Giving my 3 year old a cup of tea every weekend..

[Mexicantahoe]

My little girl is so great, eats everything, sleeps 7 to 7 uninterrupted.. Recently at the weekends she has shown an interest in my cup of tea, tea is the only thing I can manage first thing in the morning, I don't eat breakfast but at the weekend I sit down with her whilst she eats and I drink a cuppa.. I made her half a cup of weak tea last weekend and she absolutely loved it, I have mine with Oat milk so I don't add anything further to sweeten it.. Is it OK to give her 1 cup of reasonably weak tea at the weekends? Her teeth are also beautiful, straight and white with no plaque or cavities so I hope this isn't a slippery slope. It just was so lovely to see her really enjoying it. I'm pretty sure my first cup of tea was when I was very little too!
Is it ok or should I stop?

That's fine, we started giving our toddler tea in a camping cup when we went out for winter walks last winter. She loved it

I buy decaf tea or rooibos etc. Absolutely fine.

A friend of mine once had a go at me for giving my child herbal teas because they are "not suitable". How on earth is unsweetened peppermint tea unsuitable for a 4 year old

My 3 year old gets a cup of tea at the weekend too. I make mine (without milk), then take out a couple of serving spoonfuls and put it in a small mug for him. Top it right up to the top with milk so it’s very very weak and only lukewarm. I’m sure someone will tell me I’m a terrible parent but he likes it and I don’t see the harm.

@AllTheUsernamesAreAlreadyTaken

Maybe you could get her some decaf tea bags?

Yeah decaf should be fine, although I'm no health expert!

Some of my happiest childhood memories going back to when I wasn’t much older than your daughter is the ‘fly wee cuppa’ my granny would give me when I as watching watch with mother and she was having 10 minutes peace to have have her own cuppa. It was mostly milk and contained no sugar because she didn’t take sugar. It didn’t do me any harm or start a lifelong addiction to tea as I can recall never drinking tea routinely till I was about 19. Coffee? I didn’t start drinking that till I was about 45.

@EileenGC

I'd personally not make caffeine a regular thing at 3 (be that tea, coke or chocolate...). Could you give her decaf or a nice peppermint or other herbal tea instead? I absolutely loved herbal teas when I was child and used to have mugs and mugs of it... still do as an adult

But there's only 43 mg of caffeine in 100 g of chocolate! The sugar is the main problem there, not the caffeine.

Oh, and some days I’d drink it out of the saucer instead of a cup.

And It’s how I first gave one of my grandchildren their tea.

My DD (2.5yo) loves tea every now and again. I give her about 50ml of weak tea topped up with milk, no sugar. I had tea myself as a small child (and ever since)- didn't do me any harm. Why would it?

Our daughter tried to drink from my mug when a baby, loved it. I checked with Dr no probs not even a comment about decaff or TyPhoo.
Don't raise Snowflakes deliberately, Pleeeease!

I think it's perfectly fine, and a lovely little weekly tradition which she'll probably always remember.
I enjoy a nice cup of Redbush tea as well ( seen that suggested on here too) I imagine it's a great deal healthier than the squashes and fizzies that a lot of people give their kids.
So sweet that your little one wants to be like her mum 😍

My sister and I drank tea from when we were able to sit up!

Generations of children have loved a cup of milky tea. No problem at all!

My dad has always had the odd cup. She's nearly 10 and no sign of moving onto crack yet/

Both of my boys have a "brew" every morning! Does them no harm what so ever... my 18mo always has one on the school run then gets home an has breakfast. My 5yo has his when he first gets up.
It's decaf tea and I use liquid sweetener with almond milk so is perfectly fine for them to have !

Don't see any problem with giving her a cup of tea. If you are worried about caffeine you can make it decaf.

I think it's fine! Although I grew up in a tea-drinking household and my parents initially had the rule that you got to join in with the tea when you were old enough to also take your turn at making it! So I was about 7. My youngest sister had it in beakers from a very young age though so I think they got more relaxed about it as time went on.

Even a cup of strong tea won’t hurt her. It’s tea, not tequila. Come on.

They also told me that only children had sugar in their tea and adults didn't, which was a weirdly effective bit of psychological trickery since I wanted to be grown up!

Mine got her first taste of tea at 3 when we were out and about in the summer heat, her water spilled, and she was desperately thirsty. The only thing available was my very strongly brewed unsweetened iced tea. I figured a sip would be ok. She loved it. Absolutely adores tea so much she asks for it for Christmas presents. I just choose decaf varieties.

There’s bugger all caffeine in a small, weakish cup of tea.

@sst1234

Even a cup of strong tea won’t hurt her. It’s tea, not tequila. Come on.

This.

@GreenWhiteViolet

I think it's fine! Although I grew up in a tea-drinking household and my parents initially had the rule that you got to join in with the tea when you were old enough to also take your turn at making it! So I was about 7. My youngest sister had it in beakers from a very young age though so I think they got more relaxed about it as time went on.

Good old fashioned parental wisdom. Your post made me smile @GreenWhiteViolet

It's not the caffeine that's the biggest issue, it's then tannins, which are in decaf and normal tea as well as rooibos and some herbal ones. It reduces (significantly) iron absorption in children.

But weak tea once a week will do no harm.

I'm 30 I remember my parents giving me milky tea in a bottle when I was a toddler never done me any harm.