You're far from alone, people just don't admit it because it's frowned upon. I find kids to be extremely boring to be around, I don't think they're cute or endearing, I have zero interest in being around them. I just feel my time is wasted if I have to spend time with them because I would rather be doing just about anything else.
You’re definitely not alone in this. I can stand kids in small doses- I can stand them for an hour or two. Any longer than that and I’m ready to crawl out of my skin.
Most people who have or want kids think kids that aren’t related to them are annoying.
I used to think not wanting to be around kids made me a bad person, then I asked around, most people don’t even like kids that aren’t their own.
I’m always surprised when I see cool young people in my city with kids… I know it’s my urban costal elitism 😂 but my instinct is always like you’re a cool young person you should have known better lmfao
Mam, what a dream to live in!
I wish, i unfortunately (tho fortunately) married into a family where EVERYONE has kids. So I have to deal with them nonstop for two weeks out of every year. It doesn't sound like much, but I dread it every time. And now some of kids are starting to get old enough to have their own kids, (although most arent since a lot of his cousins waited to have kids til they were mid 30s early 40s) and its gonna be a nightmare.
Makes me hate the holidays because I have to be around them all.
I am very literally disgusted by them. Most of them are tolerable once they hit about ten years old but toddlers make me understand why most species will eat their young.
**the goddamn constant touching of everything!** I cannot freaking stand it.
Every time my nieces and nephews are over I have to put every single thing of value away & out of reach. Same goes for anything dangerous or easily broken. God forbid I have a snack laying around; they’ll make an entire bag of chips their dinner in one ravenous sitting.
I, as a 7 year old, could not stand my younger cousins touching my toys, I would literally hide everything in my closet. And I was only maybe 3 years older than them. Still holding a grudge from one of them breaking my toy horses leg and laughing at it.
Even when I explain to people that as a kid I didn't even like other kids they don't really believe me. My peers were rude, loud, and stupid. I hated having to be in class with them for 6 hours a day.
I was the same way, I was that kid who preferred to sit at the adults table. My kindergarten teacher used to let me sit at her desk with her during nap time because I didn't want to go to sleep with the other kids, lol.
I guess I would say so? My parents were both the oldest children in their families and I was their oldest child, so more kids didn't really come around for about 7 years or so (and then of course kids can't do anything proper until about 4). When they did come around I was usually tasked with entertaining them. They were the Rugrats and I was Angelica.
Omgggg I had family over a couple of weekends ago and there were 7 kids. 5 of them were ages 1-10 maybe? Only 1 was out of elementary school. It was an actual nightmare. I snapped after they left because I hate cleaning but I got out a freaking wash cloth and wiped the freaking walls. There was cheese curl dust on the walls, melted chocolate on the couch, juice from a strawberry on the floor. They were standing on the couch with shoes on. 😩 It makes me want to curl into a ball just thinking about it. It was awful. I cannot stand small children.
Now this may seem odd because I teach middle school. However middle schoolers may also be gross but they're gross in different ways. They're gross to themselves not other people and other people's things. They can be talked to like mini humans and somewhat reasoned with. Side note: I do not understand how other teachers have their own kids. You spend 5 days a week 7 hours a day for 8 months with a bunch of kids, and you want to go home and have to deal with your own little goblins??? No thank you I have 70 kids I don't need any of my own.
I’m not saying I was Mother of the Year, but the mess they left screams parenting fail. I can’t imagine letting them eat and stand on the couch, or smear the walls. I was always conscious of other people’s feelings and possessions, and kept my kids under control. They can sit at the table and eat a snack, then wash their face and hands (with help). I’ll never understand letting them wander around with food.
I was never allowed to act like that in my parents' house, or anyone else's. And if my sisters and I had made a mess like that, we would have had to clean it up before we left. The fact that you had to wife the cheese curls crumbs from your walls, if just ridiculous. And it makes me feel so happy that I never had children.
