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 your child should have to have water in his bottle- You can't have one rule for one and another rule for another.

As for teachers following same rule as children- that is stupid- children learn that when they are an adult they can follow adult rules- should teachers not be allowed make up or jewelry? should they have to sit crossed legged on the floor for assembly? - silly argument.

And lunch boxes? Well that is a different matter.

No, Brassband, it is NOT illegal. The article you've pointed to merely says that the DFES (which no longer exists) told schools that they should not search lunchboxes if the child refuses. Guidance from a government department is very different from saying it is against the law.

The article says that it is a human rights infringement.It is basically a search which can only be performed under very limited circumstannces

lol,this isnt AIBU.....

but anyway,how good is this for their teeth,as someone said??

Loopyloops you speak conplete sense and said exactly what I was thinking as I read this thread. I allow the kids to have water but nothing else in my classroom. I have better things to do than cleaning up juice, coke, chocolate milkshake, as do my pupils- they are there to learn. Often, given the option of water they decisethat they're not thirsty after all. I teach secondary so their motives are more likely to be timewasting though
Parents who fail to see that teachers are in fact adults, highly-qualified adults, and think that we should be behaving like the pupils we teach are, IMO, a pain in the backside

Hi,

Well I do think it is a bt OTT, particularly since the OP said that her son has food issues, therfore forcing anything is a huge NO NO!

I am an adult who can drink very dilute squash but not water. It actually makes me gag.

Devonvalley, I would contest this rule in relation to your LO on the basis of his food issues. Get your son's SALT/dietician on board too to back you up. He needs to be able to drink and if he does have issues I don't necessarily think he would drink plain water if he was thirsty and there was nothing else. I know I wouldn't

Good luck

Sharon x

"Children need to see that if they are following a rule, everyone needs to follow it"

This is a rule with little point to it. If you worry about the contents of the bottles, just ban them: the idea that children need to be drinking from a bottle all day is ludicrous. The claims about the need for water for their brains is straight from the Brain Gym Book Of Bollocks; how many cases of dehydration in schools were reported twenty years ago before this obsession started?

Tokyo, My issue with drinking isn't the brain thing, it's the fact that the dc get slightly dehydrated, which in turn makes them constipated. They've only been back a week or so and it's already started again after sorting itself out over the holidays. I try putting fruit and raisins in their lunchboxes and giving them wholegrain bread but without water fibre just sits and ferments (nice).

For the record again: I have no issues with water only in class even though I don't like it, so long as there are alternatives at lunch.

The insanity of our schools' uniform change will drive me mad as well, however.

And I agree with everyone who has said that teachers are there to teach. Not police whether ties are pulled up to the neck, top buttons are done up or help a class full of 7-9 yr olds to put their ties back on after PE. The Head has made more work for them as well and word is that the teachers are no happier than the parents. The old uniform meant that they could concentrate on teaching.

MY DS's school, has a water only policy and I totally agree with it. We don't have squash at our house - its either full of sugar or chemicals - nasty stuff. If schools atrt allowing squash and flavoured water - what next? Parents insisting 'My darling Jack will only drink fizzy pop.'

If you start them off on water and milk and never give them the option of squash, then they will not know any different.

My DS has the odd smoothy on a weekend, but other than that he chooses water, as that is what he has been brought up to drink.

I agree this seems pointless, escpecially as it's not consisitent. I would take it up with head on that basis. In classes children should not be drinking anything other than water IMO but at break it is up to parents to give their child a drink. Think it's outrageous that schools dictate what our children consume now.

Mine do water at school and for sports and have squash/fresh/flavoured woteva at home. I cannot get the issue with drinking water at all - OP 'working towards water'?? You made the problem for your ds by the sounds of it.

Fran, I went through something similar with my dd2 in that when I weaned her from bf at 20 months she wouldn't drink water at all. It was horrible; I felt so judged and I hated her drinking in public. So I do know that there has to be a 'weaning off' stage; I used pure apple juice and diluted it. Now she will drink water but still prefers some natural juice if she can get it.

In fact her drink of choice is milk.

Fransandisco: I think that was a bit of a cruel comment. If you read the original post her Lo has food issues ( food covers food and drink).

