I don’t know why children love drinking straws so much, but I have not yet met a child who does NOT like straws. But in fact the small plastic parts are harmful to the environment and will be banned in Europe, so we have been looking for an alternative to those disposable and polluting parts.
No more throw-away tubes
It started with my older daughter. At one point she found it funny to use a drinking tube. In the beginning, when she was just learning to drink from a glass, we found that quite cute, but at some point it became annoying that she didn’t want to drink juice, tea, milk, etc. just normally from her cup or glass.
Imagine you are sitting in a cafeteria and the child refuses to drink her juice or cocoa because she cannot get a tube. We even used to take drinking straws with us from home in our backpack for a while – you never know. But when our daughter was three, we thought she was really old enough to grow out of this habit. Not to mention the fact that this constant use of disposable tubes, which then end up in the garbage, made me feel really guilty. And then in 2018 came the EU regulation that disposable straws will be banned. That was the ultimate wake-up call!
The alternative:
Reusable and sustainable drinking straws
There are several alternatives to plastic drinking straws. For example drinking straws made of bamboo or paper. The disadvantage of these is that they still need to be disposed of after use. The alternative that convinced us the most are reusable straws made of stainless steel. These are available in various household shops or via the Internet. You can use them over and over again. Depending on the brand, you can also get a small brush that allows you to easily clean the tubes.
My big daughter now drinks without any problems even without drinking straws, but in some moments (for example for her tea) she still likes to use them. Apart from the fact that in the meanwhile we are a family of four, and the little one has of course picked up some habits from her older sister.
A great solution when on the road:
Bottles with integrated drinking straw
And what about when you are on the road? My husband found these practical BPA-free stainless steel bottles from Greenssteel with integrated drinking straw. Not only are they indestructible and easy for children to handle (you just have to fold the mouthpiece upwards to drink, which is easy for smaller children to do compared to other bottles with other closures), but they also have a straw system integrated directly into the closure.
They are available in different beautiful colors. What is particularly practical is that this saves the “I pull the tube out of the bottle/glass and drip the liquid all over me” problem. In addition to the great Sigg bottles that we have been using for years, the Greensteels have become an absolute must.
Happy children, happy parents, happy environment.
Are you looking for more product recommendations? Check here.
