My writer friend Jenny Johnson sent me a blog post from the Houston Chronicle‘s SciGuy, describing a recent study from the Journal of Pediatrics about kids and caffeine. Here’s an excerpt from the study summary:
According to Dr. Warzak, “Some children as young as 5 years old were consuming the equivalent of a can of soda a day.” The authors also noticed that the older children drank more caffeinated beverages. “Children between the ages of 8 and 12 years consumed an average of 109 mg a day,” Dr. Warzak explains, “the equivalent of almost 3 12-ounce cans of soda.”
The study also found that almost 75 percent of children aged 5 to 12 consumed caffeine on a daily basis and that, not surprisingly, caffeine consumption was correlated with sleep problems.
Brady calls it “poison for kids” 
On my end, I’ve noticed that for my almost-middle-school-aged daughter, the idea of going to Starbucks for a coffee (not the caffeine-free Vanilla Creme we sometimes get as a treat) suddenly holds great allure. I think she must be influenced by ubiquitous images of cool high school girls clutching that white and green cup in their hands.
Is coffee the new cigarette?