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I was in church this morning. They have coffee in the lobby before the service and from an experienced coffee dinker it is very strong. It got me thinking about being in line at Starbucks and having a kid in front of me ordering a double shot expresso grande something or other.
My parents didn't allow me to have coffee or caffeinated drinks other than the occasional soda until I was older, I'm not even sure when it was. I see kids all the time, some very young drinking coffee or these energy drinks (Monster, Red Bull etc...).
What other parents do is their own business. The only time I've ever said something about it I was in a laundromat. There were two boys running around and jumping on stuff. Buzzed to the max. The father was talking to me about it and he said he didn't know how to control them. Then he went to the soda machine and bought them their second can of Mountain Dew. I told him that was his problem right there. The kids couldn't calm down. He said, "Ya think so?" like he'd never heard the connection before.
Thankfully the dryer buzzed and I was out of there before they started disassembling the folding tables.
My Mom didn't let me have it until I was atleast 16. When she did let me have it, it was in moderatorian. I don't think extrmelly young children should be drinking coffee. They are already busy bodies to begin with, plus, it's addiciting.
I drank tea since I was a little kid but didn't have coffee until I was an adult. It always smelled good, but I didn't like the taste. My friend who has a Cuban mother always had coffee when she was little.
And my mom had coffee as a child because she grew up in poverty and there wasn't enough milk to go around so that's how everybody got some. She said the teacher asked one day if all the children drank milk for breakfast. She said no, and when they asked her, she told them about the coffee. Every day after that she got a free container of milk. This was during the Depression, and she still remembers that.
But I'm wondering--we have coffee hour every week AFTER church. What's with providing coffee beforehand? Is the pastor afraid he won't be able to keep his audience awake?
I'm not a fan of caffeine for young kids (unhealthy, addictive, etc) and don't give anything caffeinated to mine other than what's in the occasional piece of chocolate. However I wouldn't say something to another parent about their parenting choices.
I wasn't really asking about whether you'd say something or not, I think most people would keep their thoughts to themselves. I just wonder what the effects of all this caffeine will have in the long term. I saw where the 5 hour energy shots are causing medical problems for some people who are not used to concentrated doses of caffeine.
Mountain Dew, Coca-Cola, and a glass of chocolate milk all have more caffeine than coffee.
I'm not sure why you think this is true. An 8-ounce glass of chocolate milk has around 5mg of caffeine. A 12 ounce can of Coca-Cola has 34mg of caffeine; Mountain Dew has 54mg.
In contrast, an 8-ounce cup of coffee has around 138mg of caffeine.
My father had coffee every day of his childhood with milk. He's in his late 60s and very healthy.
I'd much rather my child drink coffee than soda or energy drinks or even a lot of juice. Of course my kids don't like coffee.
Coffee over energy drinks I totally get. Even over soda due to the phosphoric acid maybe, but why over juice?
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