2 year old having cup of tea at nursery

[Pumpkinsoup22]

My dshas just moved out of baby room. When I collected him the other day was told he'd just had a cup of tea and biscuit. I assumed they were role playing and really meant water or milk. However the staff member said no real tea. AIBU to think this isn't really appropriate for 2 year olds.? Before this I've never had any concerns at all with the nursery.

I don’t think the OP ever clarified if it was decaff or not. Or did she?

Why’s it so ‘awful’?

Tea has caffeine in it. Caffeine is a drug. It is addictive.

It affects the functioning of a child's brain. Once addicted to caffeine a child may suffer withdrawal if they stop having it including headaches and mood swings.

A nursery should know.

I'd also be seriously considering new childcare.

A) the OP hasn’t clarified if it was caffeinated or not.

B) even if it was the amount of caffeine in weak milky tea is tiny

C) chocolate also has caffeine in it and I don’t see the same conniption fits over occasional chocolate consumption.

I'd also be seriously considering new childcare.

I’d be silently judging the parenting of anyone who moved their child from a nursery where they were happy and settled and there were no other issues, over something as small as this.

My mum used to put milky tea in my bottle sometimes and my grandma used to give the cat milky tea sometimes

My daughters both had milky tea from a bottle as toddlerswhen I say tea it was around 8oz milk and 1oz tea, they both loved it. They are now in their late 20s and perfectly healthy. I dont see a problem with this, I would rather give a child a cup of very milky tea than fizzy juice which I've seen parents give their children many times.

What's wrong with it? It will be weak and warm, not a hot shot of caffeine.

Not acceptable from a nursery, whether or not you would give it at home is irrelevant. It's an odd drink to give a child and against NHS recommendations.

Totaldogsbody
My two boys were the same just loved a bottle of very weak tea in a bottle when they were toddlers it was one of the first works that my second child leant to say tea!! Thirty years later they both still big tea drinkers!! Thirty years ago would have never thought about it being so awful!!

Oh fucking hell. The OP is completely within her rights to say she doesn’t want her LO having tea. Perfectly fine. No issues at all with that. But the histrionics around caffeine and addictions/tannin/scalding etc are ridiculous. Come on! They’re not likely to be giving him a boiling mug of builder’s tea are they? It will be like milky warm slightly coloured piss water.

OP, YANBU but some of these replies are

Surely weak tea is better than sugary Ribena, squash or fizzy drinks? Milk is good but full cream milk is full of lactose and calories.

I don't even let my 11 year old drink it, let alone a baby.

What do you think might happen if you gave an 11 year old tea?

My youngest is 10 and he likes tea. We drink decaf earl grey and he likes it weak with milk. I also put cold water in it to make it less hot. The eldest (13) only ever really drinks tap water but he will have an occasional decaf coffee. The main reason I don’t like him having it is because he adds sugar but he still has it the odd time. I don’t see how a cup of tea is any worse than hot chocolate which plenty of people let their kids have (mine, like me, don’t like it) and which has more fat and sugar, as well as (probably) caffeine.

Drinking tea at 11, doing speedballs at 12.

This thread is the gift that keeps on giving.

What’s a speedball?

A cocktail of morphine and cocaine.

Seems a strange thing to give out at a nursery - tell them not to give it to him again

Pumpkin - are any of the staff from mainland Europe, specifically Central/Eastern Europe by any chance? In nurseries (or at home) in some European countries it is standard practice to give tea to small children and yes it can be black tea, but black tea on the Continent is nowhere near as strong as here in the UK. They make it with sugar and lemon.

I know of many nurseries round where I live in London where management or a large proportion of staff would be from some of these countries. I'm not sure if they give tea to children though...

Surely weak tea is better than sugary Ribena, squash or fizzy drinks

I'd think very dimly of a nursery giving my DC Ribena or fizzy drinks too.

I think the issue here is that they didn’t recognise there could be an issue with tea. Some people don’t mind it but a lot would (myself included). A nursery that hands out cups of tea to two year olds without batting an eyelid would raise concerns for me about their judgement.

I’d be silently judging the parenting of anyone who moved their child from a nursery where they were happy and settled and there were no other issues, over something as small as this.

It's not just about the tea though. It's about trust in their competence. No nursery should be giving my child an addictive stimulant every day without my knowledge, no matter how small the dose. I know tea is part of our culture and most people find it hard to view it like that, but nursery staff surely should know better.

If the only single issue was the tea then no, I wouldn't move my child, but I'd be VERY interested in what else they do that's against guidelines for pre schoolers. What else are they ignorant of? And I'd be surprised if there weren't other things. This shows really poor judgement IMO.

Basically they'd need to reassure me they actually knew what the fuck they were doing if I found out my DC's nursery was giving them tea. And I'd be starting from an assumption that no, they don't.

Giving tea to toddlers or young children is against NHS guidelines.

Up to me if I want to break those guidelines with my own child. But someone else who's looking after my child should not be making those kinds of decisions on my behalf and not even telling me.

they did tell her tho.