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Original poster

AIBU to feel sad that my 10-year-old prefers coffee over our family tea time?

106 replies

LoveMyLittleOnes · 27/02/2025 03:56

Hi everyone, I could use some advice here. My little one is 10 now, and has recently taken a liking to coffee. Our family has always been more into tea, and he used to love joining us for tea time, enjoying the cuppa we made for him. Now, he makes his own coffee and doesn’t join us for tea anymore. Sometimes, I want to relive or share those tea moments with him, but he seems a bit resistan. Part of me wants to barge in and demand he join us for a proper brew, but another part’s screaming “He’s 10 going on 16 – let him live!”

Am I being a clingy wally clinging to the Tea time days? Or should I nip this flat white nonsense in the bud before he starts charging us rent for using the kettle? 😂"

OP posts:
ItShouldntHappenToMeYet · 27/02/2025 07:19

ChicaWowWow · 27/02/2025 07:15

But why would you give caffeine to kids, they're fucking wired already as it is 🤣

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Because it is a tasty drink. And caffeine in such small quantities barely wires a moth...

TroysMammy · 27/02/2025 07:18

Rooroobear · 27/02/2025 07:13

Hahaha second troll post I’ve seen this morning

Even if it is but isn't it fun reading the responses? I love a bit of batshittery and fuckwhatery in the morning it puts me in the right frame of mind for the day ahead. Not forgetting having a lovely cup of tea at some point.

ChicaWowWow · 27/02/2025 07:15

ItShouldntHappenToMeYet · 27/02/2025 06:48

Oh, @LoveMyLittleOnes this thread is brilliant. All the swooning and pearl-clutching over a bit of caffeine. The stuff that 'the Cintinentals' have been giving their kids for millenia, as have the children in coffee-growing areas of South America and other such countries.
Couple this with the recent post about 'gentle parenting' where the kids were supposed to risk assess the height of a jump, and weren't allowed in the DGP garden because it was too dangerous, one doesn't know whether to laugh or cry...
I dread to think what these sensory/pleasure/fun-deprived people will be like as adults. Fairly non-functioning, probably

Show quote history

But why would you give caffeine to kids, they're fucking wired already as it is 🤣

LovelyLeitrim · 27/02/2025 07:14

HamSpray · 27/02/2025 06:52

Throw him out of the house immediately, obviously.

After getting a DNA, if the whole family are tea drinkers, my guess is that he was switched at birth!

Rooroobear · 27/02/2025 07:13

Hahaha second troll post I’ve seen this morning

Pickleton1992 · 27/02/2025 07:13

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This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

Stainedbyink · 27/02/2025 07:12

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NamelessNancy · 27/02/2025 07:11

I always love how quick people are to throw their arms up in horror about a kid having caffeine and immediately jump to giving them decaff. Coffee is a natural product made from plant beans. Do any of you stop yo ask yourselves how coffee is decaffeinated?

From the BBC: "There are several ways to decaffeinate coffee but the most prevalent is to soak them in a solvent – usually methylene chloride or ethyl acetate. Methylene chloride can be used as a paint stripper and a degreaser as well an agent to remove caffeine."

Now I'm not saying decaff is necessarily a horrific thing to give a child or that caffeine is great for them but I think it's crazy how quick people are to jump to "just give him decaff" without stopping to question it.

GretchenWienersHair · 27/02/2025 07:09

Weird post.

GottaGetOutofDairy · 27/02/2025 07:09

Why is eveyone responding seriously?

Adelstrop · 27/02/2025 07:08

Just explain that it sends the wrong message to the domestic staff.

Katemax82 · 27/02/2025 07:08

Littlebrownfreckle · 27/02/2025 04:00

A 10 year old shouldn’t be drinking coffee. He’s too young for that level of caffeine.

does he actually like coffee or is he adding sugar to it?

