What to Know
Thanks to social media, pop culture, the media in general, and pretty much everything else, kids are growing up fast. Possibly even faster than some of us millennials did back in the day. We might have had unlimited access to MTV, but we didn’t have TikTok and Snapchat at our fingertips.
Maybe that’s why one 11-year-old girl on TikTok has the morning routine of someone much older. In a video that was shared by another user on the platform, the little girl shows her ‘get ready with me’ routine. And people are coming for her parents in the comments.
Part of the routine for her first day of middle school involves cracking open a fresh Alani Nu and taking swig. Alani Nu energy drinks have gotten more and more popular among teenagers, which is a problem itself, because they might be fun fruity carbonated drinks but they also have a ton of caffeine, way more than the average can of soda, and even a cup of coffee.
Her ‘get ready with me’ included an Alani energy drink.
@tjvnf l am IRKED #alani #alaniengerydrink #fyp #lazyparenting ♬ original sound – tjvnf
The little girl sits in front of her vanity with her pajamas on and says she is getting ready for school, middle school to be exact. She cracks open the Alani Nu and says it is “the best flavor.” Which, of course, makes you wonder how many other flavors she tried before this one, and that’s an issue in itself. She is also too young by some standards to be sharing these kinds of videos on social media publicly, and that’s an issue that needs to be addressed too.
The user who shared the screen recording of the girl’s video says, “Why are we letting our 11-year-old children drink an energy drink that has 200 mg of caffeine in it? This child’s body is still developing. Their nervous system isn’t even fully developed yet. So in taking an energy drink with 200 mg of caffeine, can not only spike their heart rate to a dangerously high rate, it can cause heart rhythm problems and dangerous spikes in blood sugar. So it’s very hard for me to understand why a parent would even put their child in a situation like this. And you can really tell who the actual parent in this parent child relationship is. The boss is the 11-year-old.”
Someone pointed out in the comments that the girl’s parents would attempt to sue the company behind the energy drink if something were to happen to their daughter because of the caffeine intake. Another wrote that some parents “want to be friends” instead of parents with rules in place.
Mostly, people criticized the parents for allowing this to happen.
@wf8ti1 Parents are allowing their children to drink Alani energy drinks. #tiktokdrama #alani #teenagers #parentingfail #middleschool ♬ original sound – wf8ti1
Other criticisms for the parents included questions about why the 11-year-old is wearing acrylic nails, posting on social media on her own, and having unlimited access to her cell phone. Maybe her parents watch the content before it goes live. Maybe they do police things and the video is a small snippet of the girl’s life that doesn’t show the whole picture. But other users on TikTok beg to differ.
“I put lip gloss on my 12-year-old 7th grader for her first day and she was smiling ear to ear excited,” a parent commented. ‘It’s all the parents dude. Also, my 13-year-old’s face doesn’t exist online.”
“This might be a hot take, but I think this is neglect,” someone else wrote. “Especially when we know what energy drinks can do to adult bodies.”
Another person wrote, “That is terrible parenting.”
Middle school-aged children should not have that much caffeine at once.
I know everyone too cool for school now and don’t believe in kids being kids but middle schoolers doing GRWM and drinking Alani and other energy drinks on Tik Tok is kind of too much.
— Caroline Renard (@carolinerenard_) August 25, 2026
Eleven-and 12-year-olds might have a soda at dinner or after school, but that is nothing compared to the amount of caffeine in some energy drinks. A 12-ounce can of Pepsi, for example, has about 38 mg of caffeine. According to the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University, though, there is no recommended limit or cap on caffeine for kids under 12, because they shouldn’t have it at all.
Part of the issue is that energy drinks are now marketed toward tweens and teens. The fun cans and logos, recognizable influencers or gamers on the labels, and general idea that the energy drinks can legally be purchased are all enticing for kids. But someone who is 11 years old not only doesn’t need an energy drink, but also should not have caffeine at all.
READ NEXT: I Love My Tweens But I Am So Ready for Them To Go Back to School
