# Kids and coffee...



## Brewdog (Jun 29, 2014)

Just looking to gauge folks opinions on kids and coffee. From what age do you let your children start to drink coffee, what types and what frequency?


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## froggystyle (Oct 30, 2013)

We have been lucky that ours have never liked coffee, only in the last few weeks has the eldest started drinking it at 16..

Only issue now is she keeps using my gear, nervous i am going to come home to a dried out boiler or a spoon jammed in my grinder!!

I think if they had liked it i would have let them have a cup or two a day, but not after lunch time.


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

Caffeine is a neural stimulant so I would be wary about children drinking it.


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## Obnic (Jan 14, 2014)

I used to get up early on Saturday morning to go with Dad to the market. This included visiting a shop that ground coffee (not sure it roasted it). Once home, he'd make coffee in a stoneware jug and we'd have a cup each. I can't have been older than 7. It's what started my love of coffee. Not done me any harm....twitch!


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## froggystyle (Oct 30, 2013)

Have you seen the kids today drinking those rancid caffeine/sugar loaded drinks??


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## Brewdog (Jun 29, 2014)

My oldest boy is only 9 and he loves a mouthful of our flat whites. If I made him a 'weak' milk based drink it doesn't taste the same.....then I considered decaf beans? I remember the trusty french press when I was his age but times are changing.......


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## froggystyle (Oct 30, 2013)

As Obnic said, we used to drink coffee from time to time when we were younger, and i am sure kids have been consuming caffeine for a very long time, do we see adults now with problems stemming from drinking caffeine at a young age?


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

When I was a nipper we used to eat arsenic for breakfast, washed down with whiskey and then out to play with swords. Its all health and safety gone mad now.


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## michaelg (Jul 25, 2013)

I drank instant from about 8 or so I think (out of my Superted mug). Probably hardly any caffeine in it. Kids drink coke etc all the time which is loaded with sugar and caffeine anyway so I would reckon a weak coffee every so often would be fairly harmless - obviously if you find it isn't, stop or use decaf!


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## DavidBondy (Aug 17, 2010)

jeebsy said:


> When I was a nipper we used to eat arsenic for breakfast, washed down with whiskey and then out to play with swords.


Arsenic? We used to DREAM of arsenic!


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

Sometimes we had to lick the wallpaper to get it, but we always got our hit of arsenic


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

Agree with coca cola being bad news - wonder if there is any correlation in the increased consumption of such drinks and the rise of hyper-activity related disorders in kids?


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

One of my mates doesn't let his kids drink any sugar (or eat much generally) and is regimental with their sleep - they're very well behaved but hard to say it's causal.


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## coffeechap (Apr 5, 2012)

I try to avoid sugar and caffeine, infant as much processed stuff as I can going into the mouths of my little people. They are quite well behaved and are fairly calm children. I notice a massive difference when they have as easy can of coke, suddenly become hyperactive monsters. It is amazing the effect that stimulants have on children!!


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## Brewdog (Jun 29, 2014)

I suppose a little in moderation won't do any harm.......suppose its similar to having a limited intake of sweets, junk food and coca-cola.

After all I wouldnt want them hanging about outside the local coffee shops trying to find someone to fix them up with a takeaway, then heading off to a quiet area of the park with their pals to consume it, followed by returning home late smelling of coffee and telling porkies!!!


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

Read somewhere that if sugar didn't exist and someone brought it into the market place, it would be banned as harmful to health.


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## Wando64 (Feb 28, 2011)

I was given coffee in my caffelatte since avery early age. Likewise I was allowed a small amount of wine at mealtimes from a very early age. As far as I can tell neither did any damage to me. In fact the wine at mealtime gave me a very healthy attitude to alcoholic drinks in general. I did not encourage my kids to drink either coffee or alcohol. However I did not forbid them either. To me it is all about learning the right place, time and quantity for everything, just as others have already said. Worst thing in my opinion is to tell a kid "do as I say not as I do". Very, very bad message.


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## michaelg (Jul 25, 2013)

The Systemic Kid said:


> Agree with coca cola being bad news - wonder if there is any correlation in the increased consumption of such drinks and the rise of hyper-activity related disorders in kids?


Apparently I was always well behaved until I had any Irn Bru (obviously part of the staple diet here) and then I was like a child possessed. I think they cut down some of the E numbers from it since and have warnings on the bottles about the effect it can have on kids.


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## Obnic (Jan 14, 2014)

jeebsy said:


> ...then out to play with swords. Its all health and safety gone mad now.


No word of a lie, after helping my dad take down the asbestos lining to the porch, he made me a wooden sabre with a sharpened edge and a pointed tip. Mum took it away later after I tried to behead my cousin.

'You'll 'av someone's eye out!'


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## Obnic (Jan 14, 2014)

jeebsy said:


> Sometimes we had to lick the wallpaper to get it, but we always got our hit of arsenic


Luxury. We lived in a paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six in the morning, lick the bag clean wi' tongues, suck on a piece of wallpaper to get the arsenic, go to work down t' mill, eighteen hours a day, for sixpence a month, and when we got home our Dad would thrash us to sleep wi' a broken bottle... if we were lucky!


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## froggystyle (Oct 30, 2013)

pah you had it easy!


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