Barq's root beer is not caffeine-free

I thought all root beer was caffeine free. I didn't think it mattered what kind you got.

Turns out, I was wrong.

Today, Maggie and I hit Sam's Club to get some things like juiceboxes and snacks for our upcoming beach trip. She loves the giant, soft pretzels at Sam's, so we shared a cinnamon one and a drink. I didn't want lemonade or Sprite, but I didn't want her to have caffeine or artificial sweeteners, so I chose Barq's root beer.

I should have known something was amiss when, 15 minutes later, Maggie declared loudly from her vantage point in the shopping cart, straw still dangling from her lips, "Mommy, I think the caffeine in this drink is going to keep me awake for a LONG time!" The smirks and laughs from the other women in my vicinity were more than a little noticeable. "It's OK, it's root beer!" I wanted to tell them. "Of course I'm not going to give my child 20 oz. of stimulant."

Turns out, I was wrong.

That's exactly what I gave her. She was WIRED all evening. Evidently, caffeine has long-term effects on a 3-year-old, because it was approximately 1 p.m. when she consumed said beverage, yet five hours later, she was good and "into" its effects. She didn't eat dinner, she was hyper during her bath, and after the bath it was all we could do to lasso her to anything resembling her normal bedtime routine. The funniest was when I was blow-drying her hair. She stood on a bench in our bathroom, watching herself in the mirror and clutching a stuffed yellow duck at eye level. In her loudest voice -- and that's saying something -- she proceeded to sing at the top of her lungs a nonsense song about the duck, his parents, his bad behavior, his feelings, and a timeout. It seriously did not stop as long as the hair dryer was going, probably a good 15 minutes.

"What did you give her today?" joked Bobby. Ohhhhhh, that's right. Barq's root beer. But that couldn't have anything to do with this -- it doesn't have caffeine.

Turns out, I was wrong.

Hansen's brand of root beer doesn't have caffeine. Mug root beer doesn't have caffeine. IBC doesn't have caffeine. But Barq's? According to a casual internet search, 12 oz. of Barq's root beer contains 23 mg of the stuff. That's less than brewed tea, at an average of 50 mg, and slightly lower than regular Coke at 35. And certainly more than I intended my child to ingest.

Once the hair-drying was finished and Maggie was ready for bed, we let her stay up for Wipeout on the condition that she LIE STILL in our bed and not jump, sing, play, talk, or wiggle. She stayed awake -- surprise, surprise -- during the entire show, and when we put her to bed immediately after, she was out in an instant.

Live fast ... play fast ... sleep fast. I'll take it.