Do your kids drink coffee? Even though coffee is life for this mama, my kid doesn’t. But some do. I was listening to a radio show the other day and in some Latin American and Italian cultures, kids as young as toddlers are given coffee in the form of a latte. Some parents were appalled by this, and others said it’s been a custom in their household for generations.
It might seem a bit surprising to give a child coffee, but do we not let them eat chocolate and drink soda or iced tea? These all contain caffeine.
According to Johns Hopkins, too much caffeine in children can cause issues such as increased anxiety, increased heart rate and blood pressure, acid reflux, and sleep disturbance. They said that too much caffeine is dangerous for kids, and in very high doses, it can be toxic.
The scariest part about coffee and kids is that we just don’t know… researchers don’t yet know the long-term effects of giving kids a morning cup of Joe.
Would you let your kids have coffee?
A full-time work-from-home mom, Jennifer Cox (our “Supermom in Training”) loves dabbling in healthy cooking, craft projects, family outings, and more, sharing with Suburban readers everything she knows about being an (almost) superhero mommy.
