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Original poster

Do 9 year olds drink tea?

118 replies

northstarisnorth · 23/04/2022 08:45

I'm asking for a friend who has a visiting 9 year old who's telling her that it's perfectly fine for her to drink tea and coffee.

I have a 9 year old, but I realise I have no idea what other people do.

Is it OK for a 9 year old to drink tea never, occasionally or all the time?

What do you do?

Thanks :)

OP posts:
AtomicBlondeRose · 23/04/2022 08:47

My 10 year old loves a cup of tea! Usually decaf as I mostly drink that tbh but sometimes full-strength. Doesn’t seem to affect him overly. He also likes coffee but I don’t let him have proper coffee - Camp coffee is decaf and a nice mild taste. He loves that made with frothed milk like a cappuccino.

WildCoasts · 23/04/2022 08:48

I had tea at that age. I think I could have the odd coffee but I didn't like it. Heck, my parents gave me wine on special occasions.

FawnFrenchieMum · 23/04/2022 08:49

My 9 year old drinks tea occasionally (usually when visiting GP’s) never coffee.

My teen has just been allowed to start having a coffee as he’s been working over the holidays and has one with all the other lads in the works yard before going off to jobs. He has stopped again now he’s back at college.

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9 year olds
AchillesPoirot · 23/04/2022 08:50

Mine had decaf tea and coffee at that age. V weak and mostly milk.

Original poster
northstarisnorth · 23/04/2022 08:51

AtomicBlondeRose · 23/04/2022 08:47

My 10 year old loves a cup of tea! Usually decaf as I mostly drink that tbh but sometimes full-strength. Doesn’t seem to affect him overly. He also likes coffee but I don’t let him have proper coffee - Camp coffee is decaf and a nice mild taste. He loves that made with frothed milk like a cappuccino.

A decaf frothy coffee sounds like a great idea, my own 9 year old would love the idea of that (but probably not the taste unless I put in a zillion sugars!).

OP posts:
Mumdiva99 · 23/04/2022 08:51

The only concerns are do you want young kids having caffeine and do they ikea it sweet - if so the sugar could be an issue.

My kids have had tea and coffee intermittently. My mum 'treats' them with decaf frothy coffee occasionally. They also eat chocolate sometimes which also has caffeine in.....

It's probably not a good idea for them to only drink tea and coffee. Personally I don't let my kids have fresh coffee. But it won't kill them. (When it was the norm to have a tea pot on the table loads of kids were given milk warmed with some tea from the pot.)

DatingAWidower22 · 23/04/2022 08:52

My three year old Sri is decaf tea 2 or 3 times a week

KangarooKenny · 23/04/2022 08:52

I drank tea at that age, but none of mine did.
I know a few adults who don’t drink tea or coffee.

Toponeniceone · 23/04/2022 08:54

Tea stops them absorbing iron.

Norgie · 23/04/2022 08:54

Mine were practically weaned on unsweetened tea and fresh coffee ( not decaf ) as I was. It hasn't harmed us.

RCOR · 23/04/2022 08:56

I have 4 children and three of them drank tea at 9 (and younger). They still do at 13 and 14. I always drank tea as a child so felt normal. I think it also helped me when they were little and we were getting something in a cafe - a treat on a day trip I wasn't working at the time and it was a cheaper treat to get a pot of tea and cake than soft drinks.

They don't like coffee thankfully. My eldest doesn't like tea or coffee, he drinks gallons of water. Tells me off for drinking too much coffee🤣.

AuditAngel · 23/04/2022 08:57

My mum used to help with childcare when my kids were small. Mum loved a cup of tea (decaf) and she used to make it for oldest and youngest on request. Recently, middle child developed a taste for it, but she’s 15 now so I don’t see it as an issue.

At 10, two of mine drank it, and at 11 my youngest will make it for guests/workmen

Original poster
northstarisnorth · 23/04/2022 08:59

WildCoasts · 23/04/2022 08:48

I had tea at that age. I think I could have the odd coffee but I didn't like it. Heck, my parents gave me wine on special occasions.

I know it was pretty normal when I was a kid - but so were things like sending kids to the shop to buy fags for their parents! (Not me, but I remember other kids doing this, and when our local shop stopped allowing it. It was never legal I don't think, but common practice with a note from a parent).

That's changed these days, I wondered if tea drinking has too?

OP posts:
Dinoteeth · 23/04/2022 09:00

I drank tea at my Grans at that age, choice was tea or water. She never had juice or lots of milk.

My own kids have never touched it but they do like the odd hot chocolate.

I wouldn't give them coffee, fears over interference with sleep.

cliffdiver · 23/04/2022 09:02

DDs are 8 and 10.

They drink tea (regular/decaf/herbal) and coffee (always decaf) occasionally. No sugar.

fairylightsandwaxmelts · 23/04/2022 09:04

I've been drinking both tea and coffee since I was about five or six - decaf when I was younger and then caffeinated as I got older. I had it either black or with milk.

My dad had a fancy coffee machine and I loved making everyone posh coffees Grin

OrlandointheWilderness · 23/04/2022 09:06

My 10 year old has a cuppa every morning and has since she was 8. Just as I did!

Ululavit · 23/04/2022 09:06

Dd(10) likes tea and has a cup most days, often cold by the time she finishes it! I’ve said no to coffee until she’s at secondary school, and will start her on very weak, very milky coffee with no sugar if she asks for it. My older dd is 13, and takes a flask of tea to school with her in winter, to drink in morning break.

OrlandointheWilderness · 23/04/2022 09:06

She doesn't like coffee though

ImTheFuckOffCar · 23/04/2022 09:06

Dentist told me it was a nightmare for milk teeth so mine won’t until much older.

Dinosauratemydaffodils · 23/04/2022 09:07

My 7 year old has the odd cup of weak tea. He doesn't like coffee.

Magenta82 · 23/04/2022 09:10

At the end of year 6 we went on a school trip to the Isle of Wight, they gave us tea at breakfast, but not coffee. My mum didn't like tea so had been giving me coffee for years. I was most put out when my requests were refused.

Original poster
northstarisnorth · 23/04/2022 09:10

Thanks everyone :)

Really mixed responses.

I'm not sure it helps my friend work out whether her 9 year old visitor is telling the truth! But really interesting to read.

OP posts:
simoncowellsdog · 23/04/2022 09:11

I was definitely drinking tea at that age, my grandparents always had a pot of tea on the go!

My eldest (now 12) has been drinking tea since about 9, not regularly but she'll have an occasional cup. She started drinking coffee about a year ago and prefers that, although only has 1-2 cups a week

Youngest has just turned 9 and he only ever has a cup of tea for dunking biscuits in 🤣
He doesn't actually like it to drink, but loves a homemade ginger biscuit dunked in a cuppa!

ExcitedRabbit · 23/04/2022 09:11

I was about 4 when my grandad decided I should start drinking tea.

My niece is 3 and drinks the odd cup of tea - decaf though!