I drank coffee at 10

Thisismetooaswell · 27/02/2025 07:07

Why are people on here so judgy and nasty. I don't think there's anything wrong with a family tea time - it's lovely. My son and daughter always came in from school and sat at the kitchen table for a cup of tea, a biscuit and a chat. Now my son is at university my daughter still does it. It will be sad when it stops - it's a lovely family thing

TemporaryPosition · 27/02/2025 07:07

MummaMummaMumma · 27/02/2025 06:53

What difference does it make whether he has tea or coffee? He can't sit with a coffee and you a tea? Maybe he just doesn't want to sit with you anymore.
My son has liked decaf coffee since he was small, and no, he'l doesn't have sugar with it but lots of milk.
Caffeffinated coffee really affects me, so must be much stronger for a child

You do know decaff doesn't mean no caffeine? It means half the caffeine. If it really affects you imagine what it does to a child's heartrate.

Stainedbyink · 27/02/2025 07:05

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

Blubbles · 27/02/2025 07:03

Another vote for why can't he drink his drink with you?

Justkeepingplatesspinning · 27/02/2025 07:00

One of us doesn't drink much tea and prefers coffee. The kids were similar growing up, one did tea and the other coffee from a similar age to your child.
What was important was the social time to all sit together and catch up about the day, and to have a snack. Make your child their coffee along with the tea, and stop potentially excluding them because of their preference of beverage.
I've only ever been to one place for afternoon tea where you couldn't choose coffee instead of tea (you got the host's preferred brand of tea), so this drink preference isn't going to hold your child back too much socially.

GiuliaTofana · 27/02/2025 06:57

When my youngest was over her morning milo to make up more family time we incorporated her into our “cheese, wine & a line” night. Her sophisticated palette enjoyed water crackers with some sage derby and port salut with a rather decent line of Columbia’s finest.
Could you do similar, OP?

PigglyWigglyOhYeah · 27/02/2025 06:56

I'm quite taken aback by all the 'he can't have coffee or tea at aged ten, it's PURE POISON' outbursts on this thread. Perhaps I am of a different generation, but I grew up drinking tea and coffee (the latter being relatively weak, instant stuff) from an early age. I wonder how many of the folk shrieking about cups of tea regularly pour squash, pop or energy drinks down the necks if their own kids. I'd rather a ten year old had a cup of unsweetened tea or coffee than drank a load of sweeteners and other oddities. I also think hot chocolate is far from some sort of healthy alternative to tea and coffee - it's full of sugar and encourages children to develop a taste for highly sweetened drinks.

pearbottomjeans · 27/02/2025 06:54

Strange thread all round. Never heard of an exclusive tea time like this!

DeffoNeedANameChange · 27/02/2025 06:53

Itsnotallaboutyoulikeyouthink · 27/02/2025 06:41

What you all sit round and drink a cup
of tea together? It isn’t about what he’s drinking why on earth would a ten year old want to do that?

(I think a bunch of wallys sitting round having a cuppa from the kettle at tea time is more common in AI generated visions of British life than in real life. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say that out loud, though or whether that counts as troll hunting.....)

MummaMummaMumma · 27/02/2025 06:53

What difference does it make whether he has tea or coffee? He can't sit with a coffee and you a tea? Maybe he just doesn't want to sit with you anymore.
My son has liked decaf coffee since he was small, and no, he'l doesn't have sugar with it but lots of milk.
Caffeffinated coffee really affects me, so must be much stronger for a child

HamSpray · 27/02/2025 06:52

Throw him out of the house immediately, obviously.

Woodworm2020 · 27/02/2025 06:51

You’re unreasonable to be allowing a 10 year old to drink coffee in the first place…..

LittleBigHead · 27/02/2025 06:49

EverybodyLovesString · 27/02/2025 04:04

Why are you allowing a ten year old to drink coffee? That’s far too much caffeine for his age.

Tea isn’t exactly non-caffeinated! And the tannin as well.

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