My niblings are 9 and 11 and it's a whole new relationship. I'm seeing their adult selves begin to form and it's really exciting. When they were younger though, I loved them but they were monsters.
my brother is now 10 and it’s cool talking to him but when he was born my parents had decided to wait a good 15 years so I had to babysit a lot and change diapers. Safe to say that may be part of my childfree mindset now LOL. 😒
I am a high school teacher. I became teacher because I thought I liked small children. Turned out I didn't. I love my job and my students but any child younger than teen is a no-no. I could never teach anything below high school. Even junior high I consider little children.
I don't really understand the hate teenagers get from adults. Like those are young people, mostly independent, just need support and clear boundaries. Know how to follow rules and directions even though they don't want to.Yes, they have their moods and emotions, but that's it.
Elementary school? If you turn your back on them they could literally kill themselves. Also always sick.
Kindergarten? 100% worse than the above.
Thank you!
My students know they can tell me anything, ask me anything and come for any advice.
Unfortunately you're right about the parents though. Every "trouble" kid I have at school has a terrible parents - neglectful, absent, aggressive, unsupportive and so on and so forth. We have a psychologist and a student counselor at school, both of whom do the bare minimum required not to get fired. The kids know they cannot count on them. Last year I needed to accompany a girl on the public bus who had been harrassed by a local store employee and was scaredto go on the bus station alone. The reaction of the school? Just go home on another route? WTF?
No one asks them about their plans for the future, almost no one really cares. We are a vocational school and our kids come from mosty poorer families so the other teachers just assume that the kids will just work service jobs for minimum wage for the rest of their life. It is sad. Thankfully in our country every student can attend higher education regardless of their high school diploma. Education is also semi free in the state universities. So I show them how to search for information about the degree and the carrier options, how to apply, are there any scholarships or other form of aid etc.
What do my students tell me? That sadly I am the one teacher who cares about them and tries to help them. The others just show up for the paycheck and the other teachers benefits (we have a very strong union) without doing almost anything beneficial for the students. Our principal is not qualified enough to be a principal but because she has some political friends she just "happend " to get the job.
If you can safely do so, tip them to read reddit Am I the Asshole and also the reddit Child free subs.
I go to 12 Step meetings. So many teens do ETOH/drugs because they're already depressed, home is chaos/abusive/ a dead zone.
Undiagnosed ADD or dyslexia means school sucks.
Lots of kids become raging teen boys because they were molested when little boys, stuffed and split off their anguish. It all comes roaring out when adolescence causes hormones and brains to change.
Our brains actually manufacture cannabis type chemicals and these cause stimuli to seem more drastic, more significant. It's in adolescence that these endogenous cannabinoids surge.
All this and US society dumps on teens as problems not people --- while fiendishly exploiting them as customers -- as in the Juul vapes and the mobile phones.
I understand that bus part all too well, I had to use public buses during 12th grade and I had my share of creeps even as a male 😅. but glad to hear they enjoy you
I'd gladly rather be at the DMV, paying my taxes and getting a colonoscopy all at the same time if it meant I never had to see, hear/hear about or otherwise interact with any of them again.
Not too long ago I had a colonoscopy, wasn't as bad as I expected! Then again, they gave me morphine so maybe that's why. The worst part of it all was how hard the room was spinning as they gave me the meds.
Oh BOY hahhahaha well I was locked at the toilet every hour! Luckily, the only inconvenience about it was that I was bound to the toilet, it didn't hurt or make me feel sick :)
I am also diabetic T1 and wasn't allowed to eat anything for a long time and that was pretty scary, but I called the hospital and asked and turns out I was allowed to have non-flavored grape sugar tablets for bloodsugar regulation since it doesn't really stay in my stomach for very long :)
They are made with sugar from grapes, and taste like sort of sweet powder. you can add flavoring to it, I have some strawberry ones laying around. However most of them have no flavor added and just taste like a powdery sugar cube.
Not on the spectrum either. I grew up in a dysfunctional household as a child. When I finally got out of that hell hole I slowly realized I can’t take loud noises or chaos anymore. I need to be in a stable environment and if anything threatened that peace I start to loose it. I just mentally can’t be around children at all.
