Caffeine Culture

Are Coffee and Energy Drinks Safe for My Kids? Caffeine Has Its Drawbacks, But It's Part of Teen Culture

By
Relationship Advice Expert April Masini

Q: Dear April Masini,

I have a 15-year-old daughter whose friends have just recently started getting their drivers' licenses. Now that they have this newfound freedom they seem to want to spend all their time at ... Starbucks!

I trust my daughter's friends and I allow her to go out with them, but I'm starting to get worried that she's developing a caffeine habit that might be unhealthy for her. She has a coffee drink from Starbucks every day and once in a while, when she has to study, she is drinking Red Bulls or whatever other energy drinks she's picking up at the grocery story.

My husband says that we're lucky caffeine is her worst habit. I have no problem with her spending time with her friends or even time at Starbucks (although the cost of the drinks is another letter altogether), but is she putting her health at risk?

Signed,

Decaf Mom 

A:

Dear Decaf Mom,

You don't have much to worry about. More than likely, your daughter's affinity for coffee is more about her affinity for her friends and the fun they have hanging out together away from their parents' houses than her needing a fix. The energy drinks, on the other hand, are something you need to watch more closely.

The Starbucks or other coffee shop drinks have a different impact — both positive and negative — for teens than hardcore energy drinks like Red Bull and its like. The reason is that Starbucks doesn’t just provide an alternative drink. It provides a venue to go with this drink.

The thing to remember is that teens and pre-teens are in the process of separating from their parents and families, and individuating into their own adults. Hanging out with peers instead of with family is normal and even a healthy step in this maturation process. The bad news is that parents who love control, lose it at this time when their children would rather be with peers than with them. Because pre-teens can’t drive, they’re limited to finding private places (without parents around) to hang out. After school, they hang out around the schoolyard or local parks. They’re easily found at malls. And now, coffee shops are the new corner candy store!

Here are the reasons:

* Coffee shops are a legal place for teens to hang out and imbibe. There are no laws that keep teens from drinking coffee, coffee drinks or muffins, the staple of coffee shops. This isn’t like teens hanging out at bars, where they’re not of age to do so.

* Coffee shops are less like malls because they are smaller and more contained. It’s easier to keep track of teens and for teens to keep track of each other. In malls, you never know where the kids are, who they’re running off with, or if they lose each other on different floors, or in different stores.

* Coffee shops sell sugary drinks. that are less caffeine and more milkshake. In fact, it’s almost difficult to get a pure caffeine drink at many of them these days. Whipped, ice-blended, juice drinks are all the norm.

* The bad news is that many coffee shops substitute for the school cafeteria, and teenage girls, prone to eating disorders or just trying to be thin, will drink caffeine drinks at these shops, in lieu of eating “real food” because caffeine can be an appetite suppressant, and the pre-teens know this and exploit it at the expense of their health.

Energy Drinks are not really new.

Teens entering adulthood are juggling work and social lives for the first time, and they make mistakes, or they take on too much and choose to compensate for the lack of sleep. Adults have the same problems — they make mistakes and take on too much or have emergencies where they have to take on too much and compensate for lack of sleep with energy boosters.

Historically the energy boosters have been:

No-doze

Caffeinated sodas like Jolt

Coffee is a long-time standard

Illegal drugs like speed, benzedrine and other drugs

Cold remedies that could be bought over the counter that contain ephedrine, like Sudafed, taken for purposes other than colds — like to stay awake.

New energy boosters are:

Health food substances like guarana and ginseng

Caffeinated drinks with names like Red Bull

Coffee drinks like iced blendeds exotically named espresso shot drinks like Macchiato

Illegal drugs like speed still exist and come in new “designer” forms

What Can You Do? 

The good and the bad news is that these drugs, substances and beverages are not going away. They’re part of our culture and part of history. The interesting news is that they’re being marketed to younger people, like teens, who now have more on their plates than they used to. Over-scheduled and pressured to perform academically, socially and extra-curriculally, teens have more reasons to stay awake, and the business world has found ways to make money off the of the teens needs. These drinks are those products. 

As you continue to monitor your daughter's behavior, notice if she is becoming increasingly dependent on these energy drinks. Unlike the Starbucks, which is probably a cultural/social thing, a reliance on the energy drinks could be symptomatic of other areas of her life -- like stress or demands on her time -- getting out of control. 

 

April Masini -- nicknamed "the new millennium's Dear Abby" by the media, is author of the best-selling books Date Out Of Your League and Think & Date Like A Man, the two (just released) step-by-step dating and relationship manuals, Ideas for a Fun Date and Romantic Date Ideas, and the critically acclaimed dating and relationship online magazine www.AskApril.com.

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