https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sun, 10 May 2026 14:19:46 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cups-daycare#post-2918357 Tue, 18 Aug 2020 13:49:44 +0000 meadow 2918357@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@PinkElephant: wow. so crummy! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cups-daycare#post-2918356 Tue, 18 Aug 2020 13:44:10 +0000 PinkElephant 2918356@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@meadow: I'm president of the PTO at one of our schools this year, and let me tell you, SO MUCH is about liability as well. So it's not just doing the right thing, it's worrying about what someone who is upset could try to blame on a teacher/volunteer/staff member. It's sad and kind of scary.</p> <p>But I'm 100% with you, it's so draining to try to keep up with all of the changes. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cups-daycare#post-2918355 Tue, 18 Aug 2020 13:35:13 +0000 meadow 2918355@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Miss Ariel: Thanks for clarifying!</p> <p>@Ms.Mermaid: I don't know if they would allow milk boxes. I can ask...</p> <p>@PinkElephant: You made some really good points. I hadn't thought about the fact that the teachers would be touching the inside parts or drinking parts when they refill... and them needing/wanting to control when mask off time is to make sure kids are socially distanced. Very good points! Thank you.</p> <p>@periwinklebee: wow on everything disposable! How wasteful!!!! And I can't believe you even have to wash the bag every day.... There is no way I could wash their lunchbox and backpack daily as they aren't dryer able! Wow on the rule of sanitizing after touching - that is so unrealistic! And I guess a good reason to switch to disposable.</p> <p> @nana87: So funny how you're on the other end of the spectrum! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cups-daycare#post-2918323 Mon, 17 Aug 2020 13:30:26 +0000 nana87 2918323@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our daycare just reopened and they're asking us to send in our own milk and water cups, filled, each day. before, we kept a reusable cup there for them to refill with water, but now they want the staff to touch kids' food/water containers as little as possible. so it goes in and out of school each day </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cups-daycare#post-2918316 Mon, 17 Aug 2020 11:01:27 +0000 periwinklebee 2918316@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ours has an everything has to be disposable policy. So they give them water in disposable cups, and everything in the lunchbox has to be disposable. I assume bottles for infants are an exception. They also require nap sheets to be taken home and washed every day, any bag that's brought to carry stuff in in has to be washed everyday. </p> <p>They said the water cups thing is b/c the state licensing body says that every time a child touches their cup, it has to be sanitized before they can touch it again. So it would be literally a ridiculous amount of sanitizing for the teachers to do if they had non-disposable cups. They are also supposed to sanitized a toy after every time a child touches it, which I already don't see how is realistic. The rules about everything disposable in the lunch and taking the nap sheet home to wash everyday are also by the state licensing body. I think a lot of this is basically covid theatre - there are no requirements or recommendations to do anything about the super outdated hvac system, which is the real danger, but constantly cleaning objects people touch I guess gives some sense of doing something... </p> <p>We opted out of the summer program, so I can't speak to how we dealt with this. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cups-daycare#post-2918302 Mon, 17 Aug 2020 08:03:10 +0000 misolee 2918302@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I didn’t read previous comments but just chiming into say that I used to work at a preschool about ten years ago and they didn’t ‘allow water bottles either. The thinking process behind that was that little kiddos can’t work water bottles well so there’s a lot of spilling in the bags, spilling in general. This also meant teachers were also touching the kids water bottles more to help them open it, close it, fix the straws, etc. So maybe that was the thought process to minimize contact? </p> <p>We had a water fountain in the room but would just fill up a big pitcher and pour it into little cups for snacks and for lunch. This was me pre-kid so I didnt’ question it but now as a mom whose kids guzzle water, it would bother me too. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cups-daycare#post-2918297 Sun, 16 Aug 2020 20:25:38 +0000 PinkElephant 2918297@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@muffinsmuffins: One of my kids' schools (there are three of them attending two schools in the same district) has banned backpacks, but made a big point of them having a water bottle for school....that it kind of sounds like they want me to LEAVE AT SCHOOL (?!?) I can't really get my head around this.</p> <p>@meadow: If I had to guess, I'd say it's three things:<br /> (1) They want to control when the kids eat/drink. Eating/drinking means taking off masks, so they'd like to make sure that happens when the kids are seated and distanced from each other.