Coffee, tea or...water?

[MaryEstelle2]

A question that has no real place to go to and is just out of curiosity.
At what age do most parents allow their kids to drink tea or coffee? Coffee and tea are both stimulants and diuretics and also mildly narcotic. Soft drinks-carbonate or sugary drinks should actually be included.
In our house, it was the age of 14 that we were ‘old enough’ to drink either one or another. It was milk or water, but I am sure that there would be a national riot if you told your kids that there would not be coffee, tea or any soft drinks. What do you think?

 

[ZMystiCat]

When I was really young, my mom strictly prohibited caffeine. It was always a treat when I could sneak in a Dr. Pepper or “root beer” float with Coca-Cola.

I think I was around 12-13 when she started giving us more freedom. Coffee wasn’t allowed, but soda was. She also really wanted us to develop a taste for tea, but it never worked with her weird green-tea-based concoctions.

 

[7_Sorrows]

my granddaughter likes coffee! she rarely gets it though. i have given her a sip or two of soda. she likes that too.
i remember drinking soda from a young age.
i started drinking tea in high school but never had a cup of coffee until i was in my
20’s.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I was allowed tea with a lot of milk and sugar from when I was a little girl. It was a special occasion drink, like for a kid’s tea party, or a day when it was cold out and mom would have a special cup of tea with me. Not an everyday thing. I suppose if one was worried about caffeine one could use herbal or fruit teas. My mother just used Lipton and like I said put a lot of milk in it.

I was not allowed coffee but I didn’t want it anyway, because my parents made it very very strong (often reheated) and it was icky. I don’t think I drank a cup of coffee until I was about 18, and it was an occasional thing, usually when I was cold and wanted to clear my sinuses by inhaling one cup of coffee. I’m still not that “regular” of a coffee drinker and will maybe have one cup a day max, some days 2 cups and other days none. I have gone for long periods drinking water only.

Pop was not allowed on a daily basis when I was growing up either. It was something I had once in a while as a treat, with many speeches from mom about “When I was your age we didn’t have Coke very often” etc. I will say that I was very happy to go off to college and be able to have pop every day, usually diet. After a couple decades I realized it wasn’t good for me so now I try to keep it to two pop a week or under.

 

[ZMystiCat]

I will say that I was very happy to go off to college and be able to have pop every day, usually diet. After a couple decades I realized it wasn’t good for me

My college had “free” soda for those with an unlimited meal plan, which I had. My current job also has soda in their coolers that are restocked daily. Needless to say, neither were/are good for my health, especially when I was easily drinking 3-4 sodas, 1-2 coffees, and/or 1-3 energy drinks a day. Thankfully, I’ve gotten better and have been replacing soda with tea and La Croix.

 

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

No restrictions on tea.
Only my dad drinks coffee.
We were allowed soda in moderation for as long as I can remember. When we were young we had to drink 2 cups of water for every (small) cup of soda.
We rarely had juice.

 

[DisorientingSneeze]

Oh. Here’s another parenting thing I haven’t even thought about! When will I allow it? I don’t know.

All my kids except the baby have tried soda at an early age. I found out that if I let them try it young, they hate it and think it’s “spicy.” They’ve gone on shunning the gross “spicy” liquid for years.

 

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

Oh. Here’s another parenting thing I haven’t even thought about! When will I allow it? I don’t know.

All my kids except the baby have tried soda at an early age. I found out that if I let them try it young, they hate it and think it’s “spicy.” They’ve gone on shunning the gross “spicy” liquid for years.

You got easy ones. We have a soda streamer that we use to make seltzer water and sometimes fizzy lemonade. The kids chug the stuff…no sugar, just carbonated water and lemon. I find it disgusting but so far, just after a year old each has really loved it. We kinda experimented on the first for fun.

Quite frankly, the marketing around juice still worries me a lot more than soda. We know soda is unhealthy. But juice is often more sugar-laden an just as bad–if not worse and most have almost no real nutritional value.

 

[DisorientingSneeze]

I really did luck out. It’s not a strategy I’d recommend. A friend of mine thought the same thing about whiskey. She figured no small child would like whiskey. She figured wrong.