Is checking contents of childrens bottles and confiscating them if not water only illegal?

[devonvalley]

New head has instructed staff to do above!!
They get returned 2 hrs later a t lunch, so my son who is working towards water only,has a drink at 8am then not til 1pm ! the idea behind preventing dehydration is to increase a childs fluid intake to enhance concentration levels in school and a dash of good squash or flavoured water which a lot of parents would /are using will be confiscated !!(hs sugar free additive free, natural flavouring dash of squash to take rawness off for time being) all rest of family drink water, but son has food issues,and refuses to drink water on its own.we keep trying,others did convert a t there own pace!(children should be treated as individuals at school are they not??) If it was coke i could understand!
We have to give written consent to many things in school time, this needs our permission does it not?checking, confiscating. We fought two wars in this country to deny dictorial leadership??

God could you imagine the mess with 30 (open) cups of water.........

DS1's junior school specify a sports type bottle of basically anything except fizzy drinks.

PadMeHum,

"I can't believe (barring disability and special needs) that any child would go thirsty rather than drink water. It flies in the face of basic human/animal instinct"

I did exactly the same when DD started pre-school. We lived overseas, but the school was British. They only allowed water, so to get her used to it I stopped buying juice etc.

3 days later she was in hospital having drank nothing, not a fucking thing, and I got one hell of a bollocking from the doctor - to the point that he commented on the "stupid English" that would rather see their child dehydrate than drink juice.

The Cypriot schools allow any liquid, less fizzy.

Juice isn't poison and water isnt a magical potion.

Sorry I have skimmed the thread and not read all the comments.

I don't see a problem with weak squash for a child who won't drink water. I have a problem with strong squash and cartons of crappy Um Bongo and suchlike (can you still get um bongo?!) because if it's full of sugar/additives it can send some children crazy, and that's not fair for a teacher to deal with.

There's a lot of criticism of the OP - is she a totally useless parent because she has been unable to FORCE her child to drink water? Or is she working slowing and carefully toward that, bearing in mind he has some anxiety issues? I think the latter. Some of the comments seem very harsh.

And I understand schools banning crisps, cake, sweets, chcoolate ect but generally, I think it's the school's job to say 'we encourage parents to provide these sorts of packed lunch' and then leave it up to the parents. Saying water ONLY is too dictatorial - the fact is lots of children won't drink just water, but will drink weak juice.

And no, a child won't shrivel up like a raisin without a drink from 8am to 1pm, but they might feel very thirsty and uncomfortable - how about a little kindness. We're talking about children here - it's not like banning beer at lunchtime if you're working.

In ye olde days before there was squash, were there children who didn't like water? Goodness knows how they stayed alive without something fruity in their water. When I went to school, there wasn't the option of lunchboxes: you had school dinners or you went home for dinner. And drinks at school consisted of water at lunch and at the water fountain, and 1/3 pt milk at morning break. Everyone drank the water, most drank the milk.

When you think of the children in water-deprived countries who are dying every day for a clean bottle of water, it's unpleasant to think that such a fuss can be kicked up about needing dilute squash in a day-time drink.

yes I'm sure there were. Although cordial was invented in the mid 1800's - and I'm pretty sure they'd have worked out how to get juice out of various fruits (and vegetables - tomato juice anyone ) long before that

In the middle ages water was unclean so ale, mead and cider were the most common drinks for the poor

DS1 refused water almost from birth - and he was breasfed

He also refused to drink cows milk until he was about 6yrs old as well (thuogh thankfully would have it on cereal)

and in the middle ages it was recommended that children under 5 didn't drink wine as it would curdle the milk they were drinking

Um, we're not in Ye Olde Days. But I think for then it was a case of what you don't know you won't miss. And I think if we compared our problems as parents to life in the third world, mn would be a much quieter place.

Of course I'm now very embarrassed as I didn't know that about wine curdling milk and now I must cut it out of my children's diet altogether. The milk, I mean, they can still have their wine.

well exactly in Ye Olde Days they didn't know they were missing out on the joys of plain water

I don't think it would be a quieter place - believe me parent in the 3rd world moan just about as much about stuff as we do - just different stuff (well some of it exactly the same actually)

MaMOTTaT,

DD is the same. Was EBF for 6 mths, never had water.

Tried introducing water alongside food when weaning - she never drank it, but I didn't worry because she was still getting her liquids from me.

At 12 months introduced cows milk and stopped BF. She wouldnt touch it and still wouldnt have water.

Introduced formula - would have a little, but not interested. Still no water. Posted on here in a panic (!), lots of replies, stopped worrying, stopped the formula.

