Ew! Kid Germs!

I’m a first-grade teacher. Because I have to talk all day, I keep a water bottle with me. My bottle is metal and not see-through. I usually fill it with lemonade or iced tea, but any time the kids ask me what I’m drinking, I tell them it’s water so they don’t get curious and ask for a taste.

During an activity one day, I’m checking on a few of my students when I hear a boy behind me shout:

Boy: “THIS ISN’T WATER!”

I turn around, and the boy is standing by my desk, drinking from my water bottle.

Me: “[Boy]! Put down my water bottle!”

Boy: “It’s not water! What is it, Miss [My Name]?”

Me: “It’s lemonade. But a better question is, why are you drinking it? You know better than to take other people’s food or drinks. It’s bad manners.”

Boy: “I was curious. It’s really good!”

Kids — gotta love them. I did give the boy a short time-out for breaking the rules and taking something that wasn’t his, and I quietly mentioned the incident to his dad when he picked the boy up after school, but ultimately, this is just one of those things that teachers learn to deal with. All I could really do was wash my bottle that night and start leaving it on a higher shelf that none of the kids can reach.