Sippy cup pitfalls

As I was showing the nanny how well Emil drinks out of a glass, she looked at me in surprise, and then said, "No one can believe me that he's using the potty already at 6 months. They're gonna think I'm crazy when I tell them that he drinks out of a regular cup."

When Esme was 5 months old, my mom visited us and announced that Es was ready to learn how to use a regular cup. Jacob and I looked at each other in surprise, but we didn't stand in her way. Sure enough, Esme knew just what to do when that cup was lifted to her mouth. Jacob recently announced that Emil was ready, and he likewise took to the cup quickly. I still remember the day that Esme's daycare teacher told me that she was teaching the children how to use a cup at school. Esme was the youngest of her students at that time, and I said something about Esme always using regular cups at home, to which the teacher responded, "No wonder she's the only one who doesn't spill."

In a consumer world, we easily forget that there was a time that we didn't have all these gadgets, like sippy cups. People honestly think that a baby can't drink out of a regular cup! We use sippy cups at our house, but only for certain situations, like riding in a car or going to bed, where spills are more likely. Those are the times that I can see why someone invented the sippy cup. But using sippy cups all the time just slows our children's learning curve. They never learn how to handle a regular cup, and when it's time to take the sippy cup (or the bottle) away from an older toddler, you tend to meet with resistance.

I'm sure that there are plenty of other baby gadgets that we have come to depend on unnecessarily. Yes, these things can make our lives easier in the short run, but by becoming overly dependent on them, I don't think we let our kids learn to do the things that they are capable of for themselves.