Having one of those overwhelmed, stuck inside, long winter days with kids at home? Have tea time! Yes, even with toddlers! This post will outline why and how to do a tea time with your toddlers (or bigger kids!) This unlikely parenthood hack makes your kids feel really special and big AND allows you to sit down and drink a cup of tea (and maybe have a cookie too!)

I started having tea time with my girls when my son was napping to keep everyone quiet. He was 1 and the girls were 3. I was at my mental and physical max by 09:00am most mornings (HA!) so by the time nap time rolled around we all needed to reset and sit down. My girls felt so special because they knew that tea is a grown up drink and they watched my husband drink his morning cup of tea like clockwork. We talked about tea time being a special time for just us girls while little brother was napping. For older siblings, they CHERISH this time with a parent and after we implemented tea time they would start to ask for it (still do!) and everyone gets very excited when I bring the tea cups out.

Tea time gives you 2 big wins today:

1. You can sit down and drink a hot cup of liquid
2. Your kids will feel special, bonded to you, and you’re making a cozy core memory

Remember, if something doesn’t go as planned (someone yells that they don’t like tea, a cup gets knocked over and broken, something spills, a favorite stuffie gets tea on it, it’s ok to stop tea time and try another day. You may have to try this a few times before your kids learn to get into the rhythm of sitting down with you and drinking the tea. Putting on some quiet music can help set the tone. We also keep out special tea cups only for tea time so it truly feels extra special when we bring them out. Also, if your kids are like mine, the ice cube is very exciting and some days they just want to hold the ice cube and lick it. To me, I say go for it while I enjoy my tea 🙂 This time is about presence and connection, not perfection!

I always make decaf tea and put some ice cubes in it so the toddlers can drink from it. Here is the tea infuser brand I use which can make multiple cups at once from tea bags or loose leaf tea. Also, I let the kids use real china. This was china my husband had found on the curb someone was getting rid of-would highly recommend getting thrift store china or something that you don’t mind potentially getting broken. You absolutely can use paper cups or something else but real china does make it extra fun for the kids. We would all sit down and have a cup of tea and a cookie and talk about our day. Yes the tea got spilled and there were a lot of crumbs but it also made me sit down and take a break to chat with my 3 year olds. They felt so special that they got to drink out of grown up cups. You can bring stuffies down as well as give them pretend cups of tea. Having a snack with the tea usually helps the little ones stay engaged at the table for a few minutes. You could even serve the snacks on a special plate. Something magical happens when you put kids stuff out on a special grown up plate.

Some of our favorite tea flavors:

• Decaf English or Irish breakfast tea with a splash of milk
• Herbal teas with fruity flavors (my family loves mango tea and anything with a berry flavor). Herbal teas tend to be naturally caffeine free although always check the label on the bag
• Hibiscus tea or a tea with raspberry in it will give you a really pretty pale pink color that kids love
• You could also make hot water with lemon if you are working up those toddler tase buds
• We usually don’t add any sugar or honey but that is an option too. If you like citrus a splash of lemon juice is delightful in black tea as well
• You can buy a tea pot (like the one show above) that will steep loose tea. It is very cost effective for making tea for a crowd and you can buy loose leaf tea to put inside

I hope you enjoyed this post and that you have tea time with your little ones soon. If you try it please let me know in the comments I would love to hear how it went!

Stay strong, parents! We’ve got this!

Meg

Family Favorites for Tea Time

• This tea infuser: simple, easy, makes multiple cups
• A fun milk pourer like this elephant shaped one: we have a similar elephant and my kids think its hilarious

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