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??

I think the OP has got of very lightly here. Only acknowledging those who agree and blatantly ignoring awkward questions from others is as crap as her attitude towards school rules.

I used to teach in Germany - the kids could wear what they wanted (including rollerskates - I never quite worked out how the kid got up to the second floor unscathed!), buy Coca-Cola and Mezzo mix from the vending machines throughout the school, the baker came in at morning break to sell them cakes, pretzels etc and once they turned 16 they had their own section of the playground to smoke in if they wanted

Godwin's Law anyone?

Just let them drink either water or squash or whatever (their own, or from outside water fountains which should always be working) at break and lunchtime. That is enough. Drinking something is better than drinking nothing.
None of this seems to matter at secondary by the way. It's bacon rolls at break and nobody cares what they drink, or pokes their noses into lunchboxes - thank goodness.

SORRY everyone for not coming back to discussion before now, but worked a twilight shift last night and been ill in bed (in between school runs ) with a masssive , migraine all day slept for 4 hrs and still had migraine kept dosing myself so i could recover to work tonight (just finished at midnight).I will try and answer any querie tomorrow lunchtime and later in evening as on days off!
Still bottles getting searched and sniffed confiscated So lots of kids and parents not converted yet!! (local big 4 supermarkets have said big increases in still flavoured water week before schools going back!!) and what was once a happy atmosphere in school is rapidly changing - some teachers off record saying they would rather have a happy child than one miserable because of water only issue. ds has not had it confiscated, I verbly said did not have permission to do so.
You know its not the promoting water issue that i object to, but how it is delivered. I should have not been honest with head regarding dilute squash and should have used flavoured water like a lot of parents- Isn't that what water with a dash of squash is ??????? All our family are water drinkers except ds. who is getting there! in his own time. So those judgemental people out there think again.{angry}. Ds does have problems with food and drink,cannot get to eat anything in his sandwiches except cheese, cheese spread or JAM (Yes Jam once a week)and i won't go into mealtimes but those of you with similar children ,with issues you know what i mean!So having extra anxiety at school is not helping.Head is adamant water only all children WILL have water only.What does that statement remind you of?Issues rearding ds ignored....

Sorry DV, I still don't get it.

As far as I can see there is no good reason for your DS not drinking water at school, other than your objection to the school rules relating to what children can drink in school hours and the fact that he doesn't like it.

Have you tried sending him with water? I would bet my bottom dollar, he'd just drink it without a fuss when he sees all the other kids doing it.

IMO you are projecting your issues with the school and they way they are enforcing rules onto your son and making his reluctance to drink water at school much worse than it should be.

Sometimes rules suck. But they are in place for the greater good. IMO you are not sending a good message to your son at such a young age that rules can be bent depending on personal preference.

Probably not what you want to hear, but before you fly off the handle about judgemental posters, maybe you should really consider if this battle is worth fighting. It's just water after all.

"(local big 4 supermarkets have said big increases in still flavoured water week before schools going back!!)"

you polled 4 supermarkets in your area?

i'd go back to bed for a lie down, if i were you.

Still don't get why you can't simply explain your ds's issues (if genuine) to the head without making this whole democratic rights fuss.

Sorry but since children started bringing water into the classrooms a few years ago common sense seems to have been completely abandoned with regard to all aspects of this issue! Of course drinks at break and lunchtime are enough, then there isn't the problem of them spilling on books at all.
Some rules are daft but you have to add your voice to others to work on the system as a whole (even become a governor and try to influence people from the inside) if you don't like something. I'm afraid by our passivity we get what we deserve, and as I said before a well-meaning idea has just become another stick to beat parents and children with.

This is fairly standard within schools - I can't think of any schools around us that allow anything but water.

It's a rule and - if you're not happy with it - don't bother with a drink at all. It's only a few hours between breakfast and lunch and then the end of the school day.

And - when we were little - we would never have taken drinks in at all.

TBH you are coming across as a petulant child on here. It is little wonder that your DS is mirroring this behaviour by being a fussy eater.

Fresh water and water from a school water bottle are totally different
I find water that has been sitting on the side for hours getting warm and plastic-tasting absolutely horrible;-I wouldn't drink it.It you install a water cooler there are strict rules about where you site it (ie out of sunlight) and how long the piping for it can be)so not too much water standing in the pipes growing bacteria.
As well as the risk of constipation dehydration increases the risk of UTIs.My DD2 suffers fro UTIs which can quickly become kidney infections if not careful.Kidney infections are a very serious illness which can result in long term kidney damage and even death
How do you insist a 5 yo drinks lots of water if you're not there?You have to make sure it is something she likes to drink eg dilute squash.

I am sorry OP but only having cheese, jam or cheese spread in sandwiches does not equate with having 'food issues'- sounds like you have a normal child- my dd won't eat cheese in her sandwiches- she doesn't like it- she is not having "issues" this is normal!

Sounds like the rules under the previous head were lax, most other schools have a water only policy and the kids at yours sound like they have been getting away with flavoured drinks for too long and are just causing a fuss.

I have never heard it mentioned at my dds school so they all seem to cope fine with water- and they can't be sneaking squash in because staff fill up the childrens bottles every morning from the water fountain.

OP, whilst you have been surveying supermarkets from your sick bed have you had a chance to research the damage sweeteners in squash can do to a child? In fact your migraines may well be sweetener induced. Sugar is MUCH better for human beings than any sweetener. If you continue to fight this futile and ridiculous battle give your child fruit juice not concentrated chemical.

