high school the classroom bottle needs water and they can buy other drinks at lunchtime.

the difference between juice in a bottle and crisps etc is the classroom as well (and some do have rules with crisps and chocolate)

really she shouldn’t be having juice in the classroom (spillages etc) and in the clear bottle shows others she is having it. However due to her not drinking the teacher is making a reasonable adjustment (and say that the teacher is making a reasonable adjustment due to her anxiety and not liking water rather than bending the rules) but it is easier for him if it isn’t so obvious (presumably so others don’t ask for the reasonable adjustment otherwise it them becomes untenable for anyone to have it) in a non clear bottle

Well, in which case, it's very clear that juice isn't allowed, and OP's daughter should drink plain water.

You talk about all the sugar our generation ate as if it were without consequences. However, it has had consequences - diabetes, heart disease, etc. I think it's great that we are trying to do better for out kids.

It's also not only about health. A classroom full of children spilling coloured sugary stuff everywhere- nightmare!

My DD would only drink squash - we go with sugar free and purposely put it in a purple bottle so no one can see. I think you’re unreasonable to put it in a clear bottle - the other kids will see.

I actually read that, more fool me. Apart from being a bit twee 'veg from the school's garden (or farm if its a 2000 pupil comp)' it's a bit out of date but my favorite was:
Fruit or veg juice - sigh if you must, but no more than 150ml
coffee and hot - chocolate fill your boots
Brilliant

Don't think it applies to what you can bring though - just what schools are allowed to provide/sell

This thread / poster makes me realise why there are so many people leaving teaching

This kind of pointless argument is what keeps me coming back to mumsnet

Why are you being so difficult? My 2.5 yr old similarly doesn’t like water and we give her juice. Even she can understand that other children have water and we don’t show off our juice. Just explain this to your 6 yr old. If she wants the juice she keeps quiet. You don’t explain what the rules on food are and in any case it’s not relevant. This is about drinks. Stop trying to force the juice in clear bottle, it would make their lives a nightmare and if you push it it sounds like you’ll have the rule enforced on you so daughter not drinking all day.

Op seriously give the teacher a break!

The school rule is 'no juice' you don't agree with that dd won't abide by it so instead of making a fuss teacher is trying to be helpful.

If you escalate it's far more likely they'll enforce no squash at all and is such a waste if everyone's time.

It's not teaching her to be sneaky just that rules can apply in different ways.

Seriously don't get a reputation as being that parent. Buy a new bottle.

we have the same rule in our primary, the issue with it being in a clear bottle is that the teacher can clearly see it isn't water so they have to say something to you about it as the school rules are no juice however, they're not going to go around and physically smell all of the kids water bottles so yes you can 'get away' with having juice in unclear bottles.