At what age would you allow your child to have caffeine?

[Mother Goose]

No it doesn't fly for much longer.

I had a woman at T2 explain the damages for children and caffeine as oppose to the effects on adults and how whilst it still wasn't great it wasn't as bad. DD hasn't even asked since then. And will only drink "white" teas because she knows there is no caffeine. And I like to think that was education rather than fear mongering... right? RIGHT?!

Side note: I was in T2 yesterday an they now have a kids range!

[Miss E]

I give DS very watered down juice - 25% juice to 75% water. I would rather he didn't have it at all but DH insists on buying it so it makes it very hard to say no all the time. I find this is a good solution for us given its in the house.

I'd be really careful giving kids diets cordials, those have all the nasty carcinogenic additives that diet soft drinks have, have a look at the numbers on additive alert and you will be shocked.

[ElleJay]

Holy crap I'm a really bad mum then case I dip my finger in my coffee or or coke and let him taste it. He always comes back for more or try to steal your mug if u don't let him.

Well, if you are then so am i!

DS has the occasional sip of my Frozen Coke when I get one from Maccas or Hungry Jacks.
My DS also has at least two or three watered down bottles of cordial a day (helpful that the 'hyperactiveness' never affects him - in fact, it can put him to sleep!) as well as a bottle or two of watered down juice (he can't have it not watered down cause of the acidic levels making his bum red raw when he poos)
Thing is, DH constantly drinks the milk (yeah, we usually go through 3lt a day cause 'that's all we have to drink') so I never have any to give DS and DH always forgets to refill the water jug that goes in the fridge - cordial and juice are usually all we've got to give DS during the day


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[~TT40~]

As children my brothers and i werent allowee coke or anything caffinated til we were 12. and we only got 1 softdrink when we went to the pub with mum and dad (which was like once a week). that would have probably started fron like 8? Before that was juice. there was never any soft drink ib the house and only drinks at home were milk and water and cordial (but cordial was a treat).

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[PumpkinZulu]

Yeah I won't be giving DD juice either, and occasionally homemade (carrot, celery, apple, ginger, mmm!). I have a can of cola every couple of days and I know how bad it is so I'm trying to cut that out. All that sugar in juice, cordial and soft drinks, ugh!

[Mum2SweetCs]

Gosh, I never thought there'd be so many people not allowing their kids soft drink Not that that's bad or anything, I just didn't realise it was so common to disallow it... I've always seen soft drinks as kids' or non-alcohol-drinkers' drinks, and maybe moderated in very young kids because of the sugar level Never really considered parents might not want their kids drinking any kind of fizzy drink til they were teens...

Me too. I give DD the occasional soft drink, like when we are having maccas (which is about once a month maybe) and at parties when i am drinking coke she sometimes takes a sip.

[sloane]

DS doesn't have soft drink but has had sips of my iced coffee (that i make). in fact, you can't leave a cup of coffee or tea (including things like chai) on the coffee table because he'll just help himself. he's had very watery, sugar free cordial occasionally & does have some milo. he loves juice but has only had it a couple of times when i let him have a sip of mine (freshly squeezed). i dunno - i'd rather he had little sips every so often of my iced coffee (for example) than soft drink. but i don't have any good reason why his drink of choice is still water & DP & i both drink a bit of water so i'm okay with the way things are for now.

[misty]

We don't keep softdrink in the house. But all three of my older kids (aged 2yr, 4yrs and 6yr) have had it, and I don't discriminate between the caffinated sort and the non caffinated. In fact they are more likely to have Coke Zero or Pepsi Max, because I will only drink sugar free softdrinks and they tend to be the only ones you can buy cold, and the kids are drinking from my drink. My DS1 also loves a cup of tea - so when I have a cup when out and about, I will usually save him the dregs.

ETA: we only ever buy diet cordial here, that is the main drink consumed in the house, with water coming in second and milk coming in third.

[skybie]

Dd1 has soft drink at parties, dd2 doesnt yet.
I started drinking coffee at 15.

[feeb]

My Kids only drink water or milk and on very very rare occasions will have some apple juice.