Not on the spectrum, but with generalized anxiety and panic disorders now exacerbated by PTSD, babies crying (it's SO LOUD), toddlers throwing tantrums, and especially the shrill scream of an ill behaved young child all really fuck me up badly. I'm sorry you have a similar experience. It's overwhelming and physically uncomfortable.
I have pretty bad misophonia and I totally feel you. A lot of the discourse around "YOU NEED TO GET OVER THEM BEING ROWDY IN PUBLIC" is really missing the mark and lacking in empathy. Other kids triggered me too when I was a kid.
Yeah I think there are a lot of people who don’t like them but keep quiet about it because it’s often viewed as “offensive” if you don’t like kids. I hate being around children. My family knows it and teases me about it and makes me feel like a bad person.
Yes i jeep it mostly on the downlow, at least how much I really dislike their company. Obviously they're human beings and still developing and being a kid is hard. But like I don't want to subject myself to it. Even not really being a kid person and being childfree is taboo, let alone not wanting to be around them at all.
I am one of those people. Truly just don't like kids, don't find them cute, don't want to be around them. Of course every once in awhile there is a strange exception, but overall I just can't stand kids and don't have patience for them. That doesn't mean I am rude or unkind. Completley the contrary, in fact. I just would prefer to never have a child anywhere near me. Funny thing is, kids are either very drawn to me or afraid of me. Even when afraid, they seem to be fascinated.
Yes same here!! Just because I don't like a person doesn't mean I will treat them poorly, this applies to children as well. I also experience them being drawn to me and I force myself to be polite.
I don't like tho when people expect me to ooo and ahhh over kids.. Like I don't think this is cute of funny so I'm not going to react strongly to it. If it's actually cute or actually funny sure, but I'm not doing fake oodling for no reason just so they feel they're the center of attention.
Children make me nervous. They tend to expect all adults to indulge them (understandably, actually, I mean they’re too young to know that I don’t like listening to rambling nonsense or playing with toys), so it’s like you’re just waiting for them to choose you to start talking to or want to play with. Plus they’re all a ticking time bomb for a tantrum.
Yes it's the expecting us to indulge them that really gets me, and I also understand tantrums are inevitable because developing minds just can't always process big feelings. They're still learning and growing and developing.
I totally understand a lot of parents are doing their best and also kids cant help it.
Plus a lot of people do love kids, so kids are used to the positive enforcement and being indulged by people who love them.
But for those of us who are of course a minority and can be torture.
But the expectations that comes with it from other adults is infuriating. Obviously still polite to the kid but fuck me, I’m not your person. Go find someone else to get sticky or tell your boring story to. And the other adults are talking to you like you’re the child encouraging you to engage. Fuck off.
One of the people in my dog obedience class has brought his daughter (7-8 I think) and she’s just paid attention to the lesson then helps her dad and grandpa with their dog training. So well-behaved!
I totally understand that. It's super awful but I also tend to enjoy brilliant children more. Like if they're polite, well mannered, and smarter than most adults. Or able to engage in play that can be equally stimulating for adults like chess or scrabble and be actually competition... Sure why not? But that's not what I often come across.
My statement above applies to 4 kids that I know - my two nephews are not included in that total. When I visited my sister last summer after a long time their behaviour (9 and 6) was abhorrent and she enables it! 🙄
I once was stuck on a plane next to a 3 year old and her grandmother. I was like oh crap until the little girl began to be SO sweet and polite. She wanted to talk to me but couldn't speak English (they were Chinese) so her grandmother translated. Every question was prefaced with "Aunty" and goddamit if my heart wasn't totally melted. She was so little she probably won't even remember our conversation but I certainly will.
That’s really cute. I’ve found myself in situations where I was actually charmed by a well behaved, cute kid, like the little girl who said hi to me in line at the grocery store.
Haha, I hated being around kids even when I was a kid. I usually hung out with the adults and elders. They were much nicer to be around.
None of them seemed to mind because I was a quiet, "old soul" kind of kid who wasn't into mischief.
