Coffee & kids

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-26-2005
Coffee & kids
26
Thu, 11-30-2006 - 8:28am
Quinn, my mother & I went to Georgia for Thanksgiving.
One thing that has always struck me as odd is the way just about all of my cousins kids drink coffee. I don't mean just tweens & teens...I mean preschoolers & elementary aged. I was at my cousin Jimmi's house pouring me a cup of coffee. Spencer (3 yo) came up & asked me to make him a cup. I told him "no". He went & told Jimmi that mean ole 'Schrin's mom' wouldn't give him any coffee. (BTW...he can't say 'Quinn', says 'Schrin') Kelly (Spencer's mom) fixed him a cup. I watched her, it was about 1 cup worth, heavy on the milk...but was still a lot of coffee for a 3 yo. (IMO)
Ellen (another cousin) babysits 7 kids (ugh! can you imagine?!) & she told me that they all but the baby drinks coffee. These are all preschoolers.
Is this the norm? Quinn has never even tried coffee (he drinks Cheerwine for his morning kick) & doesn't really care for the way it smells when it's perking.


Edited 11/30/2006 8:29 am ET by onehappymama

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2003
Thu, 11-30-2006 - 4:24pm
Matthew likes iced cappucinos and has been drinking them since he was about six. I don't know of any children around here that drink coffee, but quite a few drink tea.

Linda
mom to
Alex (16), Rachel (14), Matthew (12)


iVillage Member
Registered: 08-17-2005
Thu, 11-30-2006 - 7:20pm

Wow, thanks for the info!!

So if I'm reading this right, a lot of kids probably drink enough soda in a week to get the same amount of caffeine in maybe having 2 cups of coffee a week. (like on the weekend)

I guess my point is why would someone care if their kid drank coffee every once in a while (or even twice a week)? Is it because it is an "adult" beverage???

I just think it's funny that we all (me included) think it's strange to have a kid drink coffee.

Karin

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Thu, 11-30-2006 - 8:24pm

Maybe we think its so wierd because when WE grew up, it was served with milk and sugar and probably didn't taste very good to us. Now we drink it with flavored creamers and other yummy things added to it..it's gone from a cup of joe to a decadent treat! :)

YUM!

Denise

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-29-2006
Thu, 11-30-2006 - 8:40pm
My kids want nothing to do with coffee. Mary-Claire and Kiran will drink coffee-flavored drinks- like Starbucks, but not straight coffee. Colton fake-gags when we pull over for an after noon fix =].
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 11-30-2006 - 8:49pm

I think its very frowned upon up here in Canada. I've seen people on a predominantly Canadian site practically threaten to call CAS because people were letting their pre-teens have the frozen coffee drinks from Tim Horton's. I don't think caffeine is good for little kids though. DD loves the smell of coffee and enjoys the frozen coffee/milk drinks but has never asked for a cup of regular coffee. For one I'm not sure where she'd get it. LOL I don't drink coffee and we don't have any in the house. I don't think she's like it straight though, probably too bitter. Even for me I have to have 1/2 water, 1/2 coffee in order to drink it.


This is what I found on the net;


Although the United States hasn't yet developed guidelines for caffeine intake and kids, Canadian guidelines recommend that preschool children get no more than 45 milligrams of caffeine a day. That's equivalent to the average amount of caffeine found in a 12-ounce (355-milliliter) can of soda or four 1.5-ounce (43-gram) milk chocolate bars.


  • Caffeine is a diuretic that causes the body to eliminate water (through urinating), which may contribute to dehydration. Caffeine may be an especially poor choice in hot weather, when children need to replace water lost through perspiration.

  • One thing that caffeine doesn't do is stunt growth. Although scientists once worried that caffeine could hinder a child's growth, this concern isn't supported by research. (I was always told this as a kid.)






    brewed coffee (drip method)
    5 ounces
    115 mg*


    I just think there are far healthier things kids can drink, either plain water or juices and milk that at least have some nutritional content. There is nothing beneficial about caffeine health-wise.

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    iVillage Member
    Registered: 01-06-2000
    Thu, 11-30-2006 - 9:38pm

    This is more where I fall. If you want a drink, at least have something that provides nutrition, or at the very least actually hydrates.

    We don't even do cool-aid or Capri Sun type drinks on any kind of regular basis.
    In fact, if it is being served at a party, I've seen my daughter politely request water.
    In our house, it is pretty much skim milk or water. Fruit servings come through actual pieces of fruit, not juice.

    I don't even drink coffee myself, and dd has definitely never had it!
    She won't drink soda either. Says it burns her tongue.

    As for what I see around here....I've never seen it served to kids in my daughter's group of friends, none of the girls on Girl Scout trips have ever seemed to think it was something they should have.

    However, it once came up in a fifth grade class I was teaching once (a more urban school than where I live). I was shocked to hear that almost half of the class had coffee nearly every morning before coming to school.

    Don't know if it was coincidental - but if I would have divided the class into top and bottom halves based on behavior, there was a pretty strong correlation between coffee drinking and poor behavior. Whether the coffee drinking was the cause, or something more complex like those who were laxer in concern for nutrition also tended to be laxer on developing positive discipline in their kids, or simply a weird fluke - - - I don't know!

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