Since I last checked, it seems that play kitchens for little kids now feature coffee pots....gasp!

What do Mormon parents do about such an item being part and parcel of a standard creative imagination toy?

My sister called it a hot chocolate pot when her kids got a tea set. When I was a kid, it wasn't a big deal as most of the Mormons of my parent's generation drank coffee.

How about Postum Pot, or PP for short?

I played having imaginary tea parties as a child even without a tea set.

With a coffee pot, heck, even Mormon kids can pretend. They're not stupid.

My uber Mormon neighbor kids would get ahold of candy cigarettes and suck on them like they were the real thing. I don't know if their parents bought them or they bought them with their own money, but the fact they played with them was enough to show they didn't care about word of wisdom teachings enough as children to not play with imaginary playthings that grownups use.

Especially knowing it is "forbidden fruits" makes it even more tempting I think for young children. They then wonder what for? Is it that bad, or that good?

My parents before they got really active in the church (they were sealed in the temple when I was six,) drank and smoked. Mom and dad let us try coffee and alcohol so we'd know how bad they tasted (so we wouldn't want to drink them when we grew up.) I didn't care for black coffee. Still don't. Or beer. Can't stand the stuff. But oh how I loved champagne! Mom told me when I was older that when I was a toddler living in Las Vegas my parents got up to find me staggering around in the night because I'd found their stash of champagne after they'd gone to sleep. Heck, maybe I was just thirsty, who knows? Las Vegas was hot. We didn't have AC that I recall. Although I don't remember getting drunk on champagne or sneaking it in the night. But my parents remembered. Mom told me I didn't do it once, but twice. The second time they hid their stash and I found it. (A toddler with a drinking problem?) I don't drink now lol, but rarely. Champagne is sweet. I can imagine liking it because it must have tasted like bubbly soda to a little girl, with soothing effects!

I remember those candy cigarettes. Looking back at the time, I thought nothing of it, but now I realize how sick and wrong it was that we were being sold cigarettes to condition us knto them when we were older.

In my experience, this is a non-issue. When I was a little boy, my parents were not active members so I didn't have much experience of it. I think I was a certain age - not sure what, before I started having hot drinks anyway. But I have known a number of parents in the church and this was never discussed. Not because it was a taboo, but a non-issue.

My parents kept Postum in the house and hot cocoa. I didn't really like Postum because barley is well, barley. Ugh.

Not the same.

I started drinking coffee in earnest when I was a sophomore in high school. My friends and I would hang out at the local Denny's in Idaho Falls where we could drink all we wanted (unlimited POT refills,) for a quarter per person per table.

That was a steal of a deal. :)

Still don't drink coffee black ... can't take the acrid taste without some sweetener added. Now I stick with stevia and usually half-n-half fat-free.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/2019 10:28AM by Amyjo.

You're so right about that. It was sick. The tobacco companies knew exactly what they were doing. Selling death to unsuspecting tots and their parents.

My grandparents and those of my friends were drinking coffee before the WofW was a big thing. They felt some guilt but never stopped. My mother and all her siblings drank coffee too. Again there was some guilt. They would stop for a while if they needed a recommend. My best friend's father was in the bishopric and her grandfather was in the stake presidency. They drank coffee as did the church going parents of several friends. Of course there were some who wouldn't touch the evil stuff, but there were plenty who did. That is just the way it was in the 50s and 60s in my town

My dad's parents were BIC TBM for all their lives, 4th generation born to pioneer stock Mormons. They grew up drinking coffee, and imbibing.

Dad told me WoW wasn't a "thing" before 1940's thereabout when suddenly it became more pronounced to holding a temple recommend and such.

My grandparents served a mission (near their home,) in their golden years. My grandmother drank wine medicinally for her heart up to two cups a day, prescribed by her doctor.

Grandpa drank more as a younger man, especially working on ranches and as a cook on the range for cattle and sheep drives. He, along with my dad and uncles would go on sheep drives together which were hangouts for the guys to drink and have a good ole time.

