AIBU to feel sad that my 10-year-old prefers coffee over our family tea time?

[LoveMyLittleOnes]

Hi everyone, I could use some advice here. My little one is 10 now, and has recently taken a liking to coffee. Our family has always been more into tea, and he used to love joining us for tea time, enjoying the cuppa we made for him. Now, he makes his own coffee and doesn’t join us for tea anymore. Sometimes, I want to relive or share those tea moments with him, but he seems a bit resistan. Part of me wants to barge in and demand he join us for a proper brew, but another part’s screaming “He’s 10 going on 16 – let him live!”

Am I being a clingy wally clinging to the Tea time days? Or should I nip this flat white nonsense in the bud before he starts charging us rent for using the kettle? 😂"

He's 10. You're the adult here, you just tell him to come and drink with you

What you all sit round and drink a cup
of tea together? It isn’t about what he’s drinking why on earth would a ten year old want to do that?

I've drunk regular tea as a child and still drink it, Drank coffee from about 9, pinched some of dm's milky coffee and have drank coffee ever since, never decaf though. Totally pointless imo. But having said that coffee never stops me sleeping, I always have the last one after dinner. Guess that might be unusual though.

Oh, @LoveMyLittleOnes this thread is brilliant. All the swooning and pearl-clutching over a bit of caffeine. The stuff that 'the Cintinentals' have been giving their kids for millenia, as have the children in coffee-growing areas of South America and other such countries.
Couple this with the recent post about 'gentle parenting' where the kids were supposed to risk assess the height of a jump, and weren't allowed in the DGP garden because it was too dangerous, one doesn't know whether to laugh or cry...
I dread to think what these sensory/pleasure/fun-deprived people will be like as adults. Fairly non-functioning, probably

LTB

make him the coffee and continue to sit together

Tea isn’t exactly non-caffeinated! And the tannin as well.

You’re unreasonable to be allowing a 10 year old to drink coffee in the first place…..

Throw him out of the house immediately, obviously.

What difference does it make whether he has tea or coffee? He can't sit with a coffee and you a tea? Maybe he just doesn't want to sit with you anymore.
My son has liked decaf coffee since he was small, and no, he'l doesn't have sugar with it but lots of milk.
Caffeffinated coffee really affects me, so must be much stronger for a child

(I think a bunch of wallys sitting round having a cuppa from the kettle at tea time is more common in AI generated visions of British life than in real life. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say that out loud, though or whether that counts as troll hunting.....)

Strange thread all round. Never heard of an exclusive tea time like this!

I'm quite taken aback by all the 'he can't have coffee or tea at aged ten, it's PURE POISON' outbursts on this thread. Perhaps I am of a different generation, but I grew up drinking tea and coffee (the latter being relatively weak, instant stuff) from an early age. I wonder how many of the folk shrieking about cups of tea regularly pour squash, pop or energy drinks down the necks if their own kids. I'd rather a ten year old had a cup of unsweetened tea or coffee than drank a load of sweeteners and other oddities. I also think hot chocolate is far from some sort of healthy alternative to tea and coffee - it's full of sugar and encourages children to develop a taste for highly sweetened drinks.

When my youngest was over her morning milo to make up more family time we incorporated her into our “cheese, wine & a line” night. Her sophisticated palette enjoyed water crackers with some sage derby and port salut with a rather decent line of Columbia’s finest.
Could you do similar, OP?

One of us doesn't drink much tea and prefers coffee. The kids were similar growing up, one did tea and the other coffee from a similar age to your child.
What was important was the social time to all sit together and catch up about the day, and to have a snack. Make your child their coffee along with the tea, and stop potentially excluding them because of their preference of beverage.
I've only ever been to one place for afternoon tea where you couldn't choose coffee instead of tea (you got the host's preferred brand of tea), so this drink preference isn't going to hold your child back too much socially.

Another vote for why can't he drink his drink with you?

You do know decaff doesn't mean no caffeine? It means half the caffeine. If it really affects you imagine what it does to a child's heartrate.

Why are people on here so judgy and nasty. I don't think there's anything wrong with a family tea time - it's lovely. My son and daughter always came in from school and sat at the kitchen table for a cup of tea, a biscuit and a chat. Now my son is at university my daughter still does it. It will be sad when it stops - it's a lovely family thing

I drank coffee at 10

Just explain that it sends the wrong message to the domestic staff.

Why is eveyone responding seriously?

Weird post.

I always love how quick people are to throw their arms up in horror about a kid having caffeine and immediately jump to giving them decaff. Coffee is a natural product made from plant beans. Do any of you stop yo ask yourselves how coffee is decaffeinated?

From the BBC: "There are several ways to decaffeinate coffee but the most prevalent is to soak them in a solvent – usually methylene chloride or ethyl acetate. Methylene chloride can be used as a paint stripper and a degreaser as well an agent to remove caffeine."

Now I'm not saying decaff is necessarily a horrific thing to give a child or that caffeine is great for them but I think it's crazy how quick people are to jump to "just give him decaff" without stopping to question it.