<br /> (2) They don't want kids leaving drinks around where others could drink from them by mistake or on purpose - this is more likely with a water bottle than with an open disposable cup.<br /> (3) They don't want to have to touch the tops/insides of water bottles to help children refill them.</p> <p>If the school provides the (disposable) cups, they get given to kids once they are seated, and are disposed of immediately after use, and there's little opportunity for unsupervised sipping (and therefore, mix ups). That helps solve all of the problems. </p> <p>My 3-almost-4 year old is still having snack at school, but I have been told they'll be having it behind plexiglass partitions, and that the adults won't be handling the kids' food/drinks, so they need to be able to open everything themselves. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cups-daycare#post-2918292 Sun, 16 Aug 2020 17:57:31 +0000 muffinsmuffins 2918292@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes we have this rule now. Before, we used to send a water bottle throughout the day for whenever they wanted to drink, then they were served milk at lunch in tiny cups. Now, no water bottles. The reasoning is less to bring to and from home, thus contaminating things? I honestly don’t get it. One of the school boards here announced they wouldn’t be allowing backpacks this year for elementary and parents went OFF (they reversed it within like 48 hours due to outcry) Same reasoning: less items to contaminate. But if the literal kid with their bodily fluids and germs is there, why the eff does it matter if they have a backpack or water bottle?! It’s just one of those things that makes zero sense, but I guess they’re all trying to follow the rules set by our provincial government, who also doesn’t really know what to do about things 🤷🏻‍♀️ I personally am just going with it because I know everyone is stressed and as long as he drinks from something, I don’t mind. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cups-daycare#post-2918291 Sun, 16 Aug 2020 15:42:38 +0000 Ms.Mermaid 2918291@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Can you send milk boxes in for your kids to have with lunch? And maybe a schedule for when your daughter should be offered water? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cups-daycare#post-2918290 Sun, 16 Aug 2020 15:28:29 +0000 Miss Ariel 2918290@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@meadow: both I guess. :silly: </p> <p>Pre-covid we’d bring a lunch with a drink and a separate water bottle for snack and on the playground.</p> <p>Now we have a lunch with a drink, but drink from disposable cups for snack and on the playground. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cups-daycare#post-2918289 Sun, 16 Aug 2020 15:27:20 +0000 Becky 2918289@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@meadow: My assumption was that they didn’t want the kids mixing their cups up. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cups-daycare#post-2918288 Sun, 16 Aug 2020 13:35:23 +0000 meadow 2918288@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MountainBaby: Thank you for sharing. Yes - very interesting to see the difference!</p> <p>@SweetCaroline: Thank you!!! Yeah - that is crummy that adults can't be trusted to wash a cup daily :( :( If that is the reasoning. *yay* about getting your water fountains decommissioned - I totally agree about little kids and water fountains! haha. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cups-daycare#post-2918287 Sun, 16 Aug 2020 13:25:58 +0000 SweetCaroline 2918287@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@meadow: That is really frustrating to not understand the thought process behind the procedure change.</p> <p>I would also be upset about the water thing, especially given that they will all drink out of identical cups and presumably, will not have as easy ad hoc access as before. My guess is they didn't want to rely on/trust parents to sanitize cups each night.</p> <p>On the milk front, in my state, if daycare provides the meal, they are required to offer milk to the children at each meal. Is that not the case in your state? You could get a doctor's note if it is important to you.</p> <p>ETA: I am involved in a leadership role in a daycare. We have not disallowed water bottles from home but we did (FINALLY) decommission our water fountain. Water fountains and daycare aged children do not mix! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cups-daycare#post-2918286 Sun, 16 Aug 2020 13:25:25 +0000 MountainBaby 2918286@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ours is the opposite actually! They used to rely pretty heavily on drinking fountains in the pre-k classrooms and thanks to Covid they closed all drinking fountains and asked us to send in a cup for each kid. Doesn’t help your situation, but an interesting difference! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cups-daycare#post-2918284 Sun, 16 Aug 2020 13:19:41 +0000 meadow 2918284@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@winter_wonder: Drinking fountain in the hallway --- not particularly child sized (lower than adult - but my kids at 4 weren't tall enough to really use it - aside from putting their mouth on the spigot - so I always vetoed that when they asked me to use it - haha.)