To make my 6 year old buy his own water bottle?

[throweay]

He is 7 in October, mature for his age.

He has lost seven (!) school jumpers this academic year. His name is in all of them, but they just go missing. Never in the lost property. He will just leave things on the floor, on benches etc.

Same with water bottles, with it being hot he obviously needs one in school every day. He has lost three since Monday last week.

Last week I bought him a new school jumper (was the only one we had, as the rest are all lost) and a water bottle. Surprise surprise, he has lost them.

I have very gently explained the importance of looking after our things, and how such things cost money. Tried to come up with strategies on how he can better look after things.

I ask him to look for them when he’s next in school, he never does.

Would I BU to get him to pay for a new water bottle with his pocket money? He gets a £1 a week and only has £7 in his account.

I feel it may be harsh, but I have tried every other way!

Can you be certain that these items are not being taken off him as part of bullying? He might have been intimidated into keeping quiet about it.

£1.79 for 12 in Aldi so less than £1 a week.

Where does the lost property go in the school?

Is there somewhere central you can check yourself at drop off or pick up times? Ask the office.

Our school has a massive garden box thing that all lost property goes in to and it's in the school yard by the bike shed, parents are in it every day checking.

Also, that's a lot of items for a short amount of time so I would also have a quick chat with the teacher just to make sure another kid isn't hiding his stuff.

Also https://www.stikins.co.uk/ do great labels that stay on

Ok but for a school year that’s around £30 in bottled water which in the grand scheme of things isn’t a great amount or we could buy a reusable bottle for less than £5 and not loose it.
It’s not even just about the money for a bottle kids need to learn to be responsible for belongings

Give him a bag and tell him to keep his items in it when he’s not using them at school

This. Surely most other parents would return named items

If it's happening all the time I'd give him a disposable water bottle until he can manage it better. My DS loses things constantly, usually stationery and ties (he's 14, and has ASC). I buy a 50 pack of pens as he loses it pretty much daily. Ties are annoying, at £10 a go - school started to give him lost property ones that had no names on, out of sympathy

Do you go into the school when you pick him up and search for the missing items? That's what I used to do. I've worked in schools, children often don't bother to look for anything or if they do, they aren't very good at searching. Often when they do want to look for something, the teacher will tell them they can do it later and then forget. They won't be allowed to wander about the school looking at age 6.
I probably wouldn't insist he buys his own because he might decide not to bother and you'd have to take his money away. I probably would say that he can't have something else he wants because the money needs to be spent on a new water bottle instead. It might make him more conscientious.

Perhaps he'll be doing the same to you when you are old and in need of care

When you collect him from school and he's not got his jumper and bottle why don't you go straight into the classroom and look for it? What do the teachers say?

This 💯

I would buy these kind of bottles for him to take in instead.

Rather than buying new jumpers, can you buy them secondhand from the school office? Ours charge £1. This school year i have only paid £4 for his uniform. 2 tshirts and 2 jumpers (would normally be £40 new). They are always super good condition and it doesnt matter if he loses them.

This would be my worry hence alerting the teacher.
He could have been told that if he told anyone that they would harm you or him.
I certainly wouldn’t reprimand him til I spoke with the teacher.

This - is another (thief) 'child' taking them? maybe, gently ask him? Is he being bullied in some way? Even if he, at that age, doesn't realise it? My son, many years ago, 'lost' a lovely new school jumper (with name sewn in) - it was found in another child's backpack - the school were absolutely awful, 'oh a misunderstanding' etc' - yes, because the female thief had the same name - nope - & she admitted taking it - no punishment or apology - it was just a nicer jumper than she had...... that was when my faith in (some) schools doing the right thing was sadly lost. The teacher even said 'at least he has another one' - yes, that I, as a single working parent' at the time had also bought.

I think the odds of 7 jumpers, with your child's name on them, disappearing and not a single one making it into lost property are slim-to-none. Either he is deliberately losing them or someone is taking them - probably the latter.

This x1000

Why are you passively letting this happen??

Have you spoke to his Teacher or someone at the School about it? Surely if he's leaving things lying around they'll be found & handed in so should be in lost property. Could anyone be taking things from him? That's an awful lot of uniform & bottles to be replacing so frequently.

He’s only six. There is SO much going on at school it is easy to get distracted and set something down and forget about it. I would be more concerned that it’s not coming back to you despite being labelled properly. Wtf is going on with their lost property?

I often ask my DS if he has his water bottle as soon as he comes out the door at pick up, and he usually has to run in for it.

Did you speak with his teacher @throweay ?

He may be only six, but the other children could easily persuade him to part with his water bottle, especially if it is better than theirs.

Can't you reuse a 'sport' Evian water, sterilise it in Milton and reuse it?

You only need try it once or twice, and if he comes back with it each time, you know someone nicked it.