Mum, can I drink coffee?

This was the lament of our 8 year old Gremlin when faced with another day of home learning during the Covid-19 lockdown with teacher mum. I secretly think she prefers teacher dad but he was out at work as a key worker.

After composing myself, I realised she was deadly serious and wondered how best to respond. I barely drink the stuff myself and would much rather have a big mug of builders strength brewed tea unless I’m meeting my friend at a local coffee shop when it is always ok to order a skinny vanilla latte.

She has actually decided at 8 years of age that it is perfectly acceptable to want to drink coffee when she’s barely drunk anything other than squash or water for the last 7 years of living with us.

Having a great day of patient parenting (it was one of those rare moment during this current season) I asked her where she had got the idea that drinking coffee would be a good thing for her to do. It was then that she explained that when teacher dad has been making himself a latte or cappuccino on our machine, she has been taking the time to steal the froth off the top and she likes the taste. She also then admitted to drinking the last mouthful of the drink as teacher dad never seems to completely finish the drink.

Anyone who knows the Gremlin knows that she is quite a determined little girl with strong opinions about EVERYTHING! She then went away and made the picture you see on this blog entry as part of her demonstration and justification for her argument to drink coffee from now on.

I eventually managed to resolve the situation by telling her that at 8 years old she is probably a little too young to become a regular coffee drinker and that she has more than enough energy already that I cannot imaging keeping up with her if she also becomes additionally fuelled with caffeine.

We then went and made a nice cup of tea which she has now learned to make (just the way I like it.) This means that I am the lucky recipient of regular cups of tea throughout the day as she is so excited at learning this new skill.

I choose to call this a parenting win…until the next time.