Primary school insisting my child takes water not squash to school, despite there being a medical reason for it

[TheOriginalNutcracker]

My ds is 10 and suffers from frequent migraines. He takes daily preventative meds for them, and we try hard to manage them by eliminating triggers.

Obviously, dehydration is a major trigger, and so I need to make sure he drink enough during the day. I send him to school with weak squash in his water bottle, as he is not overly keen on water, and so will not drink enough of it. I know this to be the case from seeing him drink at home.

School are kicking up an almighty fuss about it. I have spoken to them countless times explaining why he needs the squash, and have also written a letter insisting he be alowed it, abd again explained why.
Today he was pulled into the heads office because of the squash.

I went in after school and asked to see the head. I was told she could only speak to me for 2 minutes. She came out and right away knew why I was there. She just went on and on about many people not liking water and getting headaches, but that other kids would think it was ok for their child to bring in squash also.
She then said that my ds had promised earlier that day, to try and drink only water next week. So basically they got him to agree to this in a meeting with no parent present.

I explained again about his migraines, but she basically insisted and just said that ds had agreed now.

Is there anyting I can do about this ? I think their treatment of him and his condition is appaling. We have also had issues where they have made him wait for calpol when a headache starts.

Can I ask rabbitstew What's a break time? some days I don't have time to visit the loo never mind drink tea or water

DDs teacher always has a 'proper' coffee on the go. The classroom smells gorgeous

We aren't allowed hot drinks where there are children ... I usually make a cup of tea around 8am as I'm setting up the classroom and sometimes I get to drink it at 5:30 before I go home

In the olden days we never had drinks at school apart from the [disgusting] 1/3 pt of milk at break and a jug of water on the table at lunchtime, although there was often some bright spark who'd put salt in it 'for fun'. We also spent every available minute lying on the school field 'getting brown'. As far as I can remember no one collapsed with dehydration or got burnt.

strange that

It is bizarre. Based on no scientific evidence at all,( and before you all pile in and say there's loads of evidence, just try looking for some) children now are expected to drink practically continuously. And their parents think their human rights are being abused if they have to go for any period of time at all without constant access to drinks. As I always say on threads like this, I wish I had invested in a mineral water company in the 1990s.

Eddiemairswife, I regularly got burnt, and at least once a year collapsed with dehydration provoked heatstroke. This was in the eighties. Just because you were ok, doesn't mean all other children were.

I was regularly burnt to a frazzle in the 60s and 70s.

I assume from the milk reference Eddiemairswife if talking about the 60s

mrz - break time is any time where you have a break from the kids... It doesn't have to be non-working time. Your school sounds understaffed if even at lunchtime you are supervising children and unable to have a drink or food. Two form entry schools most definitely have enough teachers and other available staff that there is a bit of time for a cup of tea and some lunch during the day. There ought to be drinking fountains available, too, which do not take long to take a quick drink from. And if you had a beaker of water in the classroom like the children, I'm sure you'd have time to swig from it every so often. Just make sure it doesn't contain anything more energy giving than water, because you'll rot your teeth or get hyperactive.

I remember getting milk every day at school in the late 70s - little glass bottles with pink straws. I don't think they stopped that for young primary school aged children (5-7 year olds?) as early as the '60s. If they did, they forgot to tell my primary school.

Actually I had milk like that in the early 80s (not sure at what point parents started paying for it). No salt on the tables at lunch though!

Our drinking fountains were removed as they were deemed unhygienic. The taps for drinking water are clearly signposted throughout the school instead. Children refill their water bottle when ever they need to or borrow a cup if they've forgotten their bottle.
I think your definition of break time is different to the primary teachers on here rabbit. They think of a break as being when they are not actually working. I'm sure teachers do swig from water bottles just like the children can. My children's school do and send the children all for a drink from their bottle as soon as they get in from playtime, and they have their bottles on their table so they can drink when they need to. Hence the need for it to be water to make spills easier; less damage to books, easier to clean up, not encouraging ants, etc. The teachers see it as setting a good role model in the classroom, but it doesn't mean they can't drink what they want in the staff room. All the concerns about non-water drinks can be negated there.
If you are going down the "same rules for staff as children" route, regardless of the fact they are employees, how do you feel about same rules for prison officers as inmates? Same analogy stretched a bit further!

MaybeBentley - yes, of course, children are like prisoners. Silly me for not realising. You only get to do what you want if you are paid. Actually, my point was it isn't really being a "Healthy School" that results in water-only beakers, otherwise the rule should apply all the time for everyone... Clearly, since the rule doesn't apply to everyone, the health issue is not the real reason - after all, you are either insistent on being healthy or you aren't, it's utter hypocrisy only to insist on the children being healthy, even if that is actually very unhealthy because they get dehydrated as a result of your principles. I fully understand the mess issue. I don't understand the "teachers don't have to be healthy" issue, however, if you are going to inflict extreme health policies on the children.

Ooh, and stretching the analogy still further - school is a punishment for bad behaviour. Why else would you have to go there when nobody is paying you?

Rabbit - Well, the main health issue with drinks in the classroom is the constant washing of sugar and acid over teeth. That doesn't apply in the same way to one drink with a meal. So you don't need the same rule to apply all the time for it to make sense.

I can also, as a teacher, most of us going to the pub on a Friday lunchtime!

Missed out 'remember'.

mrz - break time is any time where you have a break from the kids thanks rabbitstew so I get mine after school closes for the day ... in that case I get a drink when I get home and put the kettle on

Not claiming children are like prisoners in the slightest, but was looking at your expectation of an employee having all the same regulations as people they work with and taking to an exteme. Just maybe a bit frustration at your expectation to control teachers and deny them the same rights as other adult employees

OP- if enforcing a strict water-only policy at school is what it takes to convince children that water is not poison until it's flavoured with aspartame, then they are doing a good job. From what I can ascertain from the thread, there is no need whatever for your DS to drink squash but every reason for him to stay hydrated. At 10, barring special needs, he is easily able to understand that and to take steps accordingly.

No medical reason for him needing squash, he can be hydrated with water but is choosing not to drink it.

A migraine is not simply a headache I agree but at 10 years old he needs to understand that there are rules and he is choosing not to follow the rules and if this means he gets a migraine it is no one's fault but his own.

Hmm. I don't actually think a 10-year old is anywhere near old enough to really understand the consequences of not drinking enough water. Plenty of adult diabetics, epileptics, etc, still don't really understand the consequences until they kill them, let alone a 10-year old boy with friends to play with and water to ignore because it doesn't taste nice.

Consequences of not following what they have been advised by doctors, that is.

Yet 3 year old diabetics are perfectly capable of managing their condition