Grandpa didn't have a drinking problem though, per se. While my dad and each of his brothers did. If there's such a thing as an alcoholic gene I inherited it from my dad's side. I cannot drink alcohol. Or if I do, I drink it sparingly and rarely.

Good health is much too precious to risk any untoward effects of many things that are unmentioned in the 'inspired' Word of Wisdom.

To any rational adult Mormon, it is clear that if that 'revelation' came from God Almighty, He is inferior to most thoughtful human beings.

You or I could easily sit down for an hour or so and composed a much more beneficial shield concerning health. I look forward to being a Life Coach to Heavenly Father, if He seeks to improve on His communication and research skills.

"Some people use these for coffee. You must never do that. I'll let you keep it in your play kitchen, but you must say it's for hot chocolate or herb tea. Okay?"

...right next to Daddy's R-Rated movie collection, uhh...etc.

This topic is funny to me today, because we just took a little weekend getaway and our toddler son was playing with the coffee pot in the hotel room. It was just cute...no need to agonize about Satan's designs on him.

Just adding that the pot and its contents were not hot. I know some people go berserk at that sort of thing.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/2019 01:43PM by snowball.

What do coffee pots look like in toy kitchens these days? Can't be a percolator. Mr. Coffee? Keurig?

Oh lol you are correct. There are a few of these "coffee kitchens" as well as just play coffee pots. They do seem to be the pod type.

I'm of English heritage, on all sides of my family, and I grew up having tea parties with my tea set and, later with real tea sets, with my TBM mother, cousins and aunts. We drank weak green tea with milk. I carried on the tradition with my daughter, when we were Mormons.

I have a couple of dinnerware coffee pots, and they're the same as cocoa pots. Toy coffee pots, these days, are still the tall, old-fashioned cocoa pots, not the restaurant style. Yeah, sets should have the Starbuck's paper cups with lids.

My daughter got her daughter a tea set, and we used to love to have tea parties, with dolls and animals and other guests, at the little table, with the little chairs. We ate finger sandwiches, crackers and cheese, fruit, with milk or juice instead of tea. We would have real conversations (a thing of the past)! Even though we never served tea, my daughter's TBM husband asked me to NOT have any more tea parties! Because of the Word of Wisdom. I cried, privately, but obeyed his priesthood authority, so he wouldn't pout and upset my daughter.

He takes my granddaughter to her TBM grandmother's house, where she can help herself to all the candy bars she wants out of the candy drawer, and eat 4 different kinds of cookies, and caffeinated soda pop from their well-stocked soda refrigerator in their garage. They play bingo (gambling?) with candy as the prizes. TBM grandma brings candy bars to all the soccer games. My little granddaughter had deep cavities, 2 crowns, and a rotten tooth removed, by the time she was 5.

The best traditions of the tea parties were being polite to each other, serving each other, connecting with each other, learning the give and take of conversation, being "grown up." We now have "fancy luncheons" with fancy china plates and crystal stemware (wine goblets?) with the other (non-Mormon) grandchildren, or "brunch in the garden" in the summers--but I'll be damned if I'll serve Coke or candy bars!

If your grand daughter were in England, I guess she couldn't have dinner since they call it tea.
Perhaps you could continue with the tradition if you called it a special lunch mmm or hot chocolate party instead. If mama is a real fanatic, lose the teapot and tea cups. I know, ridiculous but it might work.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/2019 08:22AM by bona dea.

bona dea Wrote:
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> If your grand daughter were in England, I guess
> she couldn't have dinner since they call it tea.

That is very much a social marker. If you're higher up the social scale, tea refers to mid-afternoon snacks and not to supper (the evening meal). If you are working class, then high tea refers to a meal around 5 or 6.

I do understand the difference between high tea and the evening meal which is also called tea, but the point is that the child probably wouldn't be allowed to attend either due to the word ' tea'.

A hot chocolate pot? A Postum pot?

I do not doubt your replies. I thought people would say "remove the coffee pot..." Oh, the substitutes you provide are just silly to these non-LDS ears.

Thanks for a good laugh!

Many probably would throw the coffee pot away. Appearance .of evil and all that.