I do not drink tea or coffee but I do enjoy coke, but boys know its a mummy drink and they dont ask for it.
DH Drinks tea and coffee and coke and iced coffee/coffee milk.

DH prefres carbonated water to still, but he makes it at home in soda stream and kids have had a sip before and they DO NOT like the bubbles anyway even in plain water.

We don't plan in the kids having soft drink until much older, mine have not even had cordial and it seems to be available at most kids party's at play centres but I just give kids cup of water instead.

[Heaven]

I don't see myself ever buying it for my kids, I don't buy soft drink for myself. I assume they will when they're teenagers though. DD drinks only water, sometimes milk, and sometimes a watered down juice as a 'treat' from grandparents or someone. Never ever soft drink, and not even cordial.

[Starfish]

We usually water down all our soft drinks with either normal water or fizzy water, so for DD I just water it down even more. She has been having soft drinks like since she was about 3, but it's watered down 25% soft drink, 75% water. She also gets watered down tea sometimes. I think everything is okay in moderation.

[Jennifer13]

I'll let her have it when she asks, but she hates fizzy drinks so it won't be any time soon! Coffee I haven't really considered.

She drinks tea with us every day though, most of which does have a small amount of caffeine. In a small cup.

[Beach Mama]

I don't think it is about being a bad/good mother. It's about knowing that the stuff is full of sugar and caffeine which is really bad for adults AND kids, and what could happen to your kids if they drink it a lot, if they have it occasionally and the affect on them! I know lots of people who say that when their kids drink a lot of sugary drinks they do get a sugar high and run around like mad, but then also get a sugar low and get the hysterics once they come down from the sugar rush! Mine have never had enough to have a huge reaction but I know some kids do.

I know for me, part of it is that I don't want them thinking it is anything other than a "sometimes" thing to drink (soft drink here not Cola) at parties etc and that is it. Same with juice - we have it here and they know they are allowed to have it about once a week with dinner as a treat.

[Astrolady]

My kids range from 10 to 5, and they've all had coke, and cups of tea before. Kameron was 4 when he had his first coke from Hungry Jacks, so the watered down variety. They've never had a whole can of proper coke to themselves, but they have had a glass of coke (usually 3/4 full) when we've ordered in pizza. They all have had cups of tea from 4/5 years old, but that is once in a blue moon. The two older ones will ask for it more in the winter. I flat out refuse to let them have any sort of energy drink.

[Jennifer13]

I did the education thing with soft drink and too much juice - it's bad for your teeth. DD is VERY concerned about having nice clean teeth, so that helps. Also, we let her take a great big mouthful of soft drink when she was about two, which of course gave her a sensation she hated, so she won't touch it! This was the intention. Probably sounds a bit mean, but it also stopped her asking to try lots of other adult drinks.

[~clover~]

Mine have had coke. The occasional small cup to get the medicine in. I don't buy cordial coz I don't want it in the cupboard so the choice isn't there. Juice only lasts a couple of days, then the option is gone, so I'll get that instead. They're allowed one a day til its gone, then they'll be lucky to get another bottle for 2 or 3 weeks.

Lemonade I buy on occasion & they'll have some with dinner for a night or 2 til its gone. Or if we go out they are allowed lemonade. DD1 occasionally has tea if there's no milo on a cold morning.

I'm a caffiene addict, yet i NEVER drink energy drinks. I did have my first ever in a jager bomb a month ago So my kids will not have that option. I can't control what they have when not in my care, though they know what they aren't allowed. But if I ever found out they had an energy drink in someone elses care, they would not be left with that person again. I'm against energy drinks.

[helle]

when they can go to the shop and buy it themselves and keep it in their own fridge ><;
I give DS juice when he asks... and that's quite rare. The juice he does have is 100% apple juice (the Nude one... "72 Apples in a bottle and that's it!") so I don't really mind that he has it, it's mostly just laziness of my part that he doesn't get it every day. He also gets a cup of milk before bed time, but he can have milk anytime during the day if he asks. He LOVES his water.