Manic Monday - Bottle It Up

My Monday was yesterday. And it wasn't too manic. In fact it was rather lazy - hence this post being up on a Tuesday! But I hope everyone had a lovely Easter with your families...

My tip for this week is about something that used to drive me crazy. Do the kids cups seem to multiply in your house? Turn your back and suddenly there are 7 of them, with various levels of various drinks still in them, littering around on every surface - and just waiting to be spilled?

I used to feel that unless I was constantly 'patrolling' the house, the cups got out of hand within minutes! But who was filling up the cups and giving them to Naomi and Ryan? Umm.... me! Enter behaviour modification, exit crazy cup explosions, multiple types of drink and regular spills.

Each of my children now has a drink bottle (Ryan's has a baby sipper top on it, rather than the sports type top). That drink bottle is all they get during the day, filled with cold water (I don't mind doing this - I don't like tepid water either). Naomi also gets a proper cup for meal times. One cup, which is rinsed out after each meal, and then used for her bedtime milk.

What are the benefits of using drink bottles?

• No more cups scattered around the house, for me to collect, so reduced washing up.
• I know how much each child has drunk, just by checking the level in their bottles... I don't have to guess how much they drunk from each different cup.
• Greatly reduced the requests for drinks other than water. Only water goes in drink bottles! Naomi has watered down apple juice in a cup, when she is sitting at the table for meals. Otherwise, it is water all day. This is saving us money too.
• In a family with several children, no more arguments over whose drink it is - write their names on their bottles and that is it.
• And my all-time favourite --- no more spills of sticky juice, or water, or milk... With Ryan cruising around the furniture and reaching for everything, this was driving me crazy!

The photos of drink bottles are examples I found at The Kids Store - how cute are they?!

Manic Monday is my way of sharing tips that are helping me to survive this parenting journey. Feel free to join in - just leave a comment to your own blog post, in the comments below!