To create a fuss about my son not having access to water today in school

[Icantfeelmyface]

Hello .
My 8 year old son is a bit of a fidgeter, and has difficulty with keeping still . He has a replacement teacher for the past 6 weeks and he has struggled with various issues relating to her " shouting at him all the time " and him feeling picked on everyday no matter what he does .. won't get into the detail but meeting was held and she reassured me that this wasn't the case and she works on praise as well .. .. he told me after the meeting the teacher said in front of the class " why you telling your mum that I'm picking on you "?... Decided to leave things and move on... However today he comes home from school and tells me he had no water the whole day as the teacher said he was fidgeting too much with his bottle and told him to put it away from the table . All the other kids had their bottles on their table . He has said he had a few sips at lunch time and then nothing until after school club at 4 pm 😳
Am I being unreasonable to email the head teacher ?

Has he got fiddle toys to help him concentrate?

I'm a teacher. I have put a blanket ban on water bottles on the table as they are such a distraction. She removed his bottle as he was distracted by it. That doesn't mean that if he had asked her to go get a drink if he was thirsty that she would have said no. Did he tell her he was thirsty at any point?

Surely putting it away from the table just means on the floor or somewhere where he can still access it when he actually want to drink, but no to fiddle in-between. Presumably he also wasn't restricted to only a few sips at lunch, it was his choice not to drink more.

I think you will serve your son better in the long run to back the teacher and stop trying to undermine them. They seem to be struggling with your son’s behaviour, maybe you should start teaching him that actions have consequences.

I did a couple of times. But I got better 😀

Im still traumatised by the curdled milk.

Oh I had almos forgotten about the warm milk in the tiny bottles. And yes the occasional lumps in it.

So am I 🤢

No child should be allowed to munch and slurp during class.

We had one water fountain in the playground for about 300 children, apart from a glass of water with lunch, we didn't die.

You're focussing on the wrong thing.

The problem is the teacher reprimanding the child in front of the whole class for something he shared with his mum. "Why are you telling your mum on me" .

She's not wrong to remove the water bottle but she is wrong to shame a child in front of the class for speaking up at home about something he thinks is unfair.

Sounds like he is twisting things to you to make out that the teacher is a big ol meany and butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth.

It was a time to teach him consequences have actions and say, ‘Well little Johnny, if you were fussing with your water bottle and distracting the teacher then you will get it taken away. Next time, sit quietly and pay attention in class.’

I would not bat an eyelid undermining an adult bullying a child. I was made to stand on a table in front of the whole class because I couldn't sit still. My mother rightly so complained. I have also had reason to question certain teachers behaviours towards my children.

Yes... and also... why does anyone care how much water other people drink?

Give people access to it and they can simply drink it when they want it.

Why on earth is it a problem? Why would you argue that denying children water is better than just letting them have access to whatever they need? It's water ffs.

If you're a teacher and don't mind the cult of continuous water-sucking, respect.

If not - let me tell you that the fussing over water bottles, wanting to refill them at stupid times, knocking them over, losing them, muddling them with other children's, fiddling with them in class, making silly noises with them...the list goes on.

Yes, it's really hot - so all rules should be relaxed. But under normal weather conditions children don't need to to be drinking water ALL the time. And again - it's become yet ANOTHER job for teachers - checking children are drinking their water and having to answer to parents if they don't or won't.

Sorry, but he sounds like a pain.

My dS had his water bottle removed too as he kept fidgeting. He had access to it at certain times wheras other kids had access all the time. It didn't occur to me to be annoyed, when he learns to not fidget he can have the same as the others. Yes it's hard, almost impossible for him to not fidget and that's not necessarily his fault, but that's his cross to bear. If the solution is reduced access to a bottle for him in exchange for him not disrupting the rest of the class then that's fair. Incidentally I don't understand why kids need 24/7 water supply anyhow, drinking at allocated times has been the norm for humans forever until a few years ago.

Me too.
And, oddly, we didn’t have snacks available at any time. It was breakfast, dinner, tea and perhaps an apple if you were hungry in between but generally you were told to wait until your next meal.

And in winter it froze so the foil caps popped off…..

She might not have said it at all. At the age of 8 my brother could tell some amazing lies. After he told my dad he was late in as my maternal grandmother had died( divorced parents) my dad sent a condolences card to my mum. She didn't know anything about it so obviously very stressed. Neither her nor granny were in the phone at the time so she had to go to the phone box and call the phone box in granny's village and ask whoever answered to go knock on her door and ask her to ring her in the ( phone box,) number. Or if no answer go call back

Granny was alive and well but dad never believed a word my brother said with double checking with someone after that

Do kids now need immediate access to water at all times? Must be a new thing. 🤷‍♀️

Goodness, your poor mum!

What a shock for your poor mother and and grandmother. As you can gather, l think the child in the op knows exactly what he has been doing and why he is in trouble for it and is trying to wriggle his way out of it - successfully as far as his mother is concerned. I remember reading words from a wise primary school teacher, who told the parents that she would not believe everything she was told by the children as long as they did not believe everything their children told them about the teacher. In the case of a rather naughty boy like the one in the op, this is especially important.

Tell me about it. Luckily Granny wasn't told she was meant to be dead. My dad was not best pleased either

*about their parents, l should say.