Here's a quick idea for you parents (or anyone around children) out there. So, after a baby has moved on from the baby bottle, their parents usually transition them to a sippy cup. I get it. We did too. But then, where do you go from the sippy cup?
There are a lot of advantages to sippy cups; they travel well and they don't break easily or spill when they're inevitably knocked over (spilling being a big reason parents like them). As you can probably guess from my other posts, I avoid using plastic when possible, ESPECIALLY when it comes to food and drink. So, really early on, as soon as they could hold a cup, we gave the kids their drinks in stainless steel cups that my dad brought back from India (love these things). Well, that took care of my aversion to plastic, but what about the spills and such? Just like plastic, these stainless steel cups are very lightweight and can be knocked over easily, which happens often with small children. And, like regular cups and many glasses, their bases aren't as wide as their tops, which also makes them easy to knock over.
So, we moved on to the best thing ever: Coffee mugs! We have 1.3 million coffee mugs cluttering up our kitchen cabinets. Well, now we have the perfect use for them. This is what's so awesome about having small kids use coffee mugs instead of sippy cups or regular cups:
1. BEST REASON: They are VERY hard to knock over because they are heavy, lower to the table, and their cylindrical shape gives them a sturdy base that is the same size as the top (so it's not top heavy).
2. They are not plastic. Yay! Less landfill waste.
3. They have handles, which make it easier for kids to hold the cup.
4. They teach kids how to drink out of regular glasses instead of having that plastic piece in their mouth like a baby bottle.
5. They're SUPER easy to clean because you don't have a bunch of little parts to it. So, nowhere for mold to grow.
6. You probably already have these, so you don't need to buy anything new. Plus, you don't have to clutter up another cabinet with these since you probably already have a cabinet cluttered up with a bunch of coffee cups (like me)!
If you can get an espresso sized mug, that's great for super small children. We just use regular coffee mugs because our kids handle them just fine.
This doesn't totally replace a water bottle because kids + mugs are not great for travel, but this a great idea for home. Hope you found that helpful!