04.19.07
kids and tea? absolutely
posted by Michelle Rabin | 14 comments
The job of a parent isn’t an easy one. We are the teachers of our children. Yes, most of us enroll our children into public education and expect our local school systems to do the job. Many of us also send our children to religious training at neighborhood churches or temples. When it comes to teaching our most precious possessions, our children, about health and wellness, we don’t often complete the job. We tell them to brush their teeth before bed, we tell them to wash their hands after using the bathroom, we encourage them to eat fruits and vegetables, but we don’t often educate them about beverage choices.
I saw an interesting post about kids and tea that I think is important for parents of young children to read. This particular family is 1/2 British and have adopted the custom of tea drinking into their household, much to the distress of their friends. I assume, given the culture, that these kids are actually drinking black tea. I applaud the practice although I believe that children should be introduced to green and white teas. It’s important for them to develop a taste for this delicious beverage before their taste buds are demanding sweet, unhealthy drink choices. I’d like to see the family beginning 
a ritual of tea that would be shared together each evening. You can use 2 ounce cups, perfect for little hands, which would hold 1.5 ounces of tea. We’re talking about 2 mg of caffeine people, or less if you wash the tea first. Obviously this is a negligible issue. Has anyone ever refused a child a Hershey kiss because of the caffeine content? If you’re using white tea, you’ll want to give the kids a second cup just to swish around their mouth, which will ensure a cavity free 12 hours of sleep.
Developing healthy rituals can be some of the most important experiences we introduce to our children. An evening ritual of tea, where families can share the highlights of their day, would be a wonderful time for any family. I grew up at a time when families traditionally all sat down and shared dinner together every night. Today that’s a luxury that typically doesn’t happen any more, perhaps relegated to Sunday dinners.
I think another prime time for tea and kids would be after school. Give up the milk and cookies in favor of tea and fresh roasted organic nuts (assuming no 
peanut allergies). Why not give our kids the healthiest beverage on the planet? They will love the whimsey of an Yixing pot which is typically small enough to even allow your elementary school age children the opportunity to participate in the ritual by pouring their own tea into their little cup. This experience will ensure the development of a life long tea drinker. As the profound health benefits of tea continue to be confirmed almost daily, we are in the position, as parents, to have a long term impact on our children’s health. Tea can help to accomplish that. The frightening obesity statistics among our nations children appear to be caused by 2 key factors. 1) Reduction of physical activity. Our kids aren’t going out and playing stick ball after school any more. They’re coming home and playing video games. 2) Increase in high sugar beverages. Go to any mall around the country and you’ll see kids in strollers sipping out of a McDonalds soda cup. For those conscientious parents who are turning to fruit juices, unfortunately they’re full of natural sugars so need to be consumed sparingly. The absolute best solution is TEA. Again, green and white teas have the biggest hit from an antioxidant vantage point and initial washing will remove 80% of the caffeine which normally is about 10-20 mg per 8 ounces. A bar of dark chocolate - which is the “healthier” of the chocolates, is 31 mg of caffeine (e.g. Hershey’s Special Dark). As you’ve seen, with green and white teas, we’re talking about very small amounts of caffeine, especially when washed.
So I call upon all you parents of young children. Introduce your children to this healthy ritual and help to turn them into life long tea drinkers. Instead of being afraid to alert the neighbors of your family’s tea drinking habits, share your story at the playground and help other parents learn about this healthy beverage choice. Better yet, invite them over for tea! I believe that if our children drink tea everyday, it has the potential, over a lifetime, to impact their health in a substantial way.
April 19th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
My 1.5+ yr kid loves Darjeeling tea (very diluted, of course). When she doesn’t feel like drinking plain water, we would offer “tea?” and she would drink it happily. She imitates my tea habits, too. It’s quite funny to watch.
April 19th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Your daughter is adorable. You are a brave man leaving those delicate items out for her to play with. I was amazed at how gentle she is with them, and her level of dexterity when handling them.
April 20th, 2007 at 12:17 am
Very true! When I have children I’m going to make sure they watch me make my tea and try to get them involved with it.
I’m a big advocate on teaching this generations children to eat and drink more healthy and get a lot more exercise because obviously there is a problem. I’m only 21 and from my generation to the current generation of 6-14 year olds (roughly), there is a HUGE difference in the way we spent our time. Hopefully parents will start to change the way their kids eat and play or we’re going to have a major problem on our hands in the next few years.
Nice post!
