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.

Oooh they look great Midnite and I bet preferable to having to go to the Teacher's fridge!

Not posting to discuss wether ds should or shouldn't be having squash, but just a little update to let you know that I had to fetch ds from school yesterday afternoon because he had a migraine.

He had drunk some of his water, but not as much as he would have done, had it been squash, which was my original point.

Make of that what you will.

Midnight - I got one like that from Tkmaxx

Op have you attempted to get a doctor's note? As I posted previously, I think you need to help the school to help you.

Thanks TheOriginalNutcracker, I wasn't sure where you would get them in the UK. I won mine at a dog agility trial lol!

I would be unsympathetic and tell him his migraine is his fault as he was not hydrated enough.

Simples. He is old enough to take responsibility and you have to ensure that he does not pussy foot around demanding rules are broken for him.

OriginalNutcracker I can sympathise in that might daughter also gets migraines and takes pizotfen and is younger 9. However, she clearly understands she must drink to prevent her migraines. On Monday I had to collect her from summer camp due to migraine, but she had drunk 5 full water bottles over 1.5litres I think the weather makes it very hard for them.
We use the bobble bottle so all the water is filtered which she much prefers.

Ok, so there's still some work to be done on reminding him to drink his water, if the fluids are definitely what make the difference. Good that he's getting to grips with the water though!

I've had migraines the last few days despite drinking gallons. The weather conditions rather than fluid intake seem to be causing quite a few with my family, and quite a few nose bleeds.

Wow...

I'm amazed that so many people here seem to think that a school rule (theoretically about tooth decay) should take precedence over enabling a young child (only 10--still a primary school child) to avoid an agonising and debilitating condition.

I'm also amazed that so many people seem to think it's okay for a school to dictate to a parent about what a child should be allowed to drink. Yes, I know lots of you disagree, but I don't believe that (i) the potential for a spill or (ii) the potential for other childrenfortunate enough not to suffer from migrainesto whinge because they're not allowed juice should take precedence over the need to assist a child with a documented medical condition. The other children are only 10 too, remember: just small, primary school children, and not yet equipped (intellectually/in terms of maturity) to understand that sometimes exceptions to rules need to be made.

As for those who seem to believe that the school is graciously conferring a blessing by agreeing to administer Calpol, well that seems to me to just sum up how entirely nutty the whole school system has become. We're talking about the equivalent of an Aspirin, not heroin or another hard drug. If schools can't administer such simple medication then it seems to me that they're not qualified to be placed in loco parentis. Bananas!

Maybe my different POV comes from having been primary school age in the late 60s/early 70s, when common sense seemed to rule the day. Or maybe it's me who's nuts.

But I don't think so

Good luck, OP, and best wishes to your DS in learning to cope with his migraines. I'm so grateful that I don't suffer from it.

and when you were in primary school in the late 60s/early 70s did you take a bottle of juice/water to drink whenever you felt like it? Or did common sense rule that it wasn't needed ... and access to a water fountain at breaks was adequate

mrz--you seem to have missed the essential point. I didn't suffer from migraines, so hydration wasn't a special issue for me. Doh...

I have no doubt that had I suffered from migraines then the teachers at my (3) primary schools would have been willing to let me have something I could drink. I'm sure they'd have realised that they were responsible for helping me, since they were caring for me in the absence of my parents. I rather assume that it was because they were willing to take on that sort of responsibility that they went into primary school teaching in the first place.

Back in the day there wasn't the concern about sugary drinks that exists now, of course, and so I'm sure that juice v. water wouldn't have been an issue in the late 60s/early 70s (where I lived, in any event). But even if the hazards associated with sugary drinks had been identified at that stage then I'm sure my teachers would have been smart/responsible/compassionate enough to have recognised that exceptions would sometimes need to be made to school rules in order to do the best for the children in their care. They realised that rules were there to help the children: the children weren't there just to conform to the rules. These days it sounds as though people have got it back to front.

And I'm equally sure that my teachers didn't imagine that they knew better than my parents what would be best for me. I've encountered this sort of bizarre attitude in the last few years re: my father, who suffers from vascular dementia. These days many health/nursing home/social work professionals appear to believe that they know relatives' parents better than the relatives do. This patronising and imbecilic approach appears to have become endemic over the course of the last 20 years or so, but it didn't exist (at least to the same extent) when I was a child.

So, no. If I'd needed extra hydration in order to fend off the risk of migraine then I'm sure my teachers would not have taken the "access to water fountains at break" kind of approach.

of course not one single child suffered from migraines in the 1960s or 70s when we didn't have constant access to fluids during the school day ...are you suggesting that this constant access is responsible for migraines pusspusslet DOH!

or perhaps children in the 60s and 70s didn't prefer the taste of juice to water

mrz--either you misread what I wrote, or you're just here for an argument. Either way, what you've written above bears no relationship to what I wrote immediately before you.

Maybe you should read what I said again, since you appear to have profoundly misunderstood...? Or maybe you're just here for an argument, in which case please carry on. I'm not interested :)

No pusspusslet I didn't misread or here for an argument and it bear every relationship to what you wrote.
Children in the 60s and 70s suffered from migraine (I know I was one) and I had access to the drinking fountain at break time (one we had one installed) the same as every other child and yes I probably would have preferred juice but no one pandered to my preferences.

Perhaps parents in the 60s/70s had more common sense

pusspuss - passive aggressive much? Doh.

As an aside, mrz is making more sense than you.

pusspuss - passive aggressive much?

Agree.

I agree pusspusslet. I certainly survived on water from the drinking fountain at primary school in the 70's and at secondary school in the 80's. However, allowing a child to drink some juice supplied by a parent so that said child can quietly get on with the school day and the business of learning rather than spending afternoons in the secretary's office/being collected early is not pandering. It is just common sense.

Does the whole school sniff each other's water bottles? Will there really be an epidemic of wanton squash consumption?

No adult would be treated like this and no child at secondary school would be treated like this either.

and no child at secondary school would be treated like this either.

Actually, several secondary school teachers have already pointed out that the issues would be the same at secondary.

and it does happen in the workplace ... many adults work in environments where they only have access to drinks at scheduled breaktimes

There is a difference between schools making reasonable adjustments that are essential and the anarchy of any or every school regulation being stretched or ignored because a parent or child doesn?t want to make their own adjustments.

OP I feel for you in this situation.

In light of the latest migraine will you ask the head to reconsider?

Otherwise I'd ask the GP for a letter:- as someone posted earlier presumably a doctor would be recommending drinking FLUIDS.

Yep. But not SQUASH.