</p> <p>Now that they aren't really leaving their classrooms - they won't pass the fountain in the hallway. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cups-daycare#post-2918283 Sun, 16 Aug 2020 13:13:05 +0000 winter_wonder 2918283@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@meadow: our center has always had this rule even pre covid, but I dislike it. Is there a drinking fountain there at all? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cups-daycare#post-2918282 Sun, 16 Aug 2020 13:12:12 +0000 meadow 2918282@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Miss Ariel: I'm confused - do you send a water bottle or no? It sounds like they use disposable cups at your school but then in the third part you said you do send a water bottle/thermos. sorry. :(</p> <p>@Becky: We were told we cannot send in any cups. If I'm going to fill the thermos with milk, then what would be the point of pouring it into a cup vs just letting my child drink from it?</p> <p>I'm not trying to be obstinate or rude with you ladies. I'm just trying so hard to wrap my mind around this when it doesn't make sense as a solution to any problem.... </p> <p>I really don't want dinner to be the only time my kids drink milk all day long - they will chug the daily recommended 2 cups of milk and not be hungry for dinner :( :( :( </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cups-daycare#post-2918281 Sun, 16 Aug 2020 13:07:15 +0000 Becky 2918281@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Can you just ask them to pour the milk in one of the disposable cups? I don’t think them only using disposable is very odd. At my kids daycare they could get their own water (the classrooms had small sinks). I’m guessing they toss the cups after every use. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cups-daycare#post-2918280 Sun, 16 Aug 2020 13:04:58 +0000 Miss Ariel 2918280@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@meadow: prior to covid our daycare asked everyone to bring in a water bottle everyday. They started this about a year ago to attempt to create less trash.</p> <p>Since they’ve reopened they no longer want us to do so and are back to using disposable water cups instead.</p> <p>We do have to pack a lunch though and can send a water bottle or thermos for them to have when eating lunch. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cups-daycare#post-2918279 Sun, 16 Aug 2020 12:59:31 +0000 meadow 2918279@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Nonimouse: Thanks! Yes - I do think its covid related...... and kids drinking from eachother's cups ... however, I don't see how that is easier to police if all of the kids have the exact same disposable cup now.</p> <p>I have 2 concerns.... my son is basically a camel and needs very little to drink, but my daughter is a water guzzler. So I am worried she will get enough water/stay hydrated (which has a direct correlation to her having super difficult poops).</p> <p>My second concern is milk. I drop off my kids at 6:30am - so they eat breakfast at daycare. In the past, They went in with a funtainer thermos of milk (12 oz) that they would drink at breakfast and lunch in addition to having access to their water cups anytime they were thirsty. Now they *might* get milk at lunch if its not too hard for the teachers (when we buy lunch, I select that I want milk served) but my friend who's child has been going since June says that they get water or juice most days regardless of the fact that mom has selected milk for all lunches.</p> <p>I TOTALLY get it from the teacher's perspective. It seems like a total PITA to fill little cups of water for snack and lunches and probably after playground time. It sounds even more like a PITA to keep track of which kids get milk vs juice vs water ... so just give them all juice because juice makes kids happy.</p> <p>But I'm not really okay with it......................................... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cups-daycare#post-2918278 Sun, 16 Aug 2020 12:35:42 +0000 Nonimouse 2918278@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Obviously you won't know until you ask, but i would assume its covid related and only using disposables to minimize risk of germ sharing via kids using each others cups.</p> <p>Why are you concerned about this new policy? Are you worried about the kids not getting enough to drink? I would suggest raising your concern about the specific worries you have, rather than about the policy in general so that you can work together to find a solution that works for everyone. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cups-daycare#post-2918277 Sun, 16 Aug 2020 12:21:01 +0000 meadow 2918277@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our daycare reopened in June and implemented a no cups from home for all children over 18 months.</p> <p>We are getting ready to send our 4yos back in 2 weeks and amongst other things, that is a policy I want to question - to understand WHY.</p> <p>Does anyone else have this new rule post covid reopening at their school or understand why?</p> <p>The daycare gives little plastic throw away cups (maybe 5oz?).... I guess when kids have snack/meal). </p>