My daughter doesn't drink with a sippy cup at the table ever. We decided that sippy cups are only for the car and her bedtime water in her room. She also can't take drinks out of the kitchen. This eliminates the "open cup all over the house" problem. Of course we only have one kid so it's pretty easy to keep track of the cups. Also we started these rules before she was old enough to even realize it. She's been using a regular cup at the table since she was 2. We've had our share of milk all over the table but I think it's worth it when we go to a restaurant that doesn't have cups with tops!

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My 2.5 year old hasn't really used sippy cups since May. I've found that he's one of those kids that will absolutely resist any changes he's not ready to make, but once he's ready, he doesn't look back. I know kids that tried to drag their sippy cups to kindergarten, so I don't think it's the end of the world that your 3 year old hasn't transitioned to regular cups.

I'm a SAHM and I can appreciate the sheer amount of messes a toddler/preschooler can make when they get distracted with an open cup. We have the two hand rule, which helps prevent spills. If you walk with your cup, you use two hands. He also likes to use straws, which seems to result in fewer spills for us. We tossed our sippy cups last month, and I've found that he's become much better about remembering to pay attention to what he's doing with his cup.

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#2 son used a sippy way too long - we finally took it away at 5 - it was the only way he would fall asleep and we took the easy road and are paying the price (2 cavities and still struggles to fall asleep...) #3 - our daughter who's 3 now - uses a sippy for night time water and that's about it. Sometimes she'll ask for juice in a sippy. But at meals, since she was about 2 1/2 - she's had a cup.

You're right - they spill and I've had to put my foot down that they can't walk around w/cups - they can have it in the living room if they're watching tv - or at the table - that's it. And yes- rare is the meal that something doesn't get spilled - but it's as likely to be the big boys (5 & 7) as the little girl. Guess I'm used to it...

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My daughter used hers until about 3.5, simply because I was too lazy to deal with the mess. We have always limited all drinking to the kitchen table, and she is good about cleaning up her own spills, but I'm kind of a neat freak and the spills really bothered me. I don't see the big deal about getting rid of sippy cups at a certain age, unless your daughter really wants to use a regular cup. Mine couldn't care less what type of cup she drinks out of, it's just that now she's neat enough for a regular cup, and I am tired of washing all those sippy cup parts.

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Our 2 1/2 year old is completely capable of drinking out of a regular cup, or a straw, but most of the time we still give her the sippy cup. She likes it, and doesn't spill drinks all over the family room. Can't really see a problem with it.

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If you can find them, try transitioning to Ziplock Cups. You can stick a normal straw in it and you can also use it without a straw through the little flip-top bit on the lid. I loved these and they were much easier to clean than sippy cups (not a lot of parts).

Any time my son was "learning" to use a regular cup without a lid, though, we just practiced with water. I think it's a good skill to have. If you only use cups with lids, then your kid doesn't really have to learn to be careful. So the timing of that skill is really up to you.

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