You are obviously very fortunate and have never experienced difficulties of this type. It can be extremely disabling for a child and is not a choice thing. It is inbuilt and they can become unwell, vomit, respond in terror or even pass out by being 'forced' to have soething they have an aversion to. So lucky you.

OP you may find that you get more useful support on the Special Needs Board.

Hugs

Sharon x

Brassband, you may think it is a human rights infringement but until it is tested in court you don't know and neither does the journalist who wrote the article or any of the people involved in the story. In our increasingly litigation-happy society, there is a tendency to be over cautious about such matters - look at some of the stupidities in the name of Health and Safety, for example.

Given that teachers are acting in loco parentis and therefore have the same rights, duties and obligations as a parent, I would be very surprised if the courts found against a teacher who searched a child's lunchbox without their consent. However, I freely admit that until someone actually takes a case to court I don't know for sure.

As I've already commented, primary school children will almost invariably consent to such a search.

Spiritmum, I think they would all prefer something other than water but it is the best thing for them. You persevered. I don't like schools interfering but sadly it is necessary when you see what some parents consider appropriate. I've worked in nurseries where parents collect their babies and shove a bottle with coca cola in their mouths!!

Fran, my dd1 drinks water as her drink of choice. Everyone has different tastes I guess.

I can say hand on heart that my dcs have never had a fizzy drink, except ds who likes carbonated water. Well, I think dd1 did get lemonade at a friend's once but she didn't like it.

What is this magical squash that is sugar AND additive free?

It's called 'WATER'.

PMSL at Fran

I've already been told I'm cruel but can I just ask how children in developing countries cope with not having squash? Do these kids have food/drink issues, apart from lack of it. I'd be genuinely interested to know this. Not having a pop at OP but are these issues really nature or nurture inspired?

nature or nuture? bit of both i'd guess given that i've got one dc who drinks nothing but water and another who would rather go all day without a drink than have plain water.

Well, I woudl give my dd water, water and more water, and finally after a dark wee-stained nappy I'd panic and add some juice (not squash). I guess if you don't have any juice and you are lucky if you have water that doesn't have ox pee in it you don't have that luxury.

But then that is like any of the disparancies between our lifestyle and theirs, sadly. Were we in an African village the OP would be asking if it were reasonable for her ds to walk 7 miles to the nearest water pump. And we'd probably be saying no, get the girls to do it.

Not only developing countries either, Fran. When I grew up in Sweden 40 years age, fizzy drinks were expensive, so I probably had lemonade about three or four times a year. No toddlers sat in their buggies clutching bottles of squash or fizzy (in fact, you probably wouldn't see that there today either). It's a British thing.

Of course, there will be the odd child who has genuine food issues. But then they will catered for as a special case. Like my children are catered for by being allowed to use a wheelchair while all the other children have to walk between classes. That is absolutely no reason to not to make the 29 able bodied children walk between buildings and on school outings, just because there is one child who can't manage the normal routine. When dd had incontinence issues in junior school, she had a toilet pass. That was no reason for allowing all the other 10yos to pop to the loo whenever they felt like it.

Children are not born with 'food issues'. They are created. Disabilities are different, they cannot be eliminated. What is the difference between my child who is just fussy and those with food issues. My child would prefer and drink loads more if I put squash or juice in her bottle- doesn't mean I will though.

There is a difference between the merely fussy child and the child with serious food issues. My ds is fussy. He would drink or eat things he doesn't like if it came to the crunch. A child with food issues would end up in hospital on a drip rather than succumb (Some MNers have been through this experience and I do not envy them).

Sensible parents with fussy children understand the difference and would respect the needs of a child with genuine issues.

I'd love to know how nature/nurture explains how I have three dc and only one with 'food issues' (not as bad as they were, but still..) When I weaned her (the old-fashioned way before BLW was hip) she woudln't eat mush. No puree or anything like that. Only solid food she could hold herself. And even now she won't eat things that are coooked together. Pasta with cheese sauce and vegiies on the side, fine. Pasta with cheese sauce and veggies made into a bake, not on your nelly.

Aaargh!