The Safest-est Safety Cap

Before the end of school, my son’s preschool class went on a field trip.  It was a wonderful morning with a nature hike and ended with a fruit snack and water. 

The next day was Saturday and my son and husband were getting ready for their weekend jog (with the jogging stroller- let’s be practical).  My son thought the little water bottle that he brought home from his field trip was cool, so my husband went to refill that little water bottle to take on their jog… and the cap wouldn’t come off.

“Are you kidding me?”  I heard from the kitchen.  My son and I went in to see what Daddy was talking about, only to view Daddy looking incredulously at us.

“Did you fill my water bottle back up, Daddy?”

Daddy looked still disbelievingly at the 8 oz. bottle of spring water with added fluoride with the easy-twist open top and answered,
“No, the cap won’t come off… sorry buddy.”

While I reached up in the cabinet for the BIG NEON-BLUE Blue's Clues cup with a built-in straw (they will be jogging after all), complete with a bust of Blue on top, I looked at my husband again and asked perplexed, “Why won’t it come off?”

Reading off the label he explained… dramatically, that the non-removable cap reduces the risk of choking.

Choking?  Anything that is smaller than a matchbox car (being a boy mom, I reference everything in terms of cars) is a choking risk… a choking risk- for a baby.

Is a baby really strong enough and smart enough and have enough awareness to UNTWIST a cap from a water bottle?  I doubt it, but if they did I’m sure it would take more than the instant that it would take their mom to see that the little one was shoving a bottle top into their mouth.  Even on my most worn-out Friday afternoon anxiously awaiting Daddy to arrive home for the weekend, I am positive that I would have noticed my young child trying to fit a water bottle cap in their mouth.

Where do you draw the line?  At the park, a baby can choke on a little pebble that might catch their eye.  At the pool, a baby can choke on any of the small toys and parts of toys in the baby pool.  At the beach, a baby can choke on a fistful of sand.

When did this start?

This water bottle is great for little hands, the fluoride is great… but is a non-removable cap really necessary?

You can use it ONE TIME!

When ‘my guys’ got back from their jog my son got out of his jogging stroller,
walked his enormous Blue’s Clues cup over to me and stated,
“Mommy, I don’t want to use this cup again; it’s for babies.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell him,
“No sweetheart, you’re wrong.  According to manufacturers, the cool little water bottle that you like so much is for babies... 
You can untwist a Blue’s Clues cup.”

Original DC Metro Moms Post. Nicole Crowley also blogs over at BananaBlueberry.