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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not allow ds (aged 6) to drink COFFEE at school

119 replies

MrsMills · 07/02/2007 11:08

They now have a drinks table which they are allowed to use on an afternoon and have been shown how to make coffee (filtered). His preffered choice is milky with sugar apparently. This had been going on for aobut 2 weeks as far as I know and I was not asked if it would be o.k..

I need to go and see for myself what they are doing, but the other parents I have spoken to seem fine about it.

I however cannot believe they are giving him coffee. Bear in mind that this is the same school who told me off for putting 6 pringle crisps in his lunchbox thread here .

Arrrgh I don't even know where to start!

OP posts:
Eowyn · 07/02/2007 11:10

sounds bizarre, i would hope it's decaf?

lulumama · 07/02/2007 11:11

what !!!!!!!! coffeeeeeeeee????????????

no way ! even if it is decaf, what is wrong with water, milk or good fruit juice???

whatkatydidntdo · 07/02/2007 11:12

you are joking, arent you??? (about a school allowing a 6 yo coffee )

foxtrot · 07/02/2007 11:13

at coffee. Don't think i had until i was a teenager.

Original poster
MrsMills · 07/02/2007 11:13

Nno not joking, just trying to work out what to say to his teacher without blowing my top.

OP posts:
DizzyBint · 07/02/2007 11:14

good grief! couldn't they show them how to use a juicer or something rather than how to make coffee ffs!

EnidLloydFoxe · 07/02/2007 11:14

are they mad!!

ledodgy · 07/02/2007 11:15

How bizarre I would have thought the teachers could do without having 30 hyper 6 year olds to teach!

goingfor3 · 07/02/2007 11:15

That sounds insane!!!

HuwEdwards · 07/02/2007 11:16

coffee? are they providing a pipe for him to smoke too??

colditz · 07/02/2007 11:17

Even I am at coffee! Are they a crap school, are they doing it so they can blame poor results on lack of concentration? I would be havintg a polite word with the teacher, about the inappropriate choices available to such young children.

God, even I wasn't allowed coffee until I was about 12, and I was allowed to eat almost anything.

Original poster
MrsMills · 07/02/2007 11:18

I do now live in a country which is one of the worlds largest coffee consumers per capita, now I know why. Start them young!

But it's the irony which guilles me most I think - sweets once a week, no dessert at school, no juice allowed either, children must bring fruit in with them everyday, outside for an least an hour a day regardles of weather (it's-15 today). And then give them sweet coffee.

OP posts:
Original poster
MrsMills · 07/02/2007 11:19

I read on t'internet that caffeine can actually aid concentration in small children but to me that still doesn't seem enbough to justify this.

OP posts:
NotQuiteCockney · 07/02/2007 11:20

Is this a Scandi country?

I don't think coffee is that bad, I bet they're having it quite weak. I mean, I wouldn't give coffee to my kids, but lots of kids here drink milky tea, which is essentially the same, isn't it?

Original poster
MrsMills · 07/02/2007 11:24

Yes, after reading a bit more about it (to make sure i wasn't being unresonable) there's alot of caffeine in tea too, also chocolate, sfot drinks, chocolate too but nowhere near on the scale of coffee.

We're in Sweden, they are quite tense here sometimes.

OP posts:
foxinsocks · 07/02/2007 11:24

doesn't caffeine inhibit the absorption of something or other that's important for kids? (is it iron or calcium, can't remember)

ledodgy · 07/02/2007 11:25

It's iron

EnidLloydFoxe · 07/02/2007 11:25

god sweden sounds fab

would love to apply teh schools rules to my own life

colditz · 07/02/2007 11:26

Isn't it tannin that hinders absorption of iron?

Original poster
MrsMills · 07/02/2007 11:26

You must have missed the part about it being -15 today

OP posts:
EnidLloydFoxe · 07/02/2007 11:27

no I didnt

my dh makes gloves

ledodgy · 07/02/2007 11:27

I thought it was caffeine as on iron tablets it tells you not to drink caffeine within two hours of taking them.

Original poster
MrsMills · 07/02/2007 11:31

Caffeina and tannin both hinder iron absorbance, more ammunition thanks, (as if i need it).

So I need to confront Mrs CostaKaffee then?

OP posts:
dassie · 07/02/2007 11:36

caffeine can also make you dehydrated so you need to drink more water to compensate for that

ledodgy · 07/02/2007 11:36

It also stains your teeth.

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