April 20th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Good for you Jeremy. I hope your attitude is consistent with other 20 something folks. I don’t think you’re going to have any problems getting them involved. They’re going to naturally want to do what you do. When they see you enjoying your tea, they’re going to want to have some too. I hope you’ll help spread the word.
April 21st, 2007 at 9:57 am
What a thought provoking article. We go through the motions of life without noticing small things and sometimes make blunders like the one you have pointed out here Michelle.
T-ching is really making things simple. Kudos to your efforts.
April 22nd, 2007 at 9:03 pm
Adorable, Phyll!! Sandy, one question I have that a doctor friend of mine brought up re: kids and tea is the iron factor; apparently the tea depletes iron. After she told me this, I read that it is better to drink tea between meals to avoid the iron depletion. Also, the doctor told me that children’s intake of tea should be limited to (I believe) 8 ounces or so daily.
Do you know or have you heard anything about this?
Thanks.
April 22nd, 2007 at 9:30 pm
Yes, Team. That is correct, almost. Tea does have an impact on iron, but by partially blocking its absorption, not depleting it. Kids do need an adequate supply of iron so, if you wanted to be conservative, you could separate out the tea from meals. Or you could just make sure they were obtaining adequate supply at other times.
I don’t think it’s as much of a problem for adults though, depending obviously on diet. For strict vegetarians and vegans it may be more of an issue just because they don’t have as many significant sources of iron from their diet, unless they are working very hard at their food selections. Iron is notoriously difficult to absorb for everyone and difficult to remove from the body for everyone other than menstruating women. If you wanted to be conservative, you certainly could make sure you don’t drink tea with your meal (I tend not to that much anyway because I find I lose the taste of my teas in the food), but for men and post menopausal women who get regular iron through their diet or in supplements, having some of its absorption blocked from tea might not necessarily be such a bad thing.
As far as limiting kids to 8 oz of tea, I’m not exactly certain what your friend is referring to. Is he concerned maybe with caffeine or flouride? I would have to know more about his thoughts on that before addressing it.
April 22nd, 2007 at 10:07 pm
Studies indicate that iron is not depleted, but it is not absorbed by 60% if consumed at a meal with tea. When coffee is taken with a meal, it is not absorbed by 40%. High fiber foods and Vitamin C can inhibit absorption, as well. These studies were primarily British-based and do not mention whether milk was added to the tea or not, which may have something to do with the malabsorption.
In my opinion, we’re a little too worried about iron deficiency in this country. It’s only 10% to 20% of kids under the age of 10 who ever suffer from iron deficiencies.
Tea can cause discolouration of the teeth in children if taken in excess and can interfere with calcium absorption since we have fluoride in our drinking water and there is a concentration of fluoride in tea.
This is a phenomenon (calcium deposits in extremities etc.) being studied in Asia now, since large Asian communities are following more of our (sometimes misguided) Western ways.
In my opinion as a practitioner: give the kid a handful of raisins and let her have a diluted cup of tea now and again.
Disclaimer: this is just a suggestion and not to be considered in lieu of conventional medical care.
Happy sipping!
Shen
April 23rd, 2007 at 2:39 pm
This is all wonderful info for me, thanks! This subject has been on my mind since Michelle wrote a relevant post back in winter. For now, my wife and I only let our kid have a few sips of very diluted tea (< 1 or 2 oz) and it is not even daily.
PS: thanks for the compliments about my daughter!
April 23rd, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Thanks Sandy and shen for correcting me. She had said (female doctor) absorption not depletion…chalk it up to my layman status.
The 8 oz. may also be my faulty memory. Her main thrust was limited tea consumption in children under a certain age because of the problem with iron absorption. And I think what both of you have said clears up anything I didn’t state correctly.
Thanks!
(We are opening our store next week and my mind is going in a thousand directions it seems!)
September 17th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Why there aren’t many post like this? There are too many recent articles about children in US suffered obesity and diabetes at younger age. Children’s diet often consist of several carbonated beverages every days, plus fat foods, lack of excersise. When I say may be tea can be of help for children as a alternative beverage. Other people are hesistant because of the taste. There are many more brands of ice tea or fruit tea or bottle green tea that taste great. If the children are interesting in drinking tea, may be they would be more willing to know more about this drink, one thing at a time.
September 17th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
Hi Pharm,
The only problem is that too many of the bottled teas are filled with high fructose corn syrup or some other type of sweetener which just perpetuates the problem. There are so many other countries in the world where children learn to enjoy the taste of plain tea.
January 7th, 2010 at 11:41 am
My eldest loves tea (she is 9) and I would love for my younger child (7) to develop this graceful and lovely habit.