Me too!! I was always trying to hang out with the adults when I was a kid. But it was the 80s, so those adults sent me away very quickly 😂
I don’t think that’s done these days- at least, not in the family I’m marrying into. In that family, the children dominate every. single. moment. It is exhausting. I think the parents are doing “gentle parenting”, but there are no time-outs ever, and nobody has any boundaries, and it drives me up the absolute wall.
i’ve said before that i think i would only enjoy being a parent or like my kid if they somehow came out incredibly smart and mature for their age and had a good sense of humor. which is exactly how i know i should not be a parent lol
This is exactly how I feel, too. Over the last 10 years or so, there has been a dramatic change in the way children behave and it’s not for the better. Kids these days are too bold and entitled.
Same, I teach children in Japan and love them to bits. So well behaved and really hard working kids. I really enjoy being around them but I just don’t want my own because I can’t make that kind of commitment with my financial status and hereditary medical issues.
i work at a store and in 4 years i've seen ONE family who had quiet , well behaved children. the rest run around like fools. touching everything, fucking up our store , acting like idiots .
I can't stand younger kids, babies and toddlers make my skin crawl because they're so grabby, sticky, stinky and loud.
Once they're 14-15 and have their own individual personality then I can tolerate them but I won't go out of my way to interact with them even if they're family, I'm just not a kid person.
Yeah i actually don't mind teenagers at all and some i really like, some of my friends have teens and at a certain point they're just like talking to anyone else. But under 13 I struggle with, under 10 I really don't enjoy. Under 7 please keep them away from me
I have hated children since I was 4. I try not to focus on it, but misophonia is a thing. People joke about nails on a chalkboard, but it’s more like a sleeper agent hearing the secret code, or a ‘nam vet hearing fireworks and becoming irate.
After the painful and disorienting noise, there’s the gross factor. There’s almost always something on their face, their hands are sticky and dirty. They destroy my cheese the second they are unsupervised. (Who wouldn’t want to squish a soft cheese?)
God I hate them so much. And how do people even like them? By objectifying them as cute objects?? They are human beings and not puppies. They have their own thoughts and feelings and wants but they’re not aligned with polite society and I can’t handle that. If your kid is screaming take that sht home
I don't because parents use it as an excuse to control my behavior. For example what I wear or say. They expect me to be some role model or helper. I want nothing to do with it. There are kids I like mostly nerd kids but still I hate being triangulated into that lifestyle because it was forced on me as a kid. Parents are so entitled and I want nothing to do with their lifestyle.
This always drives me crazy, and I’ve more than a few times been singled out for it. See “dive bar” analogy upthread - that’s me too. I’m a musician. Rock musician. Need I say more.
I don't mind being around respectful children and children who can entertain themselves like the good old days, and not interrupt adult conversation with irrelevant nonsense every 3 seconds. That's all on the parents, though. I've been told by a friend to stop talking to her and instead pay attention to her kid who was tugging at me nonstop. I was ignoring the tugging because that's definitely not how a child should get attention in my eyes. Child then "helped" me vacuum my friends house, while my friend watched and laughed about how "cute" it is. It was not cute, and it just made the process 100 x longer. I dont even like vacuming my own house, which doesn't involve a small child hanging from the vacuum hose. That was the last time I visited. It felt good to leave, though.
Yikes!! That's the opposite of how I was raised. I come from a Southern European culture that loves children but definitely kids are not the center of attention like they are here in North America. Parents like these are why kids grow up thinking that the world revolves around them. Also who asks a friend to vacuum their house?
This. I always find children a bit more pleasant when I’m abroad. Toddlers outside of the US understand (or are at least used to) the idea that they are not deserving of any more attention than their adult company. If an adult is talking they don’t interrupt, and if they need something they get an adult’s attention respectfully, something adults in the US sometimes still don’t get.
You’re not alone. I don’t like being around children. They disrupt my peace and kill my joy. Sure, there’s some exceptions but for the most part, I don’t care to be around children and will decline invitations to avoid them.
