dreamgirl Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 One of our parents in nursery has asked if we can give her children filtered or bottled water at snack time. We have only ever used tap water at nursery and I drink tap water at home. Do I accommodate her wishes or not? We have rolling snack with water jugs out for children to help themselves. If her children were going to have different water, they will have to ask an adult for their special water. Do we buy a water filter jug so all children have filtered water? I am quite happy with the quality of tap water. What would you do? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panders Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 Well, I'm in your camp! We drink tap water and give tap water to the children, in my circumstances as I own and run my pre-school, our children bring in their own flasks to drink from at any time and they are all stored in a plastic crate which is accessible to them at all times. Some children do bring in bottles rather than flasks. At snack time, we provide water or milk only, but the children may if they prefer get their flasks and drink from those. If you could provide a similar system this parent could send her child with bottles of Evian etc. If not, I would more than likely look into the price of filtering systems for all the children to have filtered water, but if I felt it would be too expensive etc. I would decline the parent's offer and ask them to provide the bottle each day themselves. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garrison Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 Our children bring in a bottle of water/juice from home like is done in many schools. These are freely available throughout the day and can be topped up with tap water if necessary. If you cant have such a system I would be making mum send her own bottle regardless of what the other children did. I personally dont see any problem with tap water and dont see why you should change what you do to suit one (over fussy)parent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamgirl Posted September 9, 2012 Author Share Posted September 9, 2012 Are the bottles freely available to the children all session? If so how do you stop other children drinking out of someone else's bottle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louby loo Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 We also encourage each child to bring a bottle of water in to access freely. Milk and tap water offered at snack. I would therefore offer the child it's own water bottle at snack - and explain this to mum then it's her choice. x 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louby loo Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 Are the bottles freely available to the children all session? If so how do you stop other children drinking out of someone else's bottle. Funnily enough this has never really been a issue- the children simply seem to know!!! ..............................unless- someone trys to sneak a juice/squash in!!!! 2+ age group. New starters seem to pick it up very quickly. xxx 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mouseketeer Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 We have the same set up, drink bottles in a crate, even when flasks are the same they just seem to know who's is who's and most can soon tell you exactly which flask belongs to who .... In fact they,re better than me at it 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 (edited) I would just ask her to bring in her own clearly marked bottle for her child. That's the same as we do for sun cream, if they don't want to use ours, they provide their own rather than us going out to buy a really expensive brand for everyone to se. We have water bottles from tesco, they held flavoured water and were the cheapest option with the pull up cap. The children drank the flavoured water then we stuck name labels on, covered with clear sticky backed plastic. Then they are just to wash out and re-fill daily. As they have the child's name and logo on, they soon find out which is theirs. They can access them as they like and we just top them up through the day. Edited September 9, 2012 by Cait Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panders Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 Are the bottles freely available to the children all session? If so how do you stop other children drinking out of someone else's bottle. They just don't! They like their own. Many have those flasks with their name on it, or Kitty or whatever, amazingly, we rarely get two the same either! We do stipulate however, that it should be water only because you never know if a child might help themselves to someone else's and who knows may be intolerant to whatever could be in there. We do know that some parents "sneak" in juice sometimes because the children quite proudly tell us :lol: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louby loo Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 We do know that some parents "sneak" in juice sometimes because the children quite proudly tell us :lol: ................and if they don't- another child will soon tell you :lol: :lol: xxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo A Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 Some bottled water is very high in sodium and I wouldnt give these to my daughter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamgirl Posted September 9, 2012 Author Share Posted September 9, 2012 Hmmmm. Food...or drink....for thought. 