Regular Cups

I just ordered some "big girl" cups for the girls. Is there a trick to getting them to learn how to drink from them without spilling the entire contents? I have heard to give them when they are eating their meals, but I still imagine they will be soaked by the end of the meal. Suggestions?

 

Start with very small amounts of liquid. You have to refill more often but it helps with not having to clean up as much. We also made the rule that open cups are only at the table or in the kitchen. If they want to walk around with it we give them their sippy cups back.

 

Thanks. How long did it take before they "got it"? Have you taken away their sippies for the most part or are they still getting the majority of their liquids from them?

 

It just takes practice. They both are pretty good now, I don't remember how long it took them to get it. They still drink mostly from straw sippies, but we use open cups at least once a day.

 

We use the straw sippies as well. Thanks for all the info.

 

Mine have been doing open cups exclusively for about, oh, I'd say 6 weeks or so, and it was led entirely by them. One day they just demanded that they wanted no lid when they were getting a quick drink of water and pretty much ever since then they've requested no lid. (Except, oddly enough, for the last 2 nights at dinner, they requested lids. They're 2, LOL. )

Anyway, we hadn't really practiced that much without lids, so we were really flying by the seat of our pants, but we did what Trish suggests, just started with little tiny amounts of liquid and letting them go at it. It really only took about 2 days of getting pretty soaked for them to figure it out, and now they only spill when they get distracted and knock it over accidentally with their elbow or something, not when they are actively drinking it.

Oh, I just thought of one other piece of advice -- use cups that are clear/translucent so they can see how much liquid is in there. That REALLY helps our girls. At first we were just using their regular/insulated sippies w/o lids and since they couldn't see how much was in there before tipping it up, they frequently overshot their mouths. We started using their take-n-toss sippies instead, which are transucent colors, and they imprived dramatically. Also they are a little shorter so I think that helps too.

Good luck!

 

I've been thinking about switching to open cups soon, but want to tackle the potty first! Have you seen the cups that have a wider base that makes them harder to tip? I wonder if they help at all? Does anyone have them?

 

We got some plastic wider based cups in the picnic area at Target (I think it was) for when our 3 year old was going to just regular cups. They weren't quite transperant, but you could see through them fairly well. They were the only plastic ones I could find at the time. About a week of some fairly big messes and she got the hang of it. Just don't put more in the cup than you are willing to clean up - learned that one the hard way...

 

These are some great tips. Thanks for posting them, we are learning this as well.

One of the things my kids are doing is using a tea set and we add a little bit of water to that and practice, although it seems like a lot of it does spill. Also, when we are in restaurants they want to drink from our cups instead of their sippy cups. So, we let them have some and watch them while they are drinking.

 

we started the boys on reg cups around 18 months. we just put a little in as most poster mentioned and really kept consistent about not putting things int he cups or dumping them or milk was all gone. they do great now with cups, forks and spoons! my big boys!!!

 

Thanks for all the fantastic advice. I have the take and toss cups. I think I will try it tonight at dinner. I thought those would be harder to use since they have the lip around the rim. I did order some princess cups for them as well. I can't remember if they were translucent, but I hope they were. :unsure:

 

We started with the take and toss cups. My girls picked up on how to drink out of the cup without spilling pretty quickly. The problem is that they like to play with the water or milk in the cup so we end up with a mess and I take the cups away. I need to get more consistent about using the open cup but I get tired of cleaning the mess.

 

Also, If you have an IKEA near you they have these great plastic kid cups that are perfect size for their little hands. The come in a pack of 6 and they are assorted colors. I think they are about $3.

 

We actually got the plates and silverware from IKEA last time we were there, but I didn't think about getting the cups. Whoops. Their stuff is great and cheap!

 

I have the IKEA cups and love them. And they are cheap. Mine have used them from about 18 months and they are the perfect size for little hands.