Let’s face it, parents with toddlers have long been waiting for that magic sippy cup to come along. One that doesn’t have 10 pieces to take apart and wash, one that
• really
• does not leak, one that your child will accept, and one that helps teach them how to drink like a big kid. This is what we want! When I first saw the concept behind this AVENT “My First Grown Up Drinking Cup” I thought, here, this might finally be it!It’s not.While I was originally very excited to try it out, I was very disappointed with it’s performance. The design seemed like a very good idea, a sort of plate in the center of the cup gets pushed back (very easily) by the nose or upper lip when drinking, this breaks the rubber “seal” allowing liquid to pass through. The child can drink from any angle on the cup. So, as a reviewer I couldn’t just give it to my 3-year-old daughter to try out, I wanted to try the flow for myself. I drank from this cup myself, and was frustrated! I don’t want to give it to my child because it’s a very dissatisfying flow. No one likes to have liquid slowly leaked into their mouth when they’re thirsty and really need a drink! My 3-year-old and 11-month-old like to gulp it down. So I really don’t think this drinking/sippy cup works well in that respect.As far as leaking, upon it’s first use, I tipped it upside down over the sink, and a slow but steady drip came from the cup. It is not leak proof. Furthermore, seeing as it takes very little pressure to push back the sealing mechanism, this cup could very easily create a decent sized spill if it leaned against a toy the wrong way. This is at least one thing most modern sippy cups have going for them, they need at least some suction to spill a true puddle.Finally, after giving the product some thought as far as it’s “training” capabilities, I decided there’s no point to a drinking cup like this. Here’s the thing, your toddler or young child is
• still
• , at some point, going to have to learn to drink from a real adult glass. There is no way around it, this doesn’t teach a child not to spill, it doesn’t teach a child not to pick up a glass recklessly, or how to learn to balance a glass in the hand so that liquid stays put. So the entire concept of this being like a “real cup” doesn’t mean much to me. At some point, all children have to learn the motor skills it requires to balance a glass in their hands without spilling, and like it or not, that’s going to require some spillage and some messes. The only thing sippy cups or even “drinking cups” like this teach a child is how to drink from that exact cup. There is no magical training cup that can teach them to know how to handle a real glass.That said, seeing as this cup does still leak and provides very slow flow, I can’t see how this product could possibly be better than your standard sippy cup out there. If you’re looking for leak proof, I say go with one of those Nuk sippy cips that come with caps–because there is no true leak-proof sippy cup (not that I’ve been able to locate yet–and we’ve seemingly tried them ALL!) And if you want to try and teach your child to drink from a “grown up drinking cup”, skip this and hunt down an unbreakable mug or cup with handles and start giving your child water in it to practice. I can’t recommend wasting your money on this product.