I grew up in the 80's and never needed a water bottle. He will survive without one.

Therapist to son, in 30 years: "Do you think it was more than the water bottles that sent your mom off? How did that manifest itself? It can't have been the water bottles themselves, that would be crazy."

The fishing camp sounds like a very specific scenario where retrieving the bottle was likely difficult to impossible, so write that off as a loss. In ordinary circumstances, can you ask him about his water bottle when he gets in the car and send him back or go back with him to retrieve it? Also, order water bottle labels with his name and your phone number, and hopefully that will help.

Can you make him buy the replacement water bottles?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you keep sending a $40 hydro flask with a 7 year old then that’s on you

I don’t. It’s not a hydro flask and I don’t care about brands. I don’t care whether it’s hydro flask. I just need to send him with something that keeps water cold when he’s in outdoor settings for 8 hours daily in 90 degree heat. I have a couple of the bottles I prefer and in the meantime I basically scour places like Ross, buy nothing groups for things to use.

You don't need to. You want to.

Hot tip- freeze water in plastic bottles.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you keep sending a $40 hydro flask with a 7 year old then that’s on you

I don’t. It’s not a hydro flask and I don’t care about brands. I don’t care whether it’s hydro flask. I just need to send him with something that keeps water cold when he’s in outdoor settings for 8 hours daily in 90 degree heat. I have a couple of the bottles I prefer and in the meantime I basically scour places like Ross, buy nothing groups for things to use.

Insulated bottles aren’t expensive so I don’t know why you insist on martyring yourself at Ross

https://www.amazon.com/Gold-Armour-Sports-Water-Bottle/dp/B07QYL5V19/ref=mp_s_a_1_102?c=ts&keywords=Insulated%2BBottles&qid=1660128206&s=kitchen&sr=1-102&ts_id=13880501&th=1&psc=1

Send a cheap water bottle. It doesn’t have to be cold.

Anonymous wrote:If you keep sending a $40 hydro flask with a 7 year old then that’s on you

I don’t. It’s not a hydro flask and I don’t care about brands. I don’t care whether it’s hydro flask. I just need to send him with something that keeps water cold when he’s in outdoor settings for 8 hours daily in 90 degree heat. I have a couple of the bottles I prefer and in the meantime I basically scour places like Ross, buy nothing groups for things to use.

If you keep sending a $40 hydro flask with a 7 year old then that’s on you

Anonymous wrote:OP I like the expensive water bottles too. Can’t name the brand off the top of my head but after trying so many and finding ones I like i get it. I make her take the nice one to camp where it’s outdoors or places where I think it feels better to have cold water. I let her use the cheap ones for other things where the temp doesn’t matter as much. Is his name on them? How is he losing so many? DD is 10 and only ever lost one.

So for example DS was signed up for a fishing camp earlier this summer. Camp van picked him up daily and drove 12 kids around to different lakes in Fairfax county daily to fish. 90+ degree days fully outside, so I think it’s important to have an insulated metal bottle to keep water cold. 5 days of camp, and he lost two water bottles over the five days. In this instance I was prepared - one of my neighbors had given away a tub of water bottles and I found a few that I’d be ok losing (they were too tall to fit in my cabinet and had screw caps-also a non-starter for us bc I don’t think kid can keep track of caps that need to fully detach in order to drink).

Thanks for the suggestions But I guess the issue is that when he is at camp or goes to the beach or pool, and if it’s a regular bottle, the water becomes hot, not room temp. During regular school he’s already banned from good quality water bottles!

Anonymous wrote:Girl if you don’t send your child with a bottle of Deer Park on outings with other people!

I swear people make stuff harder than it needs to be.

Whatever reason you have in your head why he can’t take a disposable water bottle on outings with other people isn’t worth messing up the relationship with your son.

Plus 1

Think about it like this- what is more important to you, your son or the water bottle?

Stop making a big deal of this and let it go. Just stop.

Maybe I missed it, but you said "trigger". I kept waiting for you to explain what caused you to have PTSD around a water bottle. Some childhood trauma?

Please, please, stop using the word "trigger" when you mean "thing that bugs me". Trigger is something that sets someone off and reminds them of a major traumatic event (ie, child abuse, rape, some horrific natural event, witnessing a suicide)

Labels with your contact info on them. But also: disposable water bottles.