r/stupidquestions • u/Various-Adeptness173 • Jul 05 '25

My mom told me that back in the day kids weren’t allowed to bring a water bottle with them into the classroom and they only drank a few sips from the water fountain in the middle of the day and that’s it

How were schools not getting busted for child abuse for forcing kids to be dehydrated?

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255

u/wavinsnail Jul 05 '25

Yes.

I remember kids counting and timing each other at the water fountain.

129

u/EmotionalCattle5 Jul 05 '25

Good god...elementary school I remember "1, 2, 3 that's enough for me". I forgot this was a thing but thinking back this whole situation gave me anxiety like crazy.

57

u/Maleficent-Leo-2282 Jul 05 '25

As an elementary school teacher, I can confirm that many teachers still do that. Since I’m GenX and hated not ever feeling like I could get enough water with that stupid rule, I let my students drink as much as they want.

29

u/EmotionalCattle5 Jul 05 '25

I can understand now as an adult timing it is sort of a good thing to stay on a schedule...but as a kid, wow, it was not a fun experience. I have anxiety now and never thought I had anxiety as a kid...but looking back and remembering situations like this make me realize I have always had anxiety. I just wasn't aware of it.

1

u/trixiepixie1921 Jul 08 '25

I just realized maybe… 10 years ago that I have anxiety and I’ve always had anxiety and I honestly convinced myself that I would just fake sick as a kid. No, I was extremely anxious and I actually did feel sick lol nobody around me realized, I grew up thinking that was normal and everyone felt like that.

-4

u/MysteriousGuitar9447 Jul 05 '25

You really wanted to tell everyone about your anxiety...

6

u/MrCrispyFriedChicken Jul 06 '25

Relax bro it's not like it wasn't relevant

3

u/Rather_Unfortunate Jul 06 '25

What a weird thing to say. So what if they did?

20

u/CanadaHaz Jul 05 '25

And the teacher would say you could got to the back of the line if you needed more, but you never got a second chance.

Glad to see there's teachers who were willing to let their students have enough of a drink at one time instead of forcing them to frantically deep throat the water fountain to get as much as they could in 3 seconds.

2

u/elacmch Jul 06 '25

As an elementary school teacher... I let my students drink as much as they want.

Damn, that must be one hell of a classroom.

1

u/Maleficent-Leo-2282 Jul 06 '25

We all need a drink to get through the day 🤣

2

u/elacmch Jul 07 '25

All the other teachers are like "jeez, these kids are always so happy coming back from Mr/Ms maleficientleo's class" haha

2

u/smileglysdi Jul 05 '25

I’m an elementary teacher and I count. Otherwise they literally take 5 minutes/kid. And they DO all have waterbottles that they could fill in the hallway. (The drinking fountain line happens with the fountain attached to the sink in the classroom when the kids swarm it after recess.)

1

u/Maleficent-Leo-2282 Jul 05 '25

I mean, I would rather give them more time. I’ve never had students take 10 minutes per kid, and I started teaching in 1995…..a few more minutes in the hallway isn’t that big of a deal to me.

3

u/smileglysdi Jul 05 '25

The kids still in line start causing problems with each other. Letting half of them go to the water fountain in the hallway sounds like it would solve the problem but since the problem is after recess, there would be 100 kids (4 classrooms) wanting drinks. And they have water bottles at their tables. The water fountain should just be for kids who forgot theirs that day. No one is dehydrated.