Overheard

It's lunchtime today and I'm standing in line ordering a sandwich at a little bistro when a mom comes in with her 4- or 5-year-old son. They get behind me and she asks him, "Do you want an iced cappucino?" I can't help myself, I turn around and look at them. "Does your tummy feel up to it?" she asks.

I say nothing, of course, but wonder why one would give any child CAFFEINE. Especially one with an upset stomach.

He thinks. She says, "Warm milk would be good for your tummy." Wait, didn't she ask him if he wanted an ICED cappucino? That's not warm.

He says, "Yes." Then, seconds later, he says "I think I want juice instead."

Good for him!, I think. What a smart boy.

I sit down to wait for my order and they sit down at the table next to me.

He says, "I think this drink was a much better choice." I look at his drink. It is an Orangina, which is 12 percent juice (with 2 percent pulp, if that counts).

I'm trying hard not to be judgmental, so someone explain to me how it makes sense to encourage a child to drink coffee and then give him something other than juice when that's what he wants.

Maybe I have no perspective on this because Colter thinks fizz is spicy and has never had any interest in sodas, let alone cappucino! And given his temperament I would sooner give him cognac than caffeine.

What are your kids drinking?

Comments

[Betty]

My 6 1/2 year old is mostly drinking water, milk, or juice. I'm trying to encourage her to drink more water though and cut back on the juice. I don't really want her to drink any carbonated sodas until she's much older - there's just too much sugar in there.

When she was young she was curious about all of the drinks that grown-ups drank, so I did let her have a sip of things, like caffeinated soda, tea, and instant mix coffee. Her response was "yuck"! LOL. I was glad to hear that because she now no longer bothers me to try my grown-up drinks. So, my experiment luckily worked for me. :::whew:::

My 20-month old is mostly drinking 100% whole milk, Pediasure Vanilla, and water. Occasionally, we give him juice that is watered down, so that it's about 60% juice and 40% water. We're trying to do things with him a bit differently now that we've learned from our mistakes that we made with our first child - who was previously addicted to juice.

[Stacie]

My 3 1/2 yr. old drinks 100% fruit juices and water. His "soda" of choice is actually seltzer. Unfortunately he hasn't had milk since I took away his bedtime bottle at 2yrs. He just won't drink the stuff, not even flavored. But coffee???? What the heck? NO WAY!

[Lori]

Adam accompanied Emma on a field trip recently (to Chuck E. Cheese, but that's another rant), and the lunch and beverages were already set up on a table. The kids sat in one place and the adults another, but Emma still yelled to him across the room, "Daddy, I can't drink this! It's a grown-up drink!" It was a Sprite.

Emma drinks white milk, water and OJ at home. On occasion (a picnic, a birthday party) and at preschool, she'll have juice (always 100 percent). Oh, and she gets a cran-apple on flights. One of the perks of being good on the plane.

[Angie]

We don't give soda or anything with caffeine to the kids. Oh my gosh would we be in for it if the kids had caffeine, one night as a treat i gave Gabby a MOUNTAIN DEW. Boy did I learna lesson. She couldn't sleep till after two in the morning on a school night.

[sarah]

I have to admit I've been known to let my almost-two-year-old drink coffee (not his own cup, mind you, but he loves to take sips from mine). But anything with high fructose corn syrup? I'd be tsk-tsking too.

I'm firmly a "close to the earth" person and figure coffee, since it's so minimally altered from its natural state, is fine. Orangina? Now that's terrible. Almost as bad as Sunny Delight.

[Lee Ann]

I just asked my 4 yr old daughter what her favorite drinks are and this is her list:
Chocolate Milk,
Water, and
Juice.
She also wanted to say what her favorite foods were:
Chicken,
Turkey, and
Cake. Both my kids get occasional Sprite (abby - she just typed her name, she is very excited about posting a comment right now:)

[Nancy]

My 8 year old, drinks milk, water and juice with soda being a treat and soda with caffeine only with rare permission (usually at parties where it is the only drink available). My 2 year old only drinks milk and water. He can't stand juice and he's way too young to even try soda yet.

[VJ]

No caffine in this house! That includes coffee, caffine soda, the works. (Exception, Angelo will drink caffine if it's late at night and he needs to drive.) In this house it's water, 100% juice from frozen conentrate, and soymilk. Once in a while non-caffine soda pop makes its way in the door, but that's a rare treat.

