Children are resilient little beings. If you are a senior citizen like myself, you cringe when your thirty- or forty-something children tell you about the risks they took in childhood while you thought they were building character at summer camp. You had such a peaceful retirement before you learned the oldest was stranded above a raging glacial gorge in a cable-car at age 14. You could have happily lived another 35 years not knowing about the time the youngest snuck out of the house, “borrowed” your car, and drove to a notorious hot springs forty miles south – a hot springs rumored to be so teeming with bodily fluids that one could become impregnated after just a few minutes’ soak.
Tide pods sound positively tame at this point.
Given these revelations at a recent family gathering, I was amused to see an article debating the proper age to introduce your children to real tea. The primary bone of contention is caffeine, not surprisingly. Little bodies need nutrition and sleep to grow healthy and caffeine can interfere with both. Over my thirty-year teaching career, parents who just purchased a liter of Coca-Cola or a large Rock Star energy drink for their 15-year-old would often debate my Tea-on-Tuesday classroom practice as unhealthy for teens.
We simply must do a better job of educating folks on caffeine, theanine, and tisanes. The article goes on to insist that children should be given only herbal teas – which aren’t teas. Turns out that the caffeine level in that giant cola contains four times the caffeine as the FIRST steep of black tea! This table from the Mayo Clinic makes that quite clear.
Unfortunately, the notion that “rinsing tea before steeping removes more than half of the caffeine” cannot be verified by science. Decaf teas are making inroads into the market, but experienced tea drinkers find this to be a marketing ploy. Is it just me, or are the jitters from a cup of Americano much more pronounced than the lack of jitters I experience after drinking tea for hours every morning?
When should we introduce children to tea, the real thing?
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Interesting—I had a friend who served his 4-year-old son decaff coffee (water process). I was initially surprised—mostly, I think, because my friend used no sugar, was very health/nutrition conscious. Until now, I had not thought about how many kids drink cola with so much caffeine!
I believe that we should introduce pre-schoolers to green and white tea. By establishing an early ritual, they will become life long tea drinkers. Using little 2-3 ounce cups for tiny hands, your little one will be getting about as much caffeine as in a Hersey Kiss. Steep for 30-60 seconds at 180 degrees and they’ll be good to go. They’ll feel quite grown up sippping a warm beverage. I urge you to avoid any sweeteners as this is an unnecessary habit to initiate. If necessary, put a squeeze of lemon or lime in but in truth, you want your child to develop an early appreciation for the subtle and sweet flavor of tea.
I drank small amounts of tea as a child, and never thought twice about it. It was simply expected with certain activities, such as tea parties or to accompany Chinese food.
You make such a good point about the drinking of caffeinated soda, and how it has drastically more caffeine than tea!
When really young, the “tea” was just water—or even imaginary with the dolls and animals. Absolutely with Chinese food, though, and yes, later tea parties with the doll tea set.
Actually, when I was in elementary school my Girl Scout troop would attend afternoon tea parties every now and then. And when I was in my early teens, my Girl Scout troop would plan and host tea parties for younger Girl Scouts. And we drank real tea at both events. Mind you, this was in the late 80s and early 90s, so I think people didn’t care as much about children having caffeine.
That is cool! I was thinking like preschool > 6 or 7 (Brownie age; no Daisies in my day!). I don’t think Junior scouts were into tea parties; I remember that as a family/neighborhood thing.
Please remember that you don’t have a create a traditional English tea event. China and Japan have different rituals. As long as you have a kid friendly pot and little cups, everyone will be happy. Provide salty nuts as a treat to go along with this healthy beverage.
I grew up here in Bergen County, N.J., and the family went a number of times to the 1964/65 World’s Fair. On one visit, I was selected to take part in a demonstration Japanese tea ceremony. I was 10 or 11—it was cool!
You were one luck little girl. I love Japanese tea ceremonies. I grew up in Maplewood- essec county and lived in Mountain Lakes – morris county, as an adult. Small world:)
I really was. I remember being fascinated—even remember that I wore the mumu that my grandmother had brought home from Hawai’i for me. (She and her sister, both widows, travelled a lot.) I do have a memory of the green tea being quite bitter, though.
Matcha is traditionally used in Japanese ceremonies. It does take a bit of getting used to. Over the years I’ve come to enjoy it.
Thanks, I did not realize that it was matcha. That is a lot more common here than it was in the 1960s! (Though I have not tried it yet, I do see it in stores/friends have recommended it.) As a 10-year-old, I probably expected what I was used to drinking.
There’s an interesting thread on Quora with perspectives from around the world here: https://www.quora.com/At-what-age-can-children-start-drinking-tea
I live in the south and commonly have seen others give children five and old iced (often sweet) tea.
I personally drink hot (unsweet) tea of all varieties all the time. Being such a tea lover, I have let my two year old have a sip of certain teas from time to time. Since she’s come along I’ve done a lot of research on tea, and I am also newly concerned now about lead and other heavy metals in tea as well.
I had some organic tea from China tested for heavy metals but it was fine. I think it’s very important to buy organic when ever we’re dealing with plants, fruits or vegetables. Have you seen information about rice and arsenic? Horrible situation all over the world. Doesn’t matter if it’s organic or where it’s grown. Horrible levels of arsenic in all samples. Children and pregnant women should not eat rice of any kind. Then there’s mercury and fish. The world we’re living in is very toxic. It’s no wonder that kids today are the first generation that isn’t expected to live longer than their parents.
I have seen a suggestion of cooking rice as one does pasta—lots of water, drain when done. It is supposed to cut the arsenic level.
Yes, I read the same information. I try to limit my rice. It had been a staple in our home for decades. Now I’ll eat a small amount when I’m at a Chinese restaurant and maybe serve it once a month at home.