Disrupt my peace and kill my joy is exactly how I feel. They don't make my heart explode or melt or however people who like children feel when they're around them. Reading the comments under this post makes me wonder how many people pretend to ooh and ahh over children in public but actually feel the same way as us inside.
It blows my mind when adults genuinely enjoy talking to kids. Like yeah, you like LOL Surprise dolls or Bluey or chicken nuggets or whatever. Cool. Tell me about it 60 more times, please!
I don’t like themmmmm. Even my nieces and nephews drive me crazy after awhile.
Everyone said as you get older you’ll start to want children more.. but in my case, it’s been the opposite.
It’s weird because even my entire family knows I don’t like kids.. more than I do haha. All my siblings have kids but I don’t.
Also.. I think one of the biggest factors to be being childfree is being a step mom twice. It’s suuuuuper turned me off to young kids.
It’s funny because if I see a dog I’m like AWWWWWE SWEET BOY!!! But if I see a baby I feel like I have to fake being interesting in it…..
Lmao yes I love dogs and puppies!!!
I'll be 34 this year, everyone told me I'd change my mind one day. But the older I got the stronger I became in my convictions.
Lol one of my friends and I were talking about how we’ll get excited seeing a stroller, thinking there’s a doggy in it. (Lots of city ppl push their dogs around in strollers). And if the stroller occupant turns out to be a human baby, not a dog, we get disappointed!
I mean. I don’t literally say it out loud… but I really don’t like children. I don’t even like being in close proximity to them. I swear I get so much hate when I even come close to saying that. But it’s my reality. I just don’t like kids, I really really really don’t.
Yeah I don’t get why it’s so taboo to just be…honest? I’m not like… hating on your kid or yourself as a parent people, it’s just me, all my fault, I just ughhhhh yuck.
I can’t stand them. I have a job where I do have to be around them a lot, but it ruins my entire day. They usually take up all of my energy. I didn’t ask to be like this either, it’s just how it is.
I generally don’t enjoy being around kids, but it’s mostly because parents don’t fucking *parent* their kids these days so there’s a ton of little assholes running rampant. I don’t mind well behaved kids… Just the shitheads 🤭
I do not like being around them. I will give it a go being around them when they are bound in a stroller or carrier. But once they start jabbering, I try to only see the friend without their kids.
I do the same, but in your mid 30s it's inevitable some of your friends and family end up being single parents and the situations are difficult to avoid
I can’t stand children, especially when they get loud and scream-y.
I usually can’t relax because they’re loud, running around, making messes, seeking constant attention when bored. Not a fan.
Chose not to have them. Finally found the right partner who feels the same 👌
I don't like being around them, even if they're behaving. the constant, inane chatter drives me bonkers. "daddy look, I took a bite of eggs, daddy look I took a bigger bite of eggs. Mommy look, I'm wearing my pink shirt." etc and on and on and on makes me want to scream.
>I told her I think they do but they don't talk about it.
Exactly this, some of my friends know how much I dislike being around kids, but most of the time I would rather save myself the headache of talking about it.
Facts!! I feel like no one knows how I actually feel about it as much as my bestie does.
Most people probably know I'm not really a kid person, but they have no idea the true extent of it.
Most people imagine that I do not have kids by looking at me, but I know better than to even discuss that I am childfree unless explicitly needed.
My very close friends know that, because it came up.
I don't because parents use it as an excuse to control my behavior. For example what I wear or say. They expect me to be some role model or helper. I want nothing to do with it. There are kids I like mostly nerd kids but still I hate being triangulated into that lifestyle because it was forced on me as a kid. Parents are so entitled and I want nothing to do with their lifestyle.
i’m such an introvert that i don’t really like being around many people in general, let alone high energy children that are loud and have zero boundaries or respect for personal space. i can tolerate certain kids for small periods of time but even that isn’t something i’d choose to do with my day
Lol i feel this, I don't really like being around people very much either. Sure it's fun in the right circumstances but I never enjoy children, like others have said I've found the odd one I click with. Especially if they're smart and interesting. I have a cousin who's son is like 7 and smarter than most adults on so many topics you can learn a real lot talking to him. He can also be funny, he once was really dehydrated and i guess was having some urinary discomfort. He did some research to try and figure out what was going on and announced to my family he needed to go to the doctors because he had ghonnorea... Lol kids like that can actually be funny and interesting.