18 months or so would have a little cows milk, happily had it on cereals. Smoothies recommended by Dr to get extra calcium in her.

Smoothies were a hit! Could get through a Ltr a day (if I let her). Stopped worrying.

As she got older the smoothies got more diluted, she now happily drinks them diluted half and half with water. Will drink apple juice by the gallon, same with Cranberry. Hates Orange, hates anything fizzy, says FruitShoots taste like 'medicine'!

I've been trying for 5 yrs now to get her to drink plain water. Bought a water machine in Cyprus to make it more 'fun'. No change.

Doesnt get a choice now we are back in UK - Takes water to school and goes without a drink from 9am to 3pm. Teachers have tried, offered 'house points' even, but she doesnt care!

I'm not 'kicking up a fuss' - but why are people on here so certain that ALL children will drink water?

Some people think that because their child does something, as do all the children of their aquaintance, ALL children the world over are like that, LtEveDallas.

"God could you imagine the mess with 30 (open) cups of water........."

no I can't.

child asks permission for a drink. he gets up, pours the water, drinks it, puts down an empty cup.

I can see 30 empty, used cups.

Well Dad may be getting on but not quite Middle Ages however he was in a particularly poor family (16 kids, disabled mother, alcoholic father) and from about 2 he had tea with meals (meals being bread, maybe jam, salmon or hedgehog if they could catch it). At about eight cider was introduced.

Several of his siblings died from cirrhosis.

Good old days?

"child asks permission for a drink. he gets up, pours the water, drinks it, puts down an empty cup."

Rofl! That's so funny. And which class do you imagine could manage to do this, 30 times, with no spillage? Have just done an experiment with Y5 where they had to pour a small amount of water into soil using a jug - they were very careful, but still spilt a fair amount.

wow - I only know a few children who would finish an entire cup of drink in one go - most I know tend to "sip" them.......

apart from DS2 who guzzles entire massive tumblers of drink in one go

Drink of squash at just before school starts (8.55 in most cases) As much squash as you like with lunch (12ish in most schools) and meet them at the gates with squash (3.15ish) ???? How will they be so dehydrated???

Children can go for 3 hours without a drink and not be dehydrated.

Where was the constipation epidemic before this water bottle policy???

i agree feenie. I would expect a lot of spillage at first but we are the adults who can think laterally work out the kinks to make them more able at a basic motor skill.

there are also wider social skills to learn from a simple scenario like this

growing up in the tropics we regularly guzzled entire glasses, maybe two of water at a time. I knew no one who sipped cold drinks as a matter of course.

With the best will in the world, foxytocin, there would always be mess, and that's not good in a classroom permanently filled with open schoolbooks, etc.

The best solution I've seen are the water fountains we have in classrooms in our school.

We have water coolers that filter ordinary tap water and disposable cups

back in the tropics we (and I mean at about age 5 or 6) all had plastic cups which we brought from home, a large plastic bucket with a lid and a dipper.

At that age we learned to manage to drink water from the communal bucket without making a mess.

but I agree. a fountain shared between say 4 class rooms and paper cups would be fine for most children.

www.v2mal.com/v2mal/product/535 this type of thing would be better than a jug

"I don't see a problem with weak squash for a child who won't drink water. I have a problem with strong squash and cartons of crappy Um Bongo and suchlike (can you still get um bongo?!) because if it's full of sugar/additives it can send some children crazy, and that's not fair for a teacher to deal with."

And would you like to be the teacher who had to decide exactly what strength solution qualified as weak squash (yes, Johnnie's, yours is ok, but Lydia's is not, and ooohh, Aiden's is just in between...). And to have to go through this every day. And have irate parents ringing in to tell her that little Wiliam's solution was not any stronger than Oscar's and who does she think she is? And every single parent (and teacher) having a different opinion on what qualifies as weak squash.

Agree water is the best solution, whether it provided in fountains, bottles or a jug in the classroom really has to be up to individual schools.

However, cannot agree that squash etc is a good idea outside of lunchtimes.

Drinking water is equaliser and whilst may take some getting used to. A break from sugary drinks can only be a good thing, if children are thirsty they will understand that they have water.

It has to be so much cheaper too!

I like the look of that for a classroom and cheaper than a cooler with much less maintenance involved.

I particularly like the description below:

"Drinks barrel with carrying handle, tap and wide screw top. Great for feed stations or home brewing."

D'you think this might help cory?
It could double up for both squash assessment and wee assessment.
Squash is vile.

graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/08/07/magazine/2008_fall_dehydration_test.pdf