I don't give my little girl coffee, tea or coke, but each person have to decide for themselves. But for the people that commented about the caffeine content in each:

"....coffee has the most caffeine with 47-164 milligrams per 5 ounce serving. The caffeine content depends on how the coffee is brewed -- fresh drip has the highest level, instant has the lowest. Second place is a little more difficult to determine. A single serving of black tea (5 oz.) can have anywhere from 25 to 110 milligrams of caffeine, while a single serving of Coca-Cola (12 oz.) measures in with 46 milligrams. However, when you break it down to caffeine per ounce, tea handily beats Coke."

My parents never gave me coffee or fizzy drinks as a kid. Still today Id rather have water than a fizzy drink and I dont enjoy coffee so I don't drink coffee at all to this day.
I don't see why children should be given coffee when there are healthy fruit juices and purified water, or just tap water. Surely those alternatives are better?
If they want a hot beverage, what about milo, or rooibos tea, or even nesquick. Why give kids coffee?

Coffee gets such a bad wrap! Most things are okay in moderation, even for children. My mother allowed me to drink coffee from tiny because I loved it! I sufferred no ill effects.

You are even allowed to drink up to 2 cups of coffee a day whilst pregnant, so the amount of caffeine in the odd cup of coffee is hardly about to harm your child. The only important consideration is the effect that the caffeine may have on your son personally, as it does effect people in different ways.

My husband gives his 3 year old some of his left over coffee each moning as she really battles to wake up for school; and she is absolutely fine on the caffeine!

I have just one question - Why? Surely there must be something else to drink in the house

I go between believing that coffee is god's ultimate gift to man and believing it is from the very bowels of Satan. Some days, my constitution deals with it just fine and on others I'm bouncing off the walls. Maybe it's the same for kids? I'd test it out to see how they are on it? p.s. I read a brilliant article in the National Geographic a few years ago to do with coffee. Even Buddhist monks drink coffee first thing in the morning to "fuel debate". They seem like very nice people who aren't too jumpy?

A child's kidneys/liver must digest the caffeine, and at such a young age those organs work even harder to digest it. Best is to give rooibos tea, plus there is all these nice teas for kids that you can buy now. I am a mom to a diabetic 6 year old, I cant give normal cold drinks, so yes, Tab, coke zero (which does have caffeine), fanta zero (great taste) and other lite fizzy drinks. Coke is on my "emergency" list for when the sugar drops to low. Yes, much more other stuff to worry about - I see it as - Give it to him/her and give him the sweet with it, cos you can! My heart breaks for looking at other kids just munching away and going crazy, then I look at my son and his eyes fixed on that bowl of sweets.... yes my boy, if you want it, have it, as long as mommy gives you an extra injection to cover it, meaning, one more blue mark! So there you have it.... many bad things... many good things. Happy child = happy mom, being it with a cup of milky coffee!

I would ask a pediatrician about that, or maybe a dietician (although make sure it's properly qualified one). Personally, I practically grew up on coke, coffee and nesquick. The only thing that probably made a difference was the sugar, which is something I would limit your child to. Coffee, if it's milky and limited to a couple of cups a day shouldn't be a problem. A good quality cup of coffee (I'm not sure about chicory though) has loads of antioxidants anyway. DON'T give your child decaf, it's chemical laden and can do more harm.

MINE DRINK COFFEE ..... AND THEY'RE FINE ... I DO HOWEVER TRY NOT LET THEM HAVE IT AT NIGHT ... BUT THEY HAVE ON THE ODD OCCASION AND IT HAS NOT AFFECTED THEM AS IT DOES ME ... (KEEPING THEM AWAKE.) I ALSO MAKE IT MILKY AND I USE NESCAFE GOLD. NO TEA IS NOT THE QUESTION HERE - BUT .. CAFFEINE SEEMS TO BE THE LINK ... SO YES, I PREFER COFFEE OVER TEA DUE TO THAT!! :)
DAUGHTER HAS JUST TURNED 5 AND SHE'S BEEN DRINKING COFFEE SINCE 4 YRS OLD. ITS NOT OFTEN, BUT IF THEY WANT TO HAVE A CUPPA WITH MOMMY - SO BE IT :) THEY DONT ON THE OTHER HAND DRINK THE FIZZY DRINKS AND COKE ECT ... SO AT THE END OF THE DAY - YES ... IT IS ALL RELEVANT.
EVERYONE HAS THERE OWN VIEW - DEEP DOWN IN YOUR HEART - IF YOU DONT THINK ITS A GOOD IDEA, THEN STOP IT. IF YOU THINK THAT ITS FINE, LET THEM CARRY ON.
I CAN JUST IMAGINE GRANNY LOVES HAVING A CUPPA WITH HER GRAND-DAUGHTER / SON :)!!! SHE RAISED YOU DIDN'T SHE - SURELY SHE'S NOT GOING TO DO SOMETHING TO HARM YOUR LITTLE ONE?
HELL ... I HAD A GRAN TELL ME THAT SHE USED TO GIVE HER DAUGHTER A TOT OF BRANDY TO GET HER TO SLEEP - AND ... SHE'S FINE ... HE HE!!!!

NO NO NO NO, COFFE COKE AND TOO MUCH CHOCLATE CAN CUASE ADDICTION. CAFFEINE IS A DRUG AND SHOULD BE KEPT AWAY FROM ALL DEVELOPING AND GROWING MINDS. WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!! OUR KIDS ARE ALL BEING LABELD WITH ADD AND ALL SORTS OF DISORDERS, STOP MAKING IT WORSE BY DRUGGING THEM WITH CAFFEINE.

Well sue me but my two year old gets a quarter mug of milky coffee every morning while i have my own cup and we cuddle at the same time. My paed said if it's mild and especially milky there shouldn't be any worries. He doesn't get at night or during the rest of the day. I've always believed that the reson why kids are so allergic nowadays is because parents tend to go completely overboard and withhold everything that MIGHT be bad for them.....