Just because kids can do.. doesn't mean they should do. DH lets DD1 (3 yrs) drink from a glass cup. I am furious as this has been a dinner once in a while thing to a living room all the time thing. He even started letting DD2 (20mo) do it. I say something every time.
Well... I just said, "It's going to really matter when you leave your glass on the table overnight and the next morning when she sees it she is going to think it's okay to take a sip, it slips, and smashes on the floor. And, I'll be the one to have to deal with it and the girls if they get hurt."
He goes, "It's okay because she knows she can only do it when there is adult supervision."
LMFAO!!!! Like a 3 year old really understand adult supervision.... seriously DH?
Re: DH is an idiot sometimes! Can do vs. should do.
At first I thought you were talking about an open cup and I was going to tell you to cool your jets-- but a glass cup? Is he serious?!
I'd pack all the glass up and tell him that if he wants the girls to drink out of our cups, we'll be drinking from plastic. Then go buy some of those cheap plastic tumblers from Walmart.
Yeah, this. DD's Montessori has all sorts of breakable, glass, porcelain containers and cups, and at first, I was concerned, but it's really taught DD how to be careful with stuff. So, for your 3 year old, I wouldn't be worried. I might be more concerned with the 20 month old.
I guess my question would be, why is he giving them glass cups? Do they not have regular cups (not sippy) of their own? If they do, then I agree with you. Using glass seems silly. If not, then I kind of agree with your DH. It is a skill they will have to learn to do. As long as they are good about following the rules (use both hands, only when supervised, etc) I wouldn't worry about it.
DD's been using glass at the table since... oh, a few months now. She's not broken a single one, but we do watch her carefully. And she *does* know to leave glass alone if we're not around (and she's pretty darn good about it too). If it breaks, yeah, I'll have to be the one to deal with it. And she'll learn about glass breaking, but she won't necessarily get hurt by it.
Heck, *I've* broken things that she's seen break and we had to keep her out of the kitchen to keep her safe. Unless you remove all glass, even for yourselves, there's always the risk of a glass breaking.
So, I don't thinks it's completely unreasonable.depending on your child and your household. But you guys do need to come to an agreement on it.
yeah I don't see the big deal.
We let LO use a glass. Not all the time, but if we're at someone elses house, or she wants a drink fo my water, or we're at the dinner table.
I've walked in the room to find her helping herself to a glass, and she's spilt stuff but never dropped it.
I often send her to the kitchen to put things on the bench like mugs and plates. She knows her limits, and when she's felt like she couldn't reach she called to me.
I suppose I see it as part of life. But then I'm not someone who safety gates the kitchen either when I'm in there cooking.
However, you know the capabilities of your own child, and you know what consequences you're willing to deal with, so I understand you being irked at DH.
Elizabeth 5yrs old Jane 3yrs old
I am shocked that this doesn't seem an issue to some. Why look for trouble? 3 years old is way too young. It's an accident waiting to happen. And for it to be in schools? I teach 2nd grade... never in a million years would I give any child a glass cup or anything else. That's looking for a lawsuit!
To each her own I guess.
I take it that you don't drive your children anywhere, then? Or give them baths in a bathtub? Because both of those are accidents waiting to happen - and which happen far more often than children being seriously injured due to glass.
My son is now 2 1/2 years old and uses glasses a good amount of time. We have the really thick bar like glasses that you can drop them and they don't really break ever. He has never dropped one and has been using them for at least 8 months. he knows he can have a drink, but than he has to put it back on the table. he dosen't walk around with it or anything, but he does the same with plastic cups. I do not see an issue with it.
DD has been drinking from a glass cup since about 20 months during mealtimes. I give her a plastic cup or a sippy if she's hanging out in the living room or if I'm doing stuff around the house. She also uses regular forks and spoons and eats off of regular plates and bowls
We have yet to have a fatality, and I certainly don't think I am courting disaster. I think I would die of laughter if DH thought I was endangering her.
I see both sides of it and also don't give my kids glass cups but a lot of drinking cups are pretty thick and sturdy...I would be more concerned if it were a thin type of glass like what a wine glass is made out of bc of how easily those break but I would be surprised to see a regular water glass like that...
That being said, when dd was about 2 1/2, she was standing on a stool on front of our sink after washing hands and I had left one of our pretty thick drinking glasses in the sink and she picked it up and put it to her mouth and it slipped and shattered on the granite counter between her and the sink...I am talking shattered, flew everywhere, and I have never even broken one of those, I have had them for over ten yrs....thankfully she was ok but I have to say it shook me bc of the fact that if a shard had flown toward her face it could have gone in her eye... Since then I have kind of steered clear of glasses w them unless I am right next to them while they drink it. But, sitting at a kitchen table is different, also, in terms of how something would fall and the material a table is made of is not like granite, which seems much easier to break things on, in my experience.
Again I get both points but is is pretty unfair...you have an easy option in the next cabinet to give a kid a plastic cup, the vast majority of ppl cannot opt to never go in a vehicle or bathe their child in a tub or shower.
If your worried about your kids getting harmed by picking up a glass that is left unattended on the table, wouldn't you want them to have experience handling glassware while supervised so that they know how to be careful and that it can be dangerous? I don't know your kids, but my DD is old enough and smart enough to know we have to be careful with glassware. I think your kids would be in more danger if they had no experience holding from or drinking from a glass. The weight and feel of glass is different from plastic, but easy enough to get used to if you have some experience. They see you drinking from glassware, they know what it's for, eventually one of them will pick up a glass whether they're allowed to or not
Also, I'm curious to know what age you think would be acceptable to use a glass?
I'm a Kinder teacher and as a teacher it has taught me to never underestimate the abilities of a child. My DD is able to be reasoned with, to a certain point of course, and if I were to let her have an occasional drink out of a glass cup then she would know it's only when mommy and daddy is present. Before DS came along I've occasionally left a glass on the coffee table overnight and DD knows not to touch it. My niece and nephew were taught by the grandparents to handle crystal tableware at a young age and they do wonderfully with it.
3 may be way too young for *your* child.
My son has been drinking out of cups since before he was 2. He has good motor skills and has yet to drop one/break it. If he was sitting at the kitchen table, the only way it could break/shatter is if it fell on the floor. If it did he's old enough to know not to go around playing with broken glass. I'd clean up the mess--no biggie.
You're likely doing far more dangerous things on a daily basis with your children. Personally I think raising kids in a bubble and not exposing them to things because there's a small possibility of it causing harm is an incredibly foolish thing to do. I don't think your DH is the one being an idiot here.
My question is what is in your DH cup if he leaves it out overnight?
is there alcohol in it? Then I would be upset.
But we have glass coffee tables and end tables. In 2 1/2 yrs DS has only broken one glass and that was my fault. I walked out of the room and left the glass on the table.
But we are more of the ones that don't have everything safety gated. In fact DS has his own play kitchen to play with while I'm cooking. He's very good at imitating. He even has pretend plastic silverware and cooking utensils. One of the "burners" makes a sizzling noise and the other bubbling water when there is a pot/pan on it.
At my older sisters house they have nothing but glass. Her kids are all grown and she purged all plastic to me. So when we are there DS drinks from a small juice cup with oranges on it. It's very cute.
I am really amazed. I cannot believe so many people would let their child use glass cups.
In answer to someone's question - I think 5 or 6 is good. At that age, their hands are at least a little bigger to grasp the glass. Condensation doesn't help little hands either.
3 year olds do not understand cause and effect all the time. And, when they are testing any and all limits at this age, I am not going to trust them.
There is plenty of time in their lives for me to trust them to use a glass cup. It's not a bubble I am keeping my girls in. I'd rather not have to run to the hospital with them needing stitches.
Plastic will do.
I'm surprised more mom's aren't worried about all the chemical leaching that can come from exposure to plastics...especially non-bpa free. I specifically got DD small, sturdy jelly jar glasses to drink from. She's been using them for the past year and a half without incident. nbd in my book.
With carpet, she'd REALLY have to be working hard to break one...and at that point even plastics can crack or shatter into sharp edges.
Unfortunately, we have hardwood floors in the entire house. No rugs.
I think you might not have a good grasp of child development--kids definitely understand cause and effect at 3. Again, maybe your kid is different, but mine wouldn't play with broken glass and listens when I tell him something could hurt him. Throwing stuff off the table to see my reaction is a stage he moved past long ago.
I also ditto limiting the use of plastic for health reasons. I don't think plastic everything is a beneficial way to raise kids but to each their own I guess.
That made me laugh. I teach primary children for a living. I have a good idea. And at 8 years old they don't have a good grasp at cause and effect. And if a 3 yr old did, he/she would never hit, say no, color on walls or tv, pick up scissors and cut his/her hair (listing a few things) or do anything that would be considered wrong.
I never attacked anyone besides my own DH, thanks.
I must have a child prodigy then because my almost 3 year old does many things to avoid injury because he knows that he can get hurt--like touching the stove, jumping off playground equipment, or flinging glass cups around the house.
Agree with the bolded. I don't see this as a huge deal. I wouldn't pick glass over plastic, but really I don't think your DH is "an idiot".
If DD was throwing or dropping glassware at 2+ I would probably talk to my pediatrician about getting her evaluated for some kind of learning disability. Like a PP mentioned, we are long past that stage. Also, if she broke a glass then started playing with the broken shards, I would be incredibly concerned with her mental capacity.
I just don't believe that children are maniacs by nature with no capacity for self preservation.
Yes, my child could climb to the top of the playground and dive off headfirst, but I trust that she wouldn't do that.
I think that there is something really beneficial in trusting a child, believing they are capable, and supporting them in independence.
Also agree with the concerns about plastic. If I was to get worked up about the health concerns of plastic vs. glass, I would certainly be more concerned with the overuse of plastic
That's the same as me driving a car and there being a potential accident. I can't stop driving my car but I sure as heck can protect my child from getting hurt by broken glass.
stainless steel lasts forever