Brassband, I still don't see why in your case you couldn't simply send in a note, backed up with a letter from your GP, explaining that your dd has frequent UTIs and therefore needs to drink X at regular intervals. That is no reason for changing the rules for the 20 odd children who are not in danger of kidney infections, either because they drink water or because their bodies can cope with waiting a few hours for a drink. Being at risk of kidney infections if you do not have constant access to water can hardly apply to the majority of children, seeing that most of them managed before water was allowed in the classroom. But any school should be able to make allowances for children with special health problems.

This thing about children having to have drinks available at all times seems to have come in about the same time as adults permanantly carrying round a bottle of water.

It's much preferable to all sit down together and have a drink (at sociable times) than be continuinally sipping away.

Half the time, we forget to send our dd in with her bottle because she hardly ever drinks from it. I think everyone should stop obsessing about food and drinks; we're going to bring up a generation of fastidious nervous types.

(Also, it can't be good for teeth to be continally sipping away. I agree that babies need many feeds, but a four/five year old can last a bit longer)

This is mad.

I think perhaps a lot of mners are lucky enough to not know what it's like to have a child who won't eat. It's not as simple as 'oh give it to him, he'll drink it rather than be thirsty' - if this worked, you would reduce to threads on picky eaters to nil.

The OP has said she has other children without eating issues. She says her son has a limited diet and anxiety issues. Why are you all being so unkind? Why are you all suggesting she leave her son without a drink because - and this is something that's hard to grasp unless you experience it - some children WILL go without food/water, and suffer extreme hunger or thirst, rather than touch something they can't stand.

It's not lax parenting. It's not a spoilt child. It's not making mad demands about the precise dilution of squash allowed ffs.

OP I think you need a word with the teacher/HT and explain your ds's issues and how, as you've said several times on this thread and been ignored, it's being worked on and you're moving towards him drinking plain water.

Now can you all please go to LtEveDallas's post of Thurs 16th at 948am.

Agree entirely Mrs T.

My DS would go without rather than ingest any of the substances on his acceptable food/drink groups list.

People don't understand it so they JUDGE, AG.

We are not all judging: some of us are just trying to say, if your child is a special case, why not ask to have them treated as a special case? Rather than getting on your high horses about human rights?

I did not ask for the whole junior school policy about visits to the toilet to be revised for every single child or whaffle about democratic rights, just because my dd was incontinent: I wrote a pleasant note explaining the situation and asking for her to be given a toilet pass. Sorted.

When I found ordinary school shoes were not good for ds' ankles, I did not insist that the school abolish school uniform: I sent in a note asking for special consideration. He now wears trainers. If the other children complain, the teacher will have to explain why he is different.

I don't think the pope would be very happy about this.

Praise be.

Cory I told the teacher DD would have a drink in an opaque bottle so it wouldn't cause problems with the others.i think most schools would rather discretely bend the rules for one child ,than have to take responsibility for forcing an unwilling child to drink water

cory, sometimes talking to the school just doesn't work (and I know you know this, wrt other areas of need)

my dd has drinking issues (as well as other food issues) - thankfully a lot are now resolved, although she still doesn't drink enuogh.

at her worst, she was totally fluid-phobic - any wayer, in taps, puddles, the rain, baths - you name it, it was a problem.

her pre-school knew this, and yet that still didn't stop them putting a cup of water out for her, as part of their healthy eating initiative at lunchtimes.

the fall out was huge.

we fought, and won that battle. but her juice was kept away form her, and she had to ask for it (she wwas all but mute at school at this point), so that didn't work.

we changed schools, to a specialist pre-school. this one, despite freely admitting they couldn't cater for her special diet adequately, would not let us send in food for her to eat, as well as insisting on working on her water phobia, meaning again she was expected to drink water at lunch (when challenged on this - "but it's not fair on the other children, they want some too")

sometimes, you can talk until you are blue in the face, but it just doesn't get through, because the person you are talking to just thinks you are making a fuss, over-exaggerating, and that "if a child is thirsty they will drink"

lol hullygully

I'm not singling anyone out. I do think the policy is a bit crap - I don't think it's up to school to police lunchboxes to that degree - what next, brown bread only? And some people do sound judgy to me. And as I said, I think devonvalley should have a word with the teacher/HT about her ds.

I think devonvalley was posting to gather points of view on the issue of schools confiscating drinks from children, and has come under some criticism of her parenting. Which I think is unfair.

Agree with Cory on this one. DD has a particularly volatile form of T1 diabetes so had to have sweets on hand in the classroom (school office 2 minutes walk away was too far to be safe).

We found the key was to write a polite letter to the HT every year explaining exactly why this was necessary. We didn?t ask permission, we just said this was what was going to happen. Now she is older we have done the same with regard to a mobile phone ? just wrote to the school (which has a ?no mobile phones? policy) saying she would have a mobile phone with her, and this was why.

devonvalley, I wouldn?t get too worked up about the human rights side of things as that is an argument you are unlikely, ultimately, to win. Just write to the HT explaining that DS won?t drink plain water at the moment (though you are working on it), that you believe it is important that he drinks something during the day other than at lunchtimes and that therefore you will be sending him in with dilute squash unless you hear to the contrary and see what happens.