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.

Ah, but Feenie, you can lead a child to squash...

'...It is true that beverages such as tea, coffee, wine, beer, soft drinks and juices contain water but they also contain caffeine, alcohol, sugar, artificial sweeteners or other chemicals that act as strong dehydrators. The more you drink these beverages, the more dehydrated you become because the effects they create in the body are exactly opposite to the ones that are produced by water...'

Where is that from ipad because Snopes has it under its myth busters - here

I didn't have a child with it but my uncle did and frequently had episodes.

Re the child in my class myself,the mother and the school nurse worked together.Not a problem.I used to have a mini can of coke in my bag at all times and supported her re checking blood sugar- took 5 mins,not a big deal.

Have to say my DS has a diff healthy snack to fruit at school( doctor's note and weight gain issues) not sure it's a problem.Kid's can't throw a fit because kids have different things- it's life.

so then they would come running to tell the teacher that poor TheOriginalNutcracker's son has juice and all his teeth will fall out, being the concerned citizens they are rabbitstew

There is so much unscientific rubbish written about "hydration" nowadays- and people fall for it, even thought it is shown to be rubbish.

A child is not going to get dehydrated in 90 minutes. Honestly.

have a look at this, for a start

curlew - you are assuming that all schools allow drinks other than water outside class time, which isn't true. Some schools only allow water or milk.

mrz - ah, alas, then, they will learn young that what is threatened to come to pass does not always come to pass and that sometimes, in any event, risking your teeth is better than permitting a child to have a migraine and take dangerous pills. But they won't mind, because they don't object to drinking water, anyway, and feel lucky that they don't have to risk their teeth like the poor child who gets migraines.

yet a 10 year old can't learn that drinking water will prevent his migraine ... odd that!

I'm sure he can make a technical connection, but he remembers just too late.... odd that!

yet you expect all his classmates to be more mature ...

In secondary school it's brill. As all this Nanny State stuff goes totally out of the window, and kids can eat and drink as much sugar and fat as they like. Hoorah!!

But seriously, I give mine either water or weak squash, depending, and can't see why it's causing such a fuss on this thread. Surely weak squash is nowhere near as bad as a can of Coke or even Lucozade for that matter.

The school of the OP sounds totally OTT - sniffing kid's water bottles to make sure it is the proper sort of water - ridiculous bordering on the sublime.

snowing - But can they eat and drink during lessons? That's the essential point of this thread as far as I can gather (although the OP hasn't specifically clarified what the position is with lunchtime drinks as I think she left the thread ages ago).

Buttercat- But if your DS has a different snack based on a doctor's note that is presumably because he needs that snack (or, for example, something lower sugar or higher calorie than fruit). What the OP's son needs is, ironically, exactly what they will allow. He needs water. It's just that he prefers squash. It's a behavioural issue, not a medical one at that point. That doesn't necessarily make it easier to fix, but I doubt many doctors would write a note that he should sip sugary squash all day long.

That whole "drink before you're thirsty" thing - do people really believe that? Switch to "eat before you get hungry" and see how ridiculous the statement is.

I hope there are no mums at my dc's new school who think that the best solution to their child's medical problem is to ask for special treatment when the solution is to address the child's behaviour.

I'm sorry, OP, but I think you are asking the system to adjust for your child when you should be teaching your child to take responsibility.

I have every sympathy with you wanting to avoid the migraine - but I think your memory of the trauma is clouding your judgement.

The "drink before you're thirsty" mantra comes from reports produced by the bottled water industry.

Well, I'm a teacher and allow the children squash. I am there to teach and yes, I teach children about healthy eating etc, etc. ALL foods are fine in moderation and that includes squash. If a parent chooses to give their child squash then so be it. They are the parent, not me. I can air my opinion but I really do not understand how ANY teacher has the right to deny a child fluid, unless of course it's alcohol or has DANGER written on the damned bottle.

Seriously, I think schools and parents can be a little OTT about the 'healthy eating' subject. Personally I think schools are just being bullies and asserting their authority in the wrong ways and about the wrong things quite frankly.

junkfood - do you let them snack in class as well? Because I don't see it's that different. Also, it's not moderation as far as tooth enamel is concerned if a child is sipping squash all day every day. So whilst I take your point that you have better things to do than police juice rules, that's really a different point to whether a teacher has a right to deny a child consuming any substance in class.

Children don't turn isn't a small cube of dessicated constituent chemicals if they don't drink all the time, you know.

I have to say, I find the obsession with "hydration" for healthy developed world children a little distasteful.

There is no medical need to have squash only to be hydrated. Squash in this instance is a choice. If the school choose to allow you to put squash in his bottle, some child will work out he has squash, they will ask, they will be told and then another parent will come knocking at the head's door asking for an exception.

However, I do appreciate that a child (also plenty of adults) don't always do the right thing with regards to their health. Therefore I think you need to help the school to help you. Get a doctor's note. That way when other parents ask, the school can rightly say that exceptions are only for medical reasons supported by a doctor.

As an aside, teachers won't be randomly sniffing water bottles. it will be other children who cry foul and the teacher sniff the contents of the bottle to check.

The will be plenty of parents, myself included, who like that there is a water only rule in class.

Which schools are only allowing water and milk?
All our LA schools follow gov nutrition standards - and our tuckshop sells smoothies at break and twice a week they are allowed milkshake or squash with lunch. Ditto the fruit only rule - i asked them to change this as some of our v active kids need more so now they serve toast or teacakes at break.
As far as the classrooms go it's water only - for us all, me included. Partly as it's healthier, but mainly because alternatives are sticky. The kids never complain about drinking water and at this time of year especially all have it at the end of lunch.

mrz - I don't expect the other children to be mature. I don't think what another child has in his drinks bottle is any of their business. Why so sensitive about the other children's feelings on this issue, yet so tough on other issues? You have said yourself, you don't care what the children have in their water bottles.

I go back to my point, you don't fight battles that aren't worth it. It is worth stopping a child getting migraines. It isn't worth making a big song and dance about whether a child has pure water in their bottle or not. The point of principle is a ridiculous one in this case. Let the child drink highly diluted squash, fgs, because whatever curlew thinks about dehydration, the child's mother believes he is getting dehydrated at school and is following medical advice (rather than curlew's non-medically based advice) to ensure her ds is well hydrated at all times.

If he suffers from migraines and knows he needs to drink then I think that 10 yrs old is plenty old enough to drink water. If he won't then he takes the consequences. People that I know with migraines do the prevention - they don't say 'I would rather have the migraine!'
If he has a problem with not drinking enough ask the teacher to remind him to drink at intervals.
It might be different if he was little, but he is 10yrs old.

The Food Standards Agency recommend drinking 6 to 8 glasses of fluid every day. If you are dehydrated, water doesn't replace lost sugars and salts. Children in general don't tend to drink enough at school.

I have no problem whatsoever with a water-only rule in the classroom, personally. I wouldn't want sticky drinks being spilt everywhere, either. From my own perspective, I have a bigger objection to my dss' school's 3-line whip that insists I send them into school with a beaker of water every day, which comes home full each day having sat warming nicely on a tray with lots of other neglected bottles of water. Why do schools insist on everyone having water in the classroom if they don't really care about whether anyone is actually drinking anything? And when a parent really does want their child to drink something, they won't help them ensure that they do? It's all so incredibly inconsistent, what schools do and don't interfere with.