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We don't drink any caffeine in our house. We all enjoy decaf tea both hot and cold year round. Dh used to be a heavy coffee drinker and he started to get headaches really bad. now he gets a headache with only half a cup of regular coffee. Once you get off the stuff, your body starts to rebel when it is reintroduced.
Sadly in the South, it was not uncommon to see little kids with Coke in their bottles. not so much in recent years but certainly saw it years ago. hopefully we are getting better at educating people on the harm all that caffeine and sugar causes to children.
Coffee over energy drinks I totally get. Even over soda due to the phosphoric acid maybe, but why over juice?
Sugar. A little juice doesn't hurt, but people somehow seem to think the sugar in juice is not as bad as the sugar in soda, but it's the same as far as your body sees it. The only difference is that juice can also contain vitamins in some quantity, while soda contains nothing beneficial whatsoever. But sugar is sugar is sugar, whether it's in soda or juice form. That's why the nutrtional Nellies are always harping on everyone to eat whole fruit and not fruit juice. Whole fruit has the fiber and everything that's tossed out when you just remove the sugary juices.
I don't think caffeine is good for adults, nevermind children. They are wired without it. My kids would be climbing the walls. I'd also imagine it would be hard to get them to sleep or to get them to settle down when they act up.
I had very, very milky coffee from about 8 years old as a child a few times a week. I don't think it made me buzzed.
My kids are pre-school age and they don't get coffee or soda, other than an occasional sip from dad's can- certainly no energy drinks, they have more energy than my husband and I combined! I guess once they are upper elementary school age I'd be fine with a soda or very milky coffee as a treat or when a long day is head, but not daily.
I can't image a kid liking the taste of espresso- maybe they one you saw at the coffee shop was ordering for mom?
Coffee over energy drinks I totally get. Even over soda due to the phosphoric acid maybe, but why over juice?
The sugar content. And I don't let my kids drink soda either...there's absolutely nothing in soda that has any use and tons of sugar, salt, or artificial sweeteners. we don't drink it either.
My point is simply that parents freak out about a cup of coffee while their kids chug koolaid and eat McDonalds, it doesn't really make any sense.
Would I say something to a parent about caffeine? Only if they asked me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RPIBuckHunter
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.
It depends if you are talking about a cup of instant coffee or a triple shot from Starbucks, the quantity of caffeine varies considerably from about 25mg in the first up past 200 in the second. The amounts were in the links.
I want to share my story of "children and caffeine":
I use to be a pre-school teacher. In one school I had the 4 year old class... about 20 of them. I loved them all, but my heart melted for Earl who could not sit still.
Earl was truly hyperactive, the very first child I had ever seen like him (in 5 years of teaching). I was lucky if I could get him to sit for five whole minutes. I gave him things to do to keep busy while the rest of the kids were doing some craft project. Earl couldn't sit long enough to get them done, and would tear it up if not completed by the time the rest of the kids were done. Easier to have him wash the walls or toy shelves (something he liked to do!). He literally bounced off walls, furniture and the other children.
One day I had a cup of coffee on the counter - too close to the edge - and little Earl reached it and drank the whole cup. (Very creamy and very sweet!) I caught him as he was putting the cup back. Poor little guy thought he was in a lot of trouble. I just asked him how it tasted. I can still hear him saying, "It was good!", with the cutest little grin on his face.
I thought nothing of it. About an hour later, when I was reading the kids a story, I had to shake my head a couple times because there was Earl sitting quietly listening to me read; sitting quietly next to others without pushing for his personal space. WOW! I wondered what got into him, but didn't knock it.
I remember telling his mother about his unusual behavior and we were both puzzled.
The next day he pulled a chair over to get to my coffee. Again I knew he did so. Again he had a terrific day and only then did I think about what was different both days.
I told his mother about the coffee drinking and how it seemed to be what was causing Earl to calm down. It seemed impossible because coffee stimulates most people. Even she was a skeptic until she tried it over the weekend.
I left that job soon after, so don't know if she kept Earl on the coffee or not. I did do some research on this and found some studies (this was back in the early 80s) that suggested that caffeine could help in hyperactivity. I know it certainly worked for Earl!
When my kids were small they didn't have much caffeine. They drank water or milk. They were allowed an occasional soda but I bought soda without caffeine. My youngest likes milky coffee but I used to make him decaf.
As they got older I allowed more caffeine. Now they are teens and I don't restrict their caffeine. They do like iced tea and the occasional Coke. My youngest will sometimes order a coffee if we are at Starbucks but we don't go all that often. My youngest brings water to school every day. After a game he might drink a Gatorade. I don't think an occasional iced tea or soda is harmful. He is always watching his weight so he doesn't like to drink things that have a lot of calories.
I don't think caffeine is great for kids but like most things we restrict it but don't outright ban it.
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