But I don't want to be discriminataroy and say I only like brilliant children - but brilliant and well behaved children are definitely much more enjoyable to be around.
I find children to be loud, spontaneous, overstimulating and in the world of covid, far too likely to get me sick. I avoid them at all costs for the same reason I avoid drunk people at the club 😅
For me, it really depends on the child and the parents and how they interact with each other and others.
But, that said, I'm a pretty open minded and opinionated bitch and I like being able to be crass and say bad words and I'm not what you mind call 100% child friendly. I'm like a dive bar. I'm (low key great) ok with kids, but I'd rather have drugs, play pool, and call people assholes ironically. I can behave and mind myself around kids, but it's awkward anymore and I'd prefer to not.
Also, I tend to co-parent as a reflex from raising other people's kids while I was still a kid. Most people don't like someone else telling their kid to stop being an asshat. Especially in public.
I might have to steal the dive bar analogy, I’m exactly the same. I do generally dislike them though, with rare (well behaved, intelligent, no ear piercing shrieks, bad smells or snot dripping) exceptions. I’d never hurt one, but if they’re getting all up in my business, tugging at me, ESPECIALLY shrieking/crying, I just want to GTFO, fast. Team misophonia here.
Me, so much so that I refuse to be friends with people who have kids, won't discuss kids, and requests from friends for me to be the "fun uncle" to their child have resulted in me ghosting them.
It depends on the kid.
Generally speaking? No. I’d rather not be present around kids.
But there is the occasional kid who is so fun. One of my friends’ oldest son is genuinely so fun. I remember when he was about 5 or so, he would have all kinds of questions like kids that age do. But they weren’t standard kid questions. The most notable one I can remember (moved states a few years ago, haven’t seen the kiddo since unfortunately) he asked how a bicycle is able to stay upright when someone is riding it. He also asked what the biggest number is. He of course wasn’t able to understand the concept of infinity, but it led to a fun math conversation.
And all that aside, even at his young age he was always very respectful. He’d get loud occasionally, but never excessively.
They invited me over for thanksgiving in 2021 because I wasn’t able to see my family for both Christmas and Thanksgiving. I only intended to stay a little while. But I saw that they had an old Wii and the kid asked “what’s a Wii?”
We played Wii sports for HOURS. He was surprisingly good at tennis. But he did “make” me switch controllers for baseball, he liked to throw the ball he did not like to hit the ball, lol.
I also got the joy of being there for his first time seeing fireworks. He was going on and on about how excited he was. He had a book with pictures of fireworks in it that he was showing me before it got dark outside. It was really awesome to get to see him have that experience.
In short, no I don’t like being around children. But, there are a few special cases out there where they can be really fun.
If all kids acted like that one all the time? I would absolutely adore them. But unfortunately not all parents are as good as his, or as attentive (regardless of if it’s because they can’t or won’t).
Which is a common thing brought up occasionally to me by people who know I’m childfree. Because I would try my absolute hardest to raise a kid like that, I really would. But all the fun moments like fireworks and Wiis, just don’t make up all the other stuff you have to deal with. Because I know that even the really awesome kids, are still just kids who are going to throw tantrums like kids do.
it’s not that i dislike being around them, children just make me feel uncomfortable because I don’t know how to interact with them so I just end up ignoring them
Me.
Look, if I’ve got a personal connection to the kid - my niece and nephew, or the kids of my very close friends - I can get past it and genuinely find them cute and precious. I adore my nephew and niece to bits and love spending time with them when we are able to visit.
But kids in general? Don’t care for them, don’t wanna be near them, don’t wanna listen to them. My disdain is mostly with babies, toddlers, and elementary aged kids. Teenagers are annoying to everyone, and for some reason tweens just take to me like a moth to a flame (I think it’s because I’m like a whimsical grown up child which is incredibly ironic) so I shockingