03/23/2022
At around your child's 2nd birthday, their fine motor skills and pincer grip develop more, making it possible for them to develop more self help skills, such as brushing their teeth and hair, as well as feeding themselves (the more you work on it, the less messy it becomes...I promise). Drinking out of an open cup not only helps with their independence, but it actually works on the muscles in their mouth and tongue which actually helps with speech and language development. Your little one has to learn how to control how much water gets put in their mouth and the tongue has to work to move the water around in their mouth, something that wouldn't really be worked on if they were drinking out of a sippy cup. These are all the same muscles that help form words.