Personally, I think younger than teenage is too young to drink coffee. It’s a drug, albeit not a particularly powerful one. Coffee has a much higher caffeine content than tea or soda. A little kid would probably get pretty wired from drinking coffee, and it’s obviously addictive. It just doesn’t seem like a good idea to me.
I used to drink bottles of coffee as a toddler. The thing is, to make coffee palatable to young children, it has to be extremely diluted; my bottles were basically milk and sugar with a splash of coffee.
Needless to say, I don’t see a problem with giving children coffee in moderation (unless they become intolerably hyper). I’ve been drinking coffee all my life, and have turned out fine – my shins have started growing again, and my schizophrenia is considered by most to be mild.
I’ve been drinking coffee in some form or another as far as I can remember. My mom used to make iced coffee for us in the summer time when I was in elementary school. We never drank it very often plain, though.
If a six year old asked me for coffee, I would serve it to him/her, provided it’s a relative. Most of my family doesn’t flinch about giving coffee to the kids. I’ve been drinking for as long as I remember it, and I’m not addicted to it. I didn’t have it every single day with every single meal, but I had a cup or two every once in a while.
Very good, nice hot drink when cold, very refreshing milk when cold. The only thing I’ve noticed is that coffee has little effect on me… I need something that concentrates more caffeine in order to keep me awake (if I wish to do so). Six cups of strong coffee and I was still sleepy.
There’s also the problem with coffee having a nasty nasty taste. If you want to deal with a child or a monkey who has had a couple cups of coffee, that’s your business, but first you have to convince them to learn to drink it.
According to this the myth about coffee stunting one’s growth is based on parents not wanting hyperactive children around. Makes sense.
My brother as a kid asked mom for coffee because he saw dad drink a cup of it every morning. Lil’ bro was already bouncing off the walls with his hyperness. Mom tried to discourage him by telling him that myth.
My 14 month old loves coffee. Full bodied columbian with just a drop of half and half in it, just like dad drinks.
J.C.-Coffee is NOT nasty tasting! I’ll admit though, my boy likes EVERYTHING! His new favorite drink is grapefruit juice. Now THATS nasty tasting (but I love it nonetheless).
Its not as if I give him whole cups of coffee all day long, but sometimes, if he keeps bugging me about it, I’ll put a little bit in his sippy cup.
I’m of the firm belief that caffene causes more problems when kids aren’t allowed to have it. Then, when they do get something with caffene in it, it hits them harder and their bodies don’t know how to deal with it.
I was always told that coffee was an “adult drink” when I asked for it as a kid. I think I started drinking it when I was around fourteen. And when I wasn’t drinking coffee, I was certainly dosed up on Mountain Dew. I didn’t start drinking coffee regularly until I was in college.
That said, I don’t see anything wrong with sharing a pot of coffee with your 12 year old daughter. In fact, it’s kind of charming. We’d never blink about them having a tea party, or a soda, or serving a kid a huge glass of iced tea, which can get to be the same caffeine content as coffee pretty easily. I think the idea that coffee is an adult drink stems mostly from that is bitter and relatively complicated to make.
I’ve never considered it an adults only beverage. Of course when you’re younger it’s a good idea to dilute it but I wasn’t a really hyper kid in the first place.
Grandma used to give us black coffee and sugar to calm our stomachs when we were ill.
I’ve been drinking all sorts of stuff like that from when I was little (even the occasional sip of beer) and never had any problems. Coffee for me was usually reserved to ill tummy’s or while camping.
I think it kind of depends on where you grew up, or if perhaps, your parents are from Europe.
My mother is German and I did live in Germany for a few years. We always had “kaffee klatch”. Of course as a wee one, the coffee was diluted with cream or milk and sugar.
When I was fourteen I started drinking it black, no sugar.
Funny thing is, I really don’t want my kids to drink it, but I occasionally indulge them with a malted mocha frappacinno.
They don’t like “real coffee”, so that’s their choice.
The only thing I’ve noticed is that coffee has little effect on me… I need something that concentrates more caffeine in order to keep me awake (if I wish to do so). Six cups of strong coffee and I was still sleepy.