ILiveInFlipFlops Posted August 30, 2014 Author Share Posted August 30, 2014 ALL THE AGES!!! :smilielol5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 I DID once drink almost a gallon of sweet tea after abstaining for my entire pregnancy. My little nursling didn't sleep much THAT night. I didn't repeat THAT mistake. Moderation folks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth78 Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 Im from the south, people put caffeinated sweet tea in baby bottles. LOL Being that I raise a bunch of wierdos my kids hate tea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tohru Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 OP, 12 is probably fine for a little, however I'm shocked to hear that people give it to younger children or don't even give it a thought. Caffeine is a drug. It is a diuretic, stimulates the nervous system, reduces calcuim and other mineral absorbtion in a growing body, and is addicting. I don't understand why any one would be okay with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyofsixreboot Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 Any age over 2 or 3 if they wanted it. Not gallons of it but a couple cup, no problem. Most of mine won't touch it unti teen years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HRAAB Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 Utero? Yup. Or more directly, when they start drinking tea, which is rather young in this house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deee Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 I'm not sure anyone in Britain or Australia would even ask this question. Tea is considered to be very innocuous. I drank it as a toddler. I would sit on my Dad's lap and whistle for a spoonful of tea. Actually, the worst thing about a cup of tea is the sugar added to it. Learn to drink it without- it's much nicer. D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy_of_4 Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 Lol my 13 month old had tea in his sippy yesterday. We are big tea drinkers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Okra Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 Okay, I have not read all the responses, but here is what I think..... Just like everything else, I think that it's important to teach kids to be independent adults and with little things (like caffeine) as well as big things. If it was me, I would explain why you have reservations about caffeine, but let her make her own decisions on this. Really, this one wouldn't be a problem unless it started affecting her sleep. IMO, many families who have very strict rules, tend to have kids that don't know how to self-regulate when they move out. Better to teach self-regulation with the little things in life, and not make a big deal out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 I think my boys have had a cup of tea in the morning with breakfast since around age seven or eight. We also have our decaf tea in the afternoon with poetry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 I let my 12yo have coffee every day, so my answer would be yes, I would be comfortable letting my 12yo having caffeinated tea a few times a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arctic Bunny Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 OP, 12 is probably fine for a little, however I'm shocked to hear that people give it to younger children or don't even give it a thought. Caffeine is a drug. It is a diuretic, stimulates the nervous system, reduces calcuim and other mineral absorbtion in a growing body, and is addicting. I don't understand why any one would be okay with that. People give younger children hot chocolate, pop, chocolate bars, etc. without a thought. If sitting with your mum at the table or in the living room and having a cup of tea whilst we chat or read a book is the worst thing they do to their bodies.... My conscience feels okay with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 Three. Ditto sips of coffee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lailasmum Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 My eldest has had the odd cup of tea or coffee for years, she's ten, but has only recently started having a few cups of tea a week. It's not something I worry about. My youngest, who is six, asks for it but rarely actually drinks it, he just likes to join in and I don't think he likes it. I drink a lot of strong black tea but rarely coffee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 Most of mine were 2 when they started having regular tea. At 2 it was more milk than tea, and as they aged the ratio changed. Until it was tea with a splash of milk (which is how all of mine take it even my 6 yr old), then again my 6 year old started on coffee at about 2 as well. My oldest just started on coffee this year (primarily mochas). We all like having a cup of tea together. We drink tea more often than we drink pop etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 OP, 12 is probably fine for a little, however I'm shocked to hear that people give it to younger children or don't even give it a thought. Caffeine is a drug. It is a diuretic, stimulates the nervous system, reduces calcuim and other mineral absorbtion in a growing body, and is addicting. I don't understand why any one would be okay with that. It also works as a natural and safer way to treat adhd, something all of my kids have. Right now 2 are "treated" with just tea/coffee, the other 2 need meds but even they are helped with the tea they drink. And your post comes across very judgy. There are a lot worse things people can be allowing their kids to consume than tea and no one bats an eye. Having a cup of tea together is common in several cultures and it is not harming anyone. It's not like the child is drinking pot after pot, it is a cup of tea a day generally at most. Which really is minimal over all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 I think they started stealing mine around 5-6. They moved on to their own occasional cups by 8-9. Now I have two teens. My 14-year-old DS has two cups each day. One in the morning and one around 4-5 p.m. My 17-year-old daughter had to teach all of her friends how to do tea on their London trip. Ours may be a cautionary tale :-) 80% of the time we drink Irish Breakfast Tea with a splash of milk and a spoon of sugar. Dd drinks loads of green tea as well. I do but decaf when I make iced tea because we eat dinner too late to be drinking caffeine with it. SOunds like your dd and mine are similar. Mine loves irish breakfast tea, english breakfast is enjoyed too but not nearly as much. She typically has 1 a day of either of those, plus 2-3 cups over the day of green tea. Green tea she drinks as is, the breakfast teas she drinks with a slash of milk and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar. I prefer earl grey or lady grey but I will drink the english breakfast at times. Our iced tea is not made from real tea though, it is made from powder lol, I guess it would be called sweet tea or something like that elsewhere, it is sweetened and flavoured with lemon-I don't think there is much actual tea in there compared to the water and sugar lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom in High Heels Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 I can honestly say I never even gave it a thought. Indy has been drinking hot tea with b'fast every day for YEARS. Han Solo started drinking sips out of mine (via spoon) when he was about a year, after that, I started giving him some, very lightly sweetened, and just barely warm, in his sippy cup with b'fast if he wanted. He doesn't want it every day, but usually 4-5 times a week. It is a strong black tea that has caffeine, but it doesn't seem to affect them at all. We don't drink anything but water the rest of the day, so I'm not concerned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynn Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 I never knew tea had an age to start drinking it? I remember drinking tea at a young age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horsellian Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 DD started drinking tea occasionally with DH about 18 months, but DS has never been interested at all. I wouldn't have let them under 12 months, but I don't think there's any issue for a 12-year-old drinking a moderate amount of tea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILiveInFlipFlops Posted September 1, 2014 Author Share Posted September 1, 2014 Well, DD woke up with a sore throat this morning and enjoyed a nice full cup of Mango tea with a little honey :D Thanks everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 OP, 12 is probably fine for a little, however I'm shocked to hear that people give it to younger children or don't even give it a thought. Caffeine is a drug. It is a diuretic, stimulates the nervous system, reduces calcuim and other mineral absorbtion in a growing body, and is addicting. I don't understand why any one would be okay with that. Because the negligible amount of caffeine in one cup of tea isn't enough to cause any harm. An eight ounce cup of tea has only 26mg, and our little tea cups hold maybe half of that. A cup of coffee can have up to 150 mg, depending on how strong you brew it. A single square of baking chocolate has 23mg. So I'm sorry, but I'm just not all that worried about my dd having 13mg of caffeine on occasion. And for the op, my dd started drinking tea at five. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 My kids were drinking espresso by then. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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