Mum Appalled At Preschool's Drink Of Choice

The mum was shocked to discover that her son’s preschool was serving the children cups of tea.

A concerned mum has posted to parenting forum Mumsnet after her two-year-old son was given a cup of tea at preschool. The mum said she believed that the choice of drink was entirely unsuitable for young children and asked if she was being unreasonable to raise the issue with the staff.

An Odd Choice

Posting on the forum, the mum said she was surprised when she discovered what her son was being served.

“My dear son has just moved out of the baby room. When I collected him the other day I was told that he’d just had a cup of tea and a biscuit,” she wrote.

“I assumed they were role-playing and really meant water or milk, however, the staff member said no, real tea.”

The mum said she was very happy with the care provided by the preschool and felt like she would be overreacting to share her concerns with the staff.

“Am I being unreasonable to think this really isn’t appropriate for two-year-olds?” she asked. “Before this, I’ve never had any concerns at all with the nursery.”

What’s The Harm?

Responses to the mum’s post were divided with some saying it was a strange decision on the part of the preschool.

“Is your child going to nursery in 1976?” wrote one disbelieving parent.

“I know this will go against the census, but honestly, I’d move nurseries,” said another mum.

Others, however, pointed out that their children often had tea at home and said it didn’t do them any harm.

“I’m not sure what the problem is,” said one commenter. “They wouldn’t have given it to him scalding hot.”

Yahoo7 said it’s worth noting that the official advice from the Department of Health is that tea is ‘unsuitable’ for young children due to the caffeine content.

While we think that every parent is entitled to serve their child whatever they feel is appropriate (within reason) in their own home, we can’t help but think that the preschool would be best to stick to good old water. Nobody can have a problem with that!

Do you think this mum was overreacting or had every right to be concerned? Let us know in the comments!

We may get commissions for purchases made using links in this post. Learn more.

60 Comments

- - mom486197 said
  - 13 Sep 2024
    11:33 am
I don’t think kids should be drinking tea – water is the best drink of choice for young minds.

- - meedee said
  - 03 Mar 2023
    11:58 am
Its really bad that a facility would be giving tea to small children.

- - Frankiielot said
  - 17 Oct 2021
    11:18 pm
So weird!
I don’t think it’s good for them with the caffeine content but then again I’m not a nutritionist.
Also, I didn’t think kids that age would even like the taste of tea…

- - mom111059 said
  - 31 Jul 2020
    2:26 pm
That is odd. I don’t think they should serve up tea to preschoolers.

- - BellaB said
  - 30 Jun 2020
    7:20 pm
I don’t think this is appropriate – not hot drinks in a preschool setting.

- - mom101628 said
  - 16 May 2020
    11:26 pm
Think drinks like tea and coffee should be decide by the home, not a pre-school.

- - LeeLee said
  - 01 May 2020
    10:58 am
Definitely an odd choice without parental consent. But I also guess it depends on the type of tea that was given. I know some teas have next to no caffeine content and may be beneficial.

- - Sjcapper33 said
  - 30 Apr 2020
    8:59 am
My second son loves to have a cup of tea and it actually sends him off to sleep. He is 11 though so big age difference and I made the choice not a child care centre. Just tell them you don’t want him consuming tea and leave it at that.

- - DaffyD said
  - 22 Apr 2020
    1:10 pm
Sounds very odd my child is only given water which is what I want

- - mom160289 said
  - 20 Apr 2020
    4:21 pm
My daughter has had tea from a young age – weak mind you and she wanted it. But definitely strange at a childcare.

- - MisChip said
  - 16 Apr 2020
    10:10 pm
Honestly, this is very odd. I don’t know that my kids would want to drink it anyway.

- - mom462038 said
  - 05 Apr 2020
    11:16 am
I wouldn’t be happy about my kids having tea at such a young age. Surely it’s a quick fix though. Just request he no longer gets cups of tea

- - rnash02 said
  - 05 Apr 2020
    12:42 am
I think the mum should’ve been told, to af least give her the option to say wether or not see allowed her child to have it

- - Kasey said
  - 29 Mar 2020
    6:51 pm
I’ve never heard of this before….personally I wouldn’t be really upset but I’d want to be informed of it. Tea really isn’t bad as long as it’s not served steaming hot.

- - rachel1970 said
  - 18 Mar 2020
    7:17 am
Probably not the drink of choice but I think it’s better than Coke or some other fizzy drink!

- - netty8 said
  - 13 Mar 2020
    11:21 am
My hubbie is from England and he was feed warm tea in his baby bottle did not do him any harm this was quite common back in the 50’s.

- - littlehandsofmine said
  - 13 Mar 2020
    11:02 am
Tea can’t be that bad right? It’s not coffee.
- meedee replied
  
  03 Mar 2023 , 11:57 am
  it still contains caffine and is not something that someone shoudl give a child without asking the parents permission.
- - tessie said
  - 12 Mar 2020
    12:47 pm
I don’t think this Mum was over-reacting. The preschool should have given the parents a choice of what the children could be offered to drink. How does the preschool know if the children don’t have an allergy to something in the tea.

- - mom290396 said
  - 11 Mar 2020
    10:38 pm
I’m sure in some countries (mainly India and China) children are drinking tea at a young age. I drank weak tea as a six year old, but don’t anymore. I think this is something that should be run past parents first! Just like if you would give children soft drink! Some things need to be up to the parents to decide!

- - nealsq said
  - 11 Mar 2020
    10:07 pm
tea is horrible i don’t know how anyone drinks it