iteles
commented
1 year ago Alex continues to over-fill glasses and switch on taps without anything to catch the water just because he loves to see the water flow. Over-using 'no' for something like this (which is just the purest form of joyous experimentation) seems like a waste of the word and taking it away has equally begun to feel like we're depriving him.
I want to nurture his ability to play with water keeping two key things in mind:
- I don't want him to run taps and waste water for 10 minutes at a time
- We do need him to be able to run water so that he can experiment with the flows but without having to constantly refill the container and also without worrying about the floor.
As such, I would suggest we trial a play sink which re-uses the same running water for the length of the play session _(it should be emptied and dried out at the end of the play session to keep the water from getting gunky and everything running smoothly).
YES, there is an open question of teaching him the difference between this play and exploration and when he fills a glass elsewhere. But hopefully we can be clear that the container is the difference. Water all over the floor or other things is not good.
I would much prefer to just let him use a real (possibly proportionately sized) sink but I can't justify the water waste of a constantly running tap ♻️
I have researched these extensively online and the majority of them were:
- Fuuuuuuuuuugly
- Come with tons of extra plastic (food, crockery, pretend bottles of detergent - all stuff we don't need/want 'pretend' versions of)
- Constantly breaking down according to reviews
This is just one example: https://amzn.to/3U09XxO
After much research, I purchased this one to try out for two very particular reasons:
- It fits the criteria of reusing the running water
- The design is simple and unobtrusive (white mostly) and the lovevery branding is surprisingly not obnoxious on this one product
- Even this sink is not infallible and there are talks of the pump breaking online however lovevery products have a warantee which is very easily triggered and they will relatively quickly send you a replacement pump without fuss if you report the issue to them - this point was essentially what sold it to me despite this being a lovevery product
I will happily sell the rest of the stuff on to people who will appreciate the company's products (obnoxiously branded as they are).
@nelsonic If after A has played with this you feel that you still can't stand the company/over-branding, we'll move on and create our own version of this. I just felt it was a very low priority to make our own given how much else we have on and there is a lot of water experimentation that Alex will enjoy with this 👍
I put together a water station that quickly failed miserably (for obvious reasons lol) I didn't have the chance to "introduce" the concept to Alex. I should have also warned everyone that looks after him to "get ready" as it is very important to reinforce "this water is for drinking" and if he keeps playing with it (which he will in the beginning) consistently say "let's find some water that we can play with". Don't let him play with the drinking water. Once the station has been set up, staying close with him is ideal. If you can see that he is going to pour (or play with) the drinking water, say no or take the water away. I THINK some strict reinforcement should only need to last a short time before he (hopefully!) gets the message.
Note: Spilling is an important part of the process. He will learn to refine his motor control through the desire not to spill eventually.