60 water bottles is a significant amount to store. We quite enjoy teaching the children pouring skills and also they can have water and milk to drink, with the jugs and cups system, rather than just what is in their bottle. Thinking of mum providing their own water in a bottle ( 2 girls involved) and putting them near the snack table so they can help themselves whenever want. Wanted them to be the same as everyone else but guess that we will have to do something different for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 I would ask mum to provide it herself but also maybe ask why she is adverse to her child having tap water. I have heard that tap water under goes more tests than bottled water to ensure it is safe to drink. If it is just a case of preferred tastes and her child is more likely to drink it, then mum should provide it herself. If it is cos mum thinks it's more hygienic then maybe you could provide her proof that tap water is actually safe to drink!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louby loo Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 We do not store bottles- they bring in each day. We still have jug and cups for any 'non-bringers'. At snack time they have our tap water/milk in jugs with cups etc. Water bottles are for self access during the day. We used to have a small portable water dispenser (tap-water not filters or anything) but once the second one broke :angry: we moved to a bring your own system :1b xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 I personally dont see any problem with tap water and dont see why you should change what you do to suit one (over fussy)parent How do you judge when a parent is being 'over fussy' though? An issue like this calls for a great deal of sensitivity, but I would want to find out what the parent's reasoning is before trying to find a solution that suited us both. These discussions are great for teasing out the details of what everyone does in their settings, providing ideas about how we can perhaps adapt our procedures to accommodate children's and families needs. This is why I love the FSF! :1b 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panders Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 We do not store bottles- they bring in each day. We still have jug and cups for any 'non-bringers'. At snack time they have our tap water/milk in jugs with cups etc. Water bottles are for self access during the day. We used to have a small portable water dispenser (tap-water not filters or anything) but once the second one broke :angry: we moved to a bring your own system :1b xx You don't work at my pre-school do you? I could have written this post! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panders Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 Hmmmm. Food...or drink....for thought. 60 water bottles is a significant amount to store. We quite enjoy teaching the children pouring skills and also they can have water and milk to drink, with the jugs and cups system, rather than just what is in their bottle. Thinking of mum providing their own water in a bottle ( 2 girls involved) and putting them near the snack table so they can help themselves whenever want. Wanted them to be the same as everyone else but guess that we will have to do something different for them. Do you have 60 all in at once? We are registered for 20 each session, and 20 fit in quite snuggly in our crate. We don't keep the flasks at pre-school they are the property of the children and they go home each day with their flask, there are cups for those who forget their flask, and at break time, they pour their own milk or water from jugs on the table, they also have other opportunities to pour from jugs etc. each day at the water tray etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 We ask all our parents to provide a water bottle (sports bottle kind) and then it is filled up with tap water each day for self access by the children. the children all seem to learn very quickly whose is whose. I would ask the parent to provide her own bottled water if that is her preference explaining that providing it for all the children would be an expense that is unnecessary as the tap water is fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stargrower Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 We had a parent who requested that her child only drank bottled water, but she provided it herself each day. She never asked or expected us to provide different water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamgirl Posted September 9, 2012 Author Share Posted September 9, 2012 Thanks everyone for your interesting comments. Panders- we have 30 in each session. We do you all keep your bottles? On a table somewhere??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamgirl Posted September 9, 2012 Author Share Posted September 9, 2012 That was meant to say."...where do you all keep your bottles?.....!!! Am watching the Paralympics so am bit distracted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panders Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 Thanks everyone for your interesting comments. Panders- we have 30 in each session. We do you all keep your bottles? On a table somewhere??? We are in a large hall which has a large lobby area where there are 2 toilets and the kitchen. The lobby area is quite safe and the children have access to it all the time. We have a child's sized picnic table and sat upon that is a plastic collapsable crate, that is where the flasks go when the children come in through the front door and into the lobby every morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyday Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 (edited) I had a parent a few years ago who said "he won't drink tap water unless it has been filtered" - so as others have already suggested he brought his own.........I have often wondered whether or not they kept that up at primary school - would seem a real shame if he never experienced the 'drinking fountains' - I remember that my sons absolutely loved using those! :1b Edited September 10, 2012 by sunnyday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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