Teenagers and energy drinks

[B3ck89]

Found out that my 13 year old got given a big can of red bull.
I thought shops were stopping selling energy drinks to kids under a certain age?
I hate it when he drinks them behind my back, he’s admitted he drinks monster a lot.
I’ve tried showing him articles about how they are not good for him, but he doesn’t care.
When he goes out unfortunately there’s no stopping him from buying one
I think my Tesco and co op stopped selling to kids, but the little post office still do.

I get heart palpitations when I have had an energy drink in the past and refuse to touch them again.

Anyone have any ideas that can prompt him into stopping drinking them? I really do worry that it could cause him problems if he starts drinking too many (I don’t want him drinking any)

It's nigh on impossible to get a teen male to give up something on health grounds, they think they're immortal.

The only time they do that is if they get into training, martial arts etc. Does he have any interest in sport etc?

Would he be interested in the teeth argument? Good teeth is a thing these days.

It might take him to get a bit more mature.

I'd stay off his case and see how he is after going into a new school year, around Christmas.

A lot of changes happen between 13 and 14.

"" (I don’t want him drinking any)""

You can't dictate to him to that extent. He's just going to get secretive and you don't want that in your teen.

He does love football and is quite active.

Since starting year 7 he’s took pride in his appearance showering every day, brushing his teeth every day so yeah maybe I can bring up about his teeth.
I think all the kids are mad on energy drink and he don’t want to be left out, so in his eyes health risks come last

He’s already been quite secretive and only told me this morning he does drink them, hoping it’s a phase he will grow out of

Honestly it is going to be hard to police drinking energy drinks at that age. Pick your battles OP, this is just the start!

My youngest DD went through a phase of drinking energy drinks at that age, TBH I would let it go unless he actually starts getting properly addicted or gets teeth cavities. And at that age he can't have a lot of money to spend.

My DD grew out of it thankfully about a year later and drinks coffee now

They're not supposed to be sold to children under 16.

OP you need to find out how much he's drinking.

A girl I went to school with has drunk at least 3 energy drinks a day from about 13 to now (a decade later).

On 4/5 occasions she has decided to stop, she has had seizures.
There's no medical diagnosis for these seizures but she's now too scared to stop.

I wouldn't be surprised if she has a heart attack before she's 30. He needs to understand how dangerous over-consumption can be.