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Spills
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I have two children who are constantly spilling. They’re either knocking over water cups or bowls of oatmeal or whatever. I have no idea how they seem to do it. They are required to sit on their bottoms at the table. I’m always sitting there with them, and still we have spills all the time.
We recently purchased a juicer and have been making our own carrot juice. Now we have stained clothes because they spill the juice.
Just wondering what I can do to fix this problem? Is their a natural consequence for carelessness?
Blessings,
Lindsey
We don’t replace the spilled food/drink (once they are old enough to be careful, and if this is a constant problem). Hunger and thirst are good motivators 🙂
Gaeleen
My first thought was, maybe the only “fix” for this is to wait till they are older! 🙂 Obviously helping clean up the mess is a place to start. I personally, would not take it much farther than that, in the situation you’ve described. I want my children the “freedom” to be kids and make mistakes like that without it being a big deal. But I’m a pretty laid back mom.
I don’t know how old your kiddos are, mine are all under 7 and what I’ve done before is to make a placemat with a circle on it showing where to keep the cup when you aren’t drinking. It helps them actually see that it shouldn’t be right on the edge. As Alice said, have them clean it up every time. We also don’t allow storytelling with gestures at the table if that made sense:) We also work very hard on not reaching for things, ask someone to pass it to you instead of trying to get it yourself, that’s how most spills seem to happen at our house. If I have a child that shouldn’t be spilling anymore but seems to be continually doing it because of carelessness, we go to a sippy cup for a few times/days and then move back to the cup, they think it’s funny at first then not so funny after a few times. It eems like something that’s not a big deal but it makes for a lot of towel laundry, and unfortunately frustration on my part. If each child has spilled even just once per meal, that’s 15 spills at our house so it tends to wear me out, my sin of impatience though, not their fault.
I feel that a 7yo should be past spilling all the time. I understand the occasional spill, as I am 28 and still knock over a glass of water every once in a while. I do feel that their spilling is beyond “normal”, age-appropriate mishaps.
I like the idea of a placemat to indicate where the cup goes when it’s not in use. My dh suggested going back to a sippy cup, but I just exclaimed, “At 7 and almost 6?! Seriously?!”
It does create a lot of extra, frustrating work for me, although I do have them help in cleaning it up. They do a good job if it’s only water, but the fresh carrot juice is another story. We didn’t have juice at all before buying a juicer, and we did that for the health benefits of raw fruit and veggie juice. Today, I simply told them they were not allowed juice for a while until I felt I could trust them to be more careful. This is the best consequence I could think of because they not only enjoy the fresh juice, but they also enjoy making the juice themselves, which they are able to do.
Yes, it’s my sin of impatience, but eventually we just have to move past all the spills.
I, too, am not a fan of spills, Lindsey. This will pass! I think I remember mine using a sippy cup without the white suction insert for a bit-as a training tool. Some will spill if it is knocked over, but not nearly as much as a regular glass.
My dd recently read some of the Grandma’s Attic stories to me-one of them was when Mabel earned the name “slop-tot” from her brothers for all her many spills. That chapter ends with her embarrassing herself at the pastor’s home by flinging mashed potatoes and gravy onto another guest.
At 5 and 7 I would use waterbottles, not sippy cups.
Also, a child who spills regularly due to carelessness (over age 4) only has water to drink, no matter what everyone else is having. We use cups with lids and straws or our water bottles, however I am constantly reminding them where to place their cups while eating. I always make sure their cups are in front of their plates/bowls not on the sides. I even do this with our 4 yr old. It really helped them alot to be aware of where their cups are at all times during the meal, instead of just handing them a cup with a lid. My children really like drinking out of straws so we do that sometimes as well mainly with our 4 year old though!
We made sure we had glasses for the kids with wide bases and heavy bottoms. That avoids spills from a minor bump, takes away your frustration, and sets the child up for success. When a child bumps a glass or places it too near the edge you still have the teachable moment (“Uh oh, you almost knocked your glass over and made a mess. Please slow down and be careful.”) but you hopefully avoid some of the cleanup.
Lindsey,
What if you used a water bottle type container for their juice, then rinse it and use it for their water for the rest of the day? That would cut down on spilling, they could take it with them outside to enjoy the springtime mornings, etc. and you would definitely know when they at least initially filled their water bottle (re: other post ). It’s not a sippy cup, it does cut down on the spilling, and in the mean time you can work on being careful/ aware of all extremities while sitting at the table perhaps?
Just a thought.
(FWIW, I do remember the days of what seemed like endless spills. This too shall pass, mama, and will be a memory in the not so distant future. Even my less graceful youngest no longer spills much anymore.
)I have a chronic spiller myself. She is 6 1/2 now. But until she turned 6, UGH! I think she is just plain clutzy. 🙂 She has been getting better, now that she’s older, but she still spills at least once a week or so. Instead of putting her back into a sippy cup (my dh said the same thing as yours, and I said the same thing as you LOL), I just let her reap the consequences of spilling. No more whatever-she-spilled. Spilled your milk? Sorry, that’s all you get. (We also have the rule of only 1 cup of milk per day, and 1 cup of juice per day, so double consequence when she spills one of those.)
Our kids use the heavy bottom glasses, too, when they use them. And, if they accidently bump the glass I say, “Whoa, that was close!” And, I always remind them to keep it in front of them, not off to the side.
We also use cups with lids that have straws, especially for my 8yo (who is notorious for flinging, dropping, losing his food for some reason:) and 5yo.
I grew up in a house where if you spilled anything it was the end of the world, I can not do that to my kids. It is something that needs to be addressed (being careful and not wasteful), but I can’t make them feel bad about a mistake. My step dad used to get upset (and I mean very upset) over the smallest of things (minor mistakes/forgetfulness) but not over things that really matter. He was a strange bird. Anyway, he also made it very difficult to be ourselves for fear of making a mistake. I know this is not what you’re asking (a little too much emotion attached to that you could say), but…..
Water and the natural consequence that you are doing is good:)
I did allow them to pick out some metal water bottles from Old Navy this weekend. They have a pop-up lid and a cap, and there have been no leaks or spills from those yet. The water stays pretty cold, and they can stick it in the fridge overnight and continue drinking the next day. It has helped me to be sure they’re getting adequate water.
I never thought of putting their morning juice in those bottles. Duh…
It’s hard for me to not use normal glasses for mealtimes. It has always been important to me to have a pretty table, nicely sat at every meal. Breakfast is the only meal in our house when we don’t use the placemats and cloth napkins. I just like having a pretty table. So, I would prefer that they learned how to drink out of a normal drinking glass, rather than the monkey-and-flower water bottle my dd picked out. ya know??
I did make it a point not to make them feel bad about spilling. I explained that accidents happen to everyone, and that’s why we have to always be sure we’re not being careless. I honestly think the majority of our spilling problem is plain carelessness. I understand that there are lots of worse things that could happen, and I really don’t want to put more emphasis on this than necessary. However, it is something which happens often, and I think these spills could be avoided with a little more care.
Thanks for all the great ideas! I’m going to put a few of them together and see if it helps!
Blessings,
Lindsey
Also, a child who spills regularly due to carelessness (over age 4) only has water to drink, no matter what everyone else is having. 
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