Did you drink tea regularly as a child?

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I was born in the late seventies , growing up I always drank milky tea at breakfast and dinner and during the day when I wasn't at school.

Giving a baby milky tea from a bottle was also common practice. I have been thinking about this and was curious to know if this was a class / cultural thing or just "what people did in those days."

I grew up in a white working class "done good" family.

We were brought a cup of tea in bed in the morning from a fairly young age. Witha biscuit when a bit older. Not really sure why as we weren't allowed biscuits s lot of the rest of the time.

Yes! Born early 70s and I remember being given milky sweet tea in a small mug. I weaned myself off the sugar as an older teenager.

Yep born in the seventies and regularly drank tea with a bit of sugar in it, also drank coffee from about the age of 8, I stopped having sugar in my tea and coffee from 9 though as
my parents decided sugar wasn’t great.

I still love tea and coffee now, 3 out of 4 of my dc do too but no sugar!

I was born in the 60s.
Don't think we had tea until we moved into our teens.
Yes, the 'default' way to serve it was with milk and sugar.

I'd never heard of tea being given to babies until I started working with families of pre-school children in the last 15 years or so.
So, anecdotally, I don't think it was that common, but of course it might just have been I wasn't aware of it.

We were lower middle class I guess, dad was an engineer and my mum was a secretary

Not regularly but I remember having it. We weren't allowed coffee though.

We also had half a packet of sugar (if allowed to do it ourselves 😂) on our cereal too 🤷‍♀️

No, never drank tea and still don't.

Used to have after dinner coffee and a pre dinner sherry when staying with my DGPs from about 12 . I am over 60 now and still think of my lovely grandmother every time I have a sherry (like this evening - pre dinner!).

I was born early 60s. Afaik children drinking tea (white, with sugar) was ubiquitous. My parents were northern, as it happens, but we lived in the south and they were teachers.
It was drunk with meals, so whether there was sugar in it or not was probably not very relevant.... cleaned teeth or at leat 'rinse and spit' after.

Northern middle class and yes, all the time. A half cup for small children of about 3 years old though from what I remember.

Yes I was probably weaned on sugary milky tea! I can definitely remember having it from age 4 or 5 in a plastic mug before going to school.
Also born in the 1970s working class ( South East England)
I never gave it to my own children though and I remember being really surprised when I took my son on a playdate when he was 3 or 4 and the friends mum offered the children them milky tea!

My 2yo has little cups of weak, milky tea. No sugar. He would hound me for mine, so now he gets his own.

60s child - from about age 8, breakfast time and maybe at weekends if there was an afternoon tea type event involving cakes etc. Have never seen a young child or baby being given tea. Remember my cool older brother making me black coffee at about 10 after much nagging and pretending I liked it. My grandmother used to let me have a ‘coffee dash ‘ - hot milk with a bit of coffee to colour it.

Had bad reaction to squash drinks ( less regulation on colourants then) so drank water or milk.

I grew up in a white working class "done good" family.

Me as well as yes. Gave up the sugar as a teenager.

My Brummie mate from a working class family never drank or drinks any hot drinks. His was a squash household. We weren't allowed that!

I had tea as a primary age child in the 80s. I stopped having it when I stopped drinking milk due to the school trying to give me a lumpy off bottle at break time 🤮

As an adult I cannot stand tea and only drink black coffee.

I'm a southerner. My parents were from working class backgrounds.

Yes! I loved it! And hence the username I'm still a lover
So if our parents gave us it because they didn't have the knowledge then about caffeine that we do now etc. would it be bad to give a child a cup using a decaffeinated teabag?

I was bought up drinking tea, milk no sugar. I am from a family of cockneys and it was the same as eating whelks, cockles or eating beef dripping. My son is r and has decaff tea with lots of milk (and will often nick mine or my mums (decaff no sugar). I remember my mum and dad giving me an Irish coffee with the floating cream but without the alcohol from the age of about 8 too. It felt very posh!

I was born in Ireland in the late 80s and always remember drinking sugary tea. In terms of class my parents were working class but both university educated.

I remember as a toddler in nursery school (aged 3) being sent in every day with a flask of tea and being irritated that my tea would be tepid during our second break time and asking my mother to sort it out haha.

I also vividly remember another child showing up once with coffee in their flask and that being very controversial.

I gave up sugar for lent when I was in primary school and couldn't bear sweet tea since then but still love tea.

This is interesting as I was born in the 60s and I literally can’t remember a time when I didn’t drink tea. It was a memory throughout my childhood. Which makes me wonder about this giving milky tea in a bottle thing. Was I brought up to drink tea from a baby? I’m Irish working class background brought up in Nottingham.

I remember as I got to age ten or eleven I started to reduce the number of spoons Of sugar I had, I don’t really recall why - maybe my parents were suggesting it? Maybe i read about sugar being bad for me? No idea!

OMG I was groomed to be a tea addict wasn’t I?

I drank milky sugary tea and coffee from about the age of 5! I used to have 3 sugars at one point. My mum would have said we were middle class and educated, although my parents struggled financially. Siblings and I rather addicted to caffeine looking back (and sugar). We all went to bed really late, probably buzzing from the caffeine! I taught myself about nutrition etc when I left home at 18. I was often ill as a child and I finally realised it was partly connected to my atrocious diet. My mum looks at me like I'm mad when I drink decaf in the evening now and because I've cut out cow's milk due to allergies - I think she thinks I'm being very precious 😆

I don’t think it’s only a working class thing. I was born in the 70s, from a middle class family (everyone privately educated - boys at Eton) and I had sweet milky tea from as early as I can remember. As a very small child, if I stayed at my grandparents, I’d get into bed with them in the morning and we’d all have BHT “boiling hot tea”.

Never in a bottle but yeah from about age 6 maybe? I drink tea all day, about 6-8 mugs

Grew up on rooibos tea but it's caffeine free. My child loves it too!

Born late 70s. My grandparents gave me tea from the age of around 8 and up. It wasn't strong, it was milky and I wasn't allowed sugar. I was allowed a 2 finger Kit Kat with it though. Yum.

We definitely weren't wired but same GPs would have us out on the moor every day walking for at least an hour/90 minutes.

Loved every single second of my time with them. Hated going home. Used to cry when I left.

yes. Black tea or coffee no sugar. I never have been able to stand the taste of milk. From around the age of 4.

I was born in the 60’s and can’t remember ever not drinking tea with milk and sugar at home. It was loose leaf and we didn’t use a tea strainer, it took me years as a teabag using adult to stop leaving a bit at the bottom of the cup (to avoid a mouthful of the now non-existent tea leaves in the bottom). I would say we were lower middle class.