[Analee]

Just milk and water for my 10-month old. I sure am learning a lot from you guys!

[Kelly]

As a young girl, I suffered with miserable constipation due to a total lack of real fiber in my diet (Little Debbie Snacks and Mac N Cheese) and my mom would deal with this by handing me a cup of instant coffee through the bathroom door. I was 9 when that started and 27 years later I still haven't been able to give up my coffee...

Ty had a cup of joe at my sister's wedding, that and ginger ale in a martini glass...he was 10. Mostly water, some juice and some soda.

Lila gets breast milk and water, that with an occasional splash of fruit juice. Of course, she's getting her caffeine second hand every day. : (

I can't understand how people can have such limited choices in their minds...so commercially loaded and full of crap. Juice is the juice of a fruit, not a percentage of the juice of a fruit diluted in fizzy tap water and high fructose corn syrup. But I don't think a lot of people really know this.

[AGK]

Does it make me a bad mom that I'm a coffee-pusher to my teen son? I mean, he wakes up so grumpy! Coffee fixes the elder grumpy bear...why not the teen one? Well, he always says no. So I'm still a good mom, right? :)

[Robin P]

I give Lillianna a beer with her cereal every morning. I couldn't even type this with a straight face!!!!! Ok, you know I am joking! Lillianna drinks water, milk (plain, choc and strawberry), watered down juicy juice at home and regular juice outside the home but not too often. Soda is very, very rare. She had one of those tiny cans of Mountain Dew over the weekend and she thought that was a huge treat. I only drink water so she likes to share my huge glass of ice water when we are home.
As for caffeine.....when my niece was 7 and my nephew 1 1/2 my sister in law let them share her super huge Dunkin Donuts ice coffee every day. They are now 12 and 6 and still drink it with her. I am addicted to ice coffee too but I am not giving it to my 6 year old. And I agree with April. If Lillianna DID have an upset tummy she would be home snuggling with me and having chicken soup and pedialite! Who are these whacko moms???? And isn't it sad the the boy had more common sense than the mom???? PITIFUL!

[Robin]

Whatevs. I drank nothing but rainwater 'til I was 12 and it did me good.

(Seriously though, I say any beverage w/out high-fructose corn syrup is totally legit. Everything else -- caffeine, aspartame, guava extract, uranium, whatever -- is inconsequential.)

[Nikki]

My 5 year old daughter drinks coffee, on occasion. It seems to settle her down. It seems like the things that make most people sleepy, hype her up and things that would hype most people up calm her down. I have no problem sharing coffee with her. On normal days, she drinks water, milk, jucie or smoothies/drinkable yougurt. I think it just depends on the child and that all things should be done in moderation.

[Emily]

My older ones love soda,but they only get it on a rare occasion.Mostly it's water and juice.

[Shelly]

My 5 year old hates soda (it's the bubbles). She drinks milk (both chocolate and plain), juice, water, occassionally lemonade and hot chocolate (her drink of choice at Starbucks while I down my latte). My 3 year old drinks vanilla soy milk (always while holding my finger - I think it's replace the intimacy of nursing for him), juice and water. He absolutely loves soda, so as a treat we'll give him a sprite if we're dining out.

[Lei]

Holy smokes! My 22 mo. old still drinks mostly breastmilk straight from the tap ;) , water, and very rarely, fruit smoothie. He shows interest when he sees us drinking other stuff, but as soon as the glass gets close to his lips, he pushes back to us and commands us to "Drink!".

[April]

Ok, I have a 3 year old who is absolutely untolerable if he doesn't get his "coffee" in the morning. His "coffee" consists of 1/2 coffee and 1/2 milk, no sugar. He has had this every morning since he was 1 year old. I've never had a problem with him going to sleep - either for a nap or the night. However, if my child had an upset tummy, first of all he wouldn't be in a in any public setting, with the exception of the doctors office, where his little immune system could be attacked. He would be at home eating chicken noodle soup at home and drinking pedialyte!

~~April

[Gina B]

Oh, geez, and here I am having night sweats that I'm giving my year and a half old watered down Juicy Juice! I bet these are the same parents who can't understand why their kids are up all night...

PS. I moved Mom-Blog to it's own URL.

[Helene]

Wow! And I thought I was sometimes a rotten parent for allowing my kids to drink capri "juice" drinks occasionally. I now feel just a bit elevated. :)

[Karen]

Water. Milk. OJ. That's it!