Do you let your kids drink coffee?

I drink coffee every day and use tons of that flavored creamer so it is like a treat to me. My kids, who are 3.5, like to take drinks now and then from my cup and if I'm not careful sometimes Willow will try to drink the whole cup! I only let them have sips every now and then but it doesn't bother me. My husband however HATES it. He thinks they should not be drinking coffee at all. I figure, if he has a problem with the caffeine he shouldn't because they drink soda every now and then so what is the difference? Just wondering if it would bother you if your kids took drinks of your coffee.

 

No coffee or pop for my 4 yr olds but my 13 yr old is allowed to have pop, he didnt start to drink that until 5 yrs old or so and it had to be caffine free but now he can have whatever I buy, no coffee for him either!

 

I try to discourage it because I don't share well LOL! I have made them their own cup by putting a drop of coffee in a cup of milk. My dh will not let them ave any at all ever!

 

I've let them taste it but I wouldn't give them any real quantity. It just falls in the category of something they just don't need. I wouldn't let them have soda either though. I'm actually very anti soda for them. Between coffee and soda, I'd choose coffee.

 

My kids just recently discovered coffee ice cream and love it. Thats the closest they will get to coffee for a long time!! My 11 yr old keeps asking if she can get a coffee at starbucks...I told her when she is 12 she can try one. I am a stickler about soda too. I figure they can have what they want when they get older but I am not gonna fill them with all that stuff now. I don't know if its true but everyone says coffee stunts your growth..my kids are already peanuts so they don't need anything working against them!

 

The idea of my kids on caffeine gives me heart palpitations! So, nope no coffee allowed here. They are allowed pop as a special treat once in a while but it's always a non-caffeinated pop.

 

We do pop but very, very, VERY rarely is it caffeinated. Mine are interested in daddy's coffee and like to smell it. If you guys give them caffeine I see no difference between the two. I would be mindful that between the 2 drinks they aren't drinking mostly caffeine every day.

 

I wouldn't mind if my kids took a sip of coffee every now and again, just like I am fine if they want to take a sip of wine or beer. Anything more than a sip or two a week would be a bit much for me given the caffeine, though. Soda, on the other hand- I don't allow. To me it's just sugar and artificial food colorings and I try to stay away from those for all four of us. The flavored creamer would fall into that category for me too, actually.

 

I don't drink coffee myself, can't stand it, but dh does. I think it's not so much off limits for my kids as they've never shown an interest in trying it. I'm sure if they wanted to we'd let them have a taste and they'd probably hate it (dh likes his black and strong).

As for soda, my 2.5 yr olds have had a few sips of ours, but that's it. My 9 and 5 yr old only get it when we go out to eat, and usually, they chose sweet tea instead of soda. But sometimes they want orange soda and that's fine, it's rare.

 

No way. They've had a couple sips of soda but that's it.

 

No to both soda and coffee here for the kids.

 

My kids are total coffee fiends, too! (Weird, because I didn't drink very much coffee when I was pregnant - just didn't taste good to me then.) When they were about 12 mo, they started pulling up and begging for a sip of my coffee. I thought of the most genius idea EVER: I'll let them taste coffee, it's bitter, they'll hate it, and then they'll stop bugging me! Brilliant!

Well, as soon as they tasted it, they went nuts and begged for more, and that's how it's been ever since. :lol: Even though I drink strong, black, dark roast coffee brewed very generously in a French press. They even love plain espresso.

Not that I let them drink any significant amount! I let them have little sips, just a little taste, now and then. I don't think it's a big deal. And now they're old enough that they kind of (seem to) get what I've explained to them, that coffee has caffeine in it, which is ESSENTIAL FOR MOMMY'S SANITY ok for grown ups but not good for kids.

Oh, and if your kids are drinking soda, then I really don't see much difference in the caffeine intake - soda is just caffeinated sugar water anyway.

 

The girls like hot tea. I mostly like to drink it at work so it's a non issue. I have let them have a sip of my frozen coffee drink but really at that point it's so full of other stuff a few sips won't hurt. They usually only get pop when we are out but 80% of the time choose sweet tea

 

I am with Rachel, I think my two with caffeine in them would bring about the end of days. We also don't do pop here; I only drink it about twice a year myself, and I don't intend on giving it to the kids for as long as I can avoid it. Right now they think juice is pretty special and they live for Monday playgroup when they get to have the good stuff; uncut apple juice.

 

I have given my kids a few sips of my coffee (maybe 2 each) and they don't like it at all - as I have my coffee with just milk, and no sugar - so its not appealing to them at all! So, perhaps if you want to break that habit with your kiddies you should consider switching to just milk coffee for a few days until they loose interest...

As for pop or soda, my kids have never tasted it, and I plan to keep it that way for awhile if I can. My kids did try sparkling apple juice once and didn't like it at all (they don't seem to like fizzy drinks - yippee!).

 

No. They have soda on occasion, but I try to stay away from giving them caffeinated drinks. Liam + Caffeine =

 

I remember drinking coffee when I was four.

My two show no interest in it really, but they would be more than welcome to try it.

 

I don't give them anything to drink but water and milk, but they have stolen drinks of my coffee Just today I picked them up from daycare and while I was strapping K in, C climbed into the front seat and was attempting to chug my entire cup of coffee before I caught her. I don't think the world is going to end if they taste it, but they cannot have their own caffeinated drinks (soda or coffee).

 

Our kids do not even get pop/soda. No coffee here. My mom (grrr...) tried to introduce them to pop last year and they did not like it.

 

No coffe for my kids and only very rarely a sip of pop and we try to keep that caffeine free. My kids get hyped up on juice, I don't want to see what happens with caffeine.

 

My kids have sips of my coffee or soda, I have no problem with it. On occassion they will get their own sprite or rootbeer but usually they get milk and water. I think anything in moderation is fine, it teaches them self control.

 

If mine wanted to taste my coffee I'd let them. Just like I'd let them have a taste of anything I have. So far they don't like the smell so they havent asked to try it. As for soda, mine tried dh's diet coke once and hated it. At birthday parties my kids ask for water. Ana refuses to drink juice, while Meara will try a little at a party. Last winter I finally got them to try hot cocoa (well really luke warm cocoa) and they liked it. I have weird kids who really prefer either straight up plain milk or water.

 

No coffee or caffeinated pop for the little ones here. They will on occasion split a can of pop if it isn't caffeinated, but that is a rare treat. Caffeine & artificial sweeteners are two things that I try to avoid with the little ones (and high fructose corn syrup, which is one of the many reasons they rarely have pop of any kind). My 16 year old drinks coffee, I think she started around 14, or maybe a bit older, and she doesn't drink it every day.

 

We let them taste pop (Diet Coke -- caffeinated) around age 4 -- Sarah hated it (she's not into fizzy drinks) and Amy loved it, but she only drank maybe an ounce and then she talked nonstop the whole way back home from skiing. So we made a mental note to keep her FAR away from caffeine for as long as possible. :ibiggrin:

I've let them have tiny tastes of my coffee (they hated that too), but I would not let a young child drink the amount of coffee you describe. Don't you notice a change in her behavior? My kids would be insanely hyper. I told them they can drink coffee if they want when they're old enough to be going to cafes alone with their friends.

Mine too. They like juice in moderation, but not lots of it. They also don't really like hot chocolate.

 

No to coffee and if I had it my way they still wouldn't have had any soda. My MIL gave them Sprite last summer. GRRRR. They will have plenty of time to drink all that stuff when they are older so we stick to milk, water and juice.

 

I don't think mine have ever even asked. They aren't very adventurous when it comes to trying new foods and drinks. Once they asked for a sip of my coke and I let them try it. They both coughed, didn't like the carbonation and have never asked again. If they asked to try my coffee I'd let them, but I'm guessing they wouldn't like it.

 

I will let mine have a sip but mostly I try to avoid drinking anything around them I wouldn't want them to have. They are in a phase where they beg for whatever I have, even if it's the same thing they have. If I don't give in, they don't stop asking!

 

My kids smell the coffee grinds because they see me make it, but I won't let them drink it. As for herbal teas with no caffeine they do drink it. But they do not drink juice or soda. Mostly only water milk or decaf herbal tea. Just like they want to smell my wine every once in awhile and I let them smell it but not drink it!

 

Oh the coffee topic...

My husbands parents are from Italy...where they drink espresso...

So long story short-they've had coffee. Not on a regular basis. But if my MIL is making espresso after dinner or what have you, Anthony *always* asks for coffee. He loves it. And he won't have it in any regular cup. It has to be the espresso cup, with the saucer, with the small spoon...So he gets a little bit of espresso, a lot of milk, and a pretend shake of sugar. He knows what he wants!

Otherwise in day to day things-no-no coffee. Soda, I really don't like them having. If they are sick, they've gotten a little bit-and when we were in Italy-they got some there as well. Everyone was shocked they didn't have soda! And we were just on vacation, so they had a little bit here or there.

 

Okay, I let them drink coffee because I don't think this is very harmful and I must say that they drink only good coffee which is made via Bianca coffee machine. So, this coffee doesn't do any harm in small doses. I believe there's nothing bad in drinking coffee if you don't drink too much and too often.