Tuesday, June 27, 2006

World Cup

Sippy cup manufacturers need to come to an international agreement in regards to the way they manufacture their goods. Not necessarily the sippy cups them selves, because I like all the different shapes and size and colors and handles options, but more so in the way they make the little-rubber-stopper-sucky-prevent-leakage thing that fits into the lids of the sippy cups.

We have multiple cups in our house. There is one for milk, one for juice, one or two for water, and of course some back up cups. These little rubber pieces need to get washed everyday otherwise mold will grow in them. The problem with the rubber-stopper-sucky thing is, is that I have to figure out which cup gets which rubber-stopper-sucky thing. Not one brand of sippy cup is compatible with another brand. If I put the wrong one in the wrong cup there is potential for spillage. Or maybe the suckage/flow factor does not work for a specific cup and Max gets frustrated and ends up throwing the thing across the room.

I have another issue with the way these plunger devices are made. These rubber plunger type things are usually two sided with one side that fits into the mouthpiece of the cup and the other side that fits into the airflow hole on the under side of the lid. Most of them are made out of a clear rubber with a clear arrow printed on them to indicate which side goes into the mouthpiece and which is for airflow. These things are small and they are already clear. How am I supposed to see a tiny clear arrow on a tiny clear piece of rubber at 5 in the morning? Bad design I tell you.

So I propose a universal rubber-stopper-sucky thing for all sippy cups. Gerber, Playtex, Avent and what ever other company listen up. It would make my life easier.

Google search is going to have a field day with these keywords.

19 comments:

Unknown said...

Just a thought here, William... If you get all the same TYPE of sippy cups, you won't have to figure which rubber-stopper-thingy fits with which cup. The lids are universal, too.

As for the arrow -- I'm with you on that one...

Effie said...

you should work one out and patent it--I'm SURE you'd be a millionaire out of the deal!

Anonymous said...

I second the motion.

Unknown said...

I was gonna say what kelli said. At my house we are engineers and we call them check valves. We don't need no stinkin' arrow thingy to know which way to line them up. Oh yeah, I also highly recommend Take and Toss sippy cups, which work perfectly to prevent leakage but have no small pieces to wash.

Anonymous said...

Now that's what I'm talking about! Me stumbling around, bleary-eyed and trying to cram the darn thing into the spout, just so I can give it to my son who will promptly through it out of the crib because he can't suck anything out at 3:00 am is really, really wearing me out. So I whole-heartedly support a universal rubber sucky thing!

Nichole said...

I agree! You should start a petition! I'd sign that for sure!

Michelle said...

I'm with Mainline Mom on the Take and Toss stuff. It's really all we use anymore. Now that they have straw cups too, it's the best. Use them, wash them, toss them when they get too grubby (or left with some juice on the bottom and "lost" in a toy box for a week or so.)

Brian said...

I wholeheartedly recommend the Nuby sippy cup. Not only have they figured out a way around the rubber valve thingy, but they also cost less than $3 at your local CVS.

Anonymous said...

I get that. Some cups are cute or on sale or whatever so you end up with all different kinds. The Nuby ones ($1.79 at Target) aren't bad as the spout is just a big rubber piece that fits in the plastic ring. They just aren't as long lasting as the playtex ones. The Take & toss are good but are short lived. I HATE AVENT sippies. The hard plastic thing and the soft ruber thing and then the spout. Then after getting those together they go into the big hard plastic ring. WTF!? And all he really wants to do is drink out of my cup or water bottle.

Milliner's Dream, a woman of many "hats"... said...

Hey, you need to update the scorecard/nutrition label below your masthead!

Kids: 2 NOW!

Anonymous said...

I Agree 100%!! If you need a letter of support or want me to sign a petition count me in :)

I find them really hard to clean as well. I have to keep a tooth brush around just to clean the little rubber part.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

For some reason, this post reminds me of high school sex ed class. What with the arrowed diagrams and what-goes-where discussion. And the proposal for using a universal rubber-stopper-sucky thing.

Jewl said...

I think it is male thing... neither my husband or father can figure them out either.
You can look at this way, at least your problem has to do with a cup and not some kid sucking on your boob.

Anonymous said...

It's like how car models change each year...they keep changin'...you keep buyin'

Anonymous said...

my husband has the same problem. i'm a big fan of the playtex sippy cups but i have to admit that those freakin' little clear arrows are nearly impossible to see!

so if he empties the dishwasher, which happens sometimes because i prefer to load rather than empty, he'll just put all the little - rubber - stopper - sucky - prevent - leakage things in a pile and "let" me assemble the cups.

so when he needs a sippy cup for our daughter, they're usually prepped and ready to go because you see - i am the queen of sippy cupdom.

LizzieDaisy said...

lmao about the Google search thing... how true, looking back on some of the words you used!! And is "suckage" a word? If not, it should be. :)

Cat said...

A "universal rubber-stopper-sucky thing"?

William, I marvel at your masterful command of the vernacular of the people. And by "the people" I mean the people who are butt-tired because there's a brand new baby in the house, plus a toddler, and they can't think of the names of whatchcallits and whozits and they just don't care damn it and if they have to listen to Barney ONE MORE TIME so help them GOD...

Seriously. Kudos.

kittenpie said...

Oooh, I like this idea. However we circumvented the whole issue by buying all Gerber cups, which, even if they are of different sizes/chapes/colours, are interchangeable.