My Kid is Not Getting $10 a Day for Coffee

So, I was at the coffee shop the other day with my best gal-pal getting our much-needed Mom Needs A Break time. I could use more of those. Sometimes coffee is the beverage of choice; sometimes it’s wine. But I’m not sure how people parent without taking a few minutes once in a while to check your sanity with your friends.

Anyway, recently we were splurging on our $5 coffee (because most days, I drink coffee I brew at home) when a pack of 13-somethings came in and took over several tables. Each of them ordered their own $5 coffee; some of them ordered a second one.

Is it just me, or are tweens and teens at the coffee shop a national scourge? I mean, for one, they’re already hopped up enough on hormones, and then they go and invade the coffee shop during my sanity break. We’re adding a double-shot latte to that chemical explosion?! But, and I think this is even worse, there are kids whose parents fund that $10 a day coffee habit. REALLY? Add that up, parents! That’s about $50 a week … for your kids to drink coffee?! We’re talking potentially a couple hundred dollars a month in coffee for kids who can’t even drive or legally work.

Uh-uh. That’s not happening with this Coffee Mama. My kids already cost me a fortune — on stuff I can’t NOT buy. Like clothes, food, transportation and sports. They’re already a huge drain on my budget. I’m not treating them to fancy coffee drinks that I consider a luxury.

So, moms out there: As far as I’m concerned, if you're paying for your kids to drink hundreds of dollars worth of latte and chai each year, you're in a different world than I am. Maybe you can pick up the coffee tab at the next Mom’s Day Out. You probably have a pretty decent rewards card bonus by this point, anyway.

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