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04 August 2009
Posted in
Tilty Quest
Unfortunately the madness of mom and dad's needs superseding baby's needs continues.
Slate.com recently published an article by Chip Brantley about the best sippy cups, "Sippin' on Milk and Juice". (Which is really funny, growing up in the Snoop era). Like always the most important aspect Chip and his panel of experts decided was the leakproofness. Here is how it was labeled in his scoring chart.
Leakproofness (20 points): It has to keep the milk in the cup.
Let's take a quick moment to digest this. Slowly. "It has to keep the milk in the cup."
And we wonder why so many kids struggle with sippy cups and parents buy 5 different ones to find the best one. Sippy cups, or transitioning cups, are for helping little ones transistion to regular cups. It is the first step in independent feeding. Yet, we search for products that keep the fluids in, and wonder why they are stuggling to grasp the simple concept of drinking.
One of the problems with most sippy cup designs, designers, and companies, is that they continue to meet the mom's needs first. Even Chip admits that he didn't use any kids to help come to the conclusion of which sippy cups are best. Parent's main excuse for having to have the most leakproof cup on the planet is because, "My kid likes to throw his cup." At some point your child will need to learn that throwing a cup isn't a good idea. Unfortunately, there a lots of parents waiting until they're out at a restaurant, cleaning up the table and their lap, to start explaining that throwing cups is not acceptable. The excuse that, "It just isn't that easy." doesn't fly either. We stop children from sticking their fingers in sockets, touching the hot stove, crossing the street, banging the glass, etc. with destractions, explainations, and a few tears, but we do it. I have a 18 month old, and have just lived through this stage. For the second time.
The good thing is, most, actually all kids finally get the concept and stop throwing cups, and start drinking out of regular cups. Which is the reason we made a simple solution, to help the transition, that doesn't cost alot, and is easy to use. Sippy cups should be easy to use, help your child succeed in the first step of independent feeding, and be safe of chemicals and toxins.
