The water only rules. No juice.

[OnlyWantsOne]

It's there for a reason. Isn't it?

So why do some parents still send juice in bottles concealed as water for their children?

One child in my dd's class has juice. Every day. Her mother won't MAKE her have water because she doesn't feel she should have to.

Except dd and one other child I know of have been whining how it's not fair - how they want juice too etc etc etc and I've had enough.

Didn't want to post in AIBU but needed to vent.

Don't draw it with both legs simultaneously Tethers, one at a time whilst listening to Mozart and hydrating oneself continuously.

Well how about all employers insist we can only drink water at work and then only at scheduled break times?

I'm not a Brain Gym type of teacher, nor am I am 'we will all die if we don't sip water every ten minutes' type of teacher, but I do think there are concessions to make. View of the bigger picture et al.

I let my class drink from their water bottles as long as I'm not explaining the lesson or doing carpet+teacher time. If they get bored of their work and need a 40 second break whilst they go and guzzle at their bottle, so be it. As an adult, I can stand about 5 minutes of a staff meeting before I want to have a wander, so I'm with them on that one. My attention span is shockin... ooh shiny!

I think the vast majority of primary school teachers expect the kids to sit down and listen for far too long. I am crap at getting them off the carpet and onto another activity- I will be the first to admit it.

Needing a drink of water/ a toilet break/ sharpening a pencil/ finding a rubber etc is just a clue that the kid needs a break.

It's 30 seconds to a minute max. I let is slide. I can completely see it from their point of view, even if I'm not great at making things as snappy as they should be.

Thinking back, we had a fizzy drinks dispenser in the canteen with unbranded cola and cherryade. They always put too much syrup in. We were off our tits.

It was just next to the KitKat vending machines.

That was when I was a pupil, not a teacher...

Am completely befuddled by this. We had school milk (1/3 pint) whether you wanted it or not at morning break time, water with school lunch, and no-one ever brought their own drinks into school. Bottled water didn't exist. I can't remember ever being particularly thirsty at school, there was a water tap if you were desperate. We didn't keel over and faint from dehydration even during the height of summer. Somehow, according to the Daily Mail contemporary received wisdom, pupils achieved "better" academic results back then in the 60's and 70's too, so "Hydration for Learning" must be garbage, no?

I really take great exception to these "rules". Schools are becoming more and more dictatorial. Why should the sensible majority be penalised for the behaviour of a tiny minority of parents whose poor diets leave their kids with bad teeth and/or weight problems? Actually these kids still exist, so banning certain food and drinks from school doesn't appear to work. I don't see why my skinny son, who has no holes in his teeth in spite of eating biscuits shouldn't be allowed a carton of pure juice for lunch if that's what WE decide is appropriate.

Drinking water is supposed to improve concentration which is why the schools are encouraging it, back in our day we didn't have a drink other than at breaks but we also got smacked around the head if we didn't face forward and sit still in our seats so not all good times.
The reason children's teeth rot is because the parents don't clean them, diluted squash won't make much difference either way IMO.

DD doesn't take a drink into school. She started recep in sept. So I'm not sure what this thread is about. What is it about?

As for OP I am a "follow the rules" type and also get irritated when other people don't follow the rules without a good reason. eg a mum there was telling me that they had asked her to stop giving her son a snack in his pocket to have at breaktime and she was all defiant about it and I want to give him a snack he gets a snack! And I was a bit about it all.

Some people are just contrary I guess.

I have never sent my dc to school with a bottle, water or otherwise .

AFAIK she gets the same kind of routine drinks-wise as I had when I was at school.

There has been no suggestion of anyone providing bottled water at any point to anyone. Or squash. Or vodka. Or whatever.

In reception they provide jugs of water and cups for the children. DS1 is in reception now and comes out most days desperate for a drink. He does drink water at home (as well as squash) so I'm not sure why. My children drink squash at home and they are not remotely overweight, DS1 is positively skinny, and their teeth are perfect. Are they some kind of anomaly in this squash is evil world?

I think what the majority of posts on here are missing the point of is the parents encouraging the child to break a school rule, blatantly showing disrespect. Yes there are a minority with genuine medical reasons but they are a minority. We could have a big debate and that's going to have lots of valid points on both sides (which seems to be what has happened taken over the op) but I'm sure the school has already done this and this is the rule they have adopted.

I will ask her tomorrow, cutegorilla.

Lapsedpacificst - agree with you entirely.

The main reasons? Spilt water mops up. spilt squash leaves a sticky layer. And all the parents who flout the water rule because "nobody tells me what to do" and gives their child squash would give them coke if squash was allowed. Because"nobody tells me what to do.

at the "genuine medical reason" for needing to drink squash. I wonder if I can come up with a genuine medical reason for me only drinking red wine.

I don't think anyone is saying you can't put juice in lunch boxes. This thread is about the water bottles they have on their desks. Because, apparently, children can no longer go for 90 minutes without "hydrating".

Genuine medical reason like, ummm, autism maybe?

Honestly, I would bet you my very nice house, and all my wordly goods, that you would be unable to get dd1 to drink water.

Better people than you have tried and failed, over many years.

Do take yourself to fuckity fuck land, ta.

I'm sorry, silverfrog. There are bound to be a few special cases. But I would bet my bottom dollar that there are a vanishingly small number.

I'm curious, so going off on a bit of a tangent here - what is the catalyst for kids refusing to drink water, then? I don't mean at school, I mean beforehand, at whatever point it becomes the case that a child refuses water. Surely there must have been a point when they did drink it? Is it when they become old enough to actually demonstrate a dislike, ie pushing it away/ saying 'No'? Does it seem to just be that once you've discovered squash/juice as a kid, you won't accept anything less flavoured, even if parents shout insist calmly on water?

What are the kind of medical reasons that bring this about? - genuine question as I know nothing about what they might be.

Like others, I don't really remember drinking very much at all at school. Bottle of milk (till Thatcher got her way ) at breaktimes, but water would be in jugs on the table at school dinners and it was up to you whether you drank any or not. Thinking about it now I can't imagine not being thirsty going so long without a drink but it was absolutely normal at the time.

The best marketing exercise ever pulled on a gullible public. Not only must you drink continuously, but under no circumstances must it be tap water. Maybe the loo roll manufacturers are in on it too........

The first reports came from the British Nutrition Ass, hardly an unreliable source, not sure what's in it for them to encourage drinking fluids.

I don't remember drinking that much at school but I also remember the classrooms not being so overheated as they are now...DS's classroom (and in fact the whole school) is boiling

I would be really thirsty after 6 hours there without a drink.

Are all classrooms this hot nowadays?