How to rig a faucet extender for toddlers

Something they taught Maggie at daycare is to wash her hands. This seems to be part of her world now and not having perfectly washed hands at 22 months old seems absurd to her, so often times she’ll stand there and I’ll have to hold her up to help her reach the water.

Now, friends of ours have a faucet extender, we figured we’d be able to pick one up at our neighborhood wallyworld, since that’s where they got theirs (albeit in another town.) Nope. Something about all the places we go to is anathema to selling baby product we’d actually like to purchase.

So while I’m waiting for a real faucet extender to make itself known to us, I rigged up a temporary solution. Although it’s not ideal, if you’ve got a toddler clamoring to wash his or her hands and are tired of minutes spent hunched over saying “ok, that’s enough, you can’t pre-wash dirt off,” this might be useful for you.

Also if you’re traveling somewhere and don’t plan to pack a faucet extender along with the diapers, bottles, clothing, baby bathtub, lotions, oils, garbage bags, boots, shoes, nighttime travel sleepers, pack and play, etc, etc, etc. You can make this in about a minute.

What you’ll need

• Solo cup
• Steak knife, knife of cutting, very small broadsword, etc

The incredibly detailed process

Turn solo cup upside down. Cut out small triangle about the size of the faucet. Place over faucet. Generally if you cut it too small, it’ll properly rip when you place it on.

If you plan to use unattended (EG your toddler may run across it,) make sure to tape up the jagged edges after you’ve fit it. Actually, no, just hide the thing. This is a rigged up baby device, under supervision only. They’re cheap, seriously, this could be dangerous so buy one or make it really safely. This is rigging only.

Why this will work

It just does. On my faucet I get two to three more inches of extension plus the water comes out at an angle adding another inch or so. It puts it in baby’s outstretched hands. You can also move the cup back and forth, trombone that thing to figure out what works.

Why this will not work

If your toddler is obsessed with solo cups, this will be an absurdly attractive annoyance and you’ll end up with a wet solo cup with jaggy edges flying about.

In the end

This is a temporary solution to a problem I didn’t realize was going to happen before I could pick up one of these or order it from Amazon. A toddler obsessed with hand washing before eating, after napping. As though they had to be perfectly clean in order to make the food come or the wakefulness stick.

I think that may be what her association is at the moment. That or she’s just practicing a skill.