Parent meeting middle child, thanks individual serving drink (6)

'drink' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether this works.

'parent meeting middle child thanks individual' is the wordplay.
'parent' becomes 'ma' (ma can mean mum or mother).
'meeting' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'middle' means to look at the middle letters.
'thanks' becomes 'ta' (UK informal version of 'thank you').
'individual' becomes 'i' (Roman numeral for one, ie individual).
The centre of 'child' is 'i'.
'ma'+'i'+'ta'+'i'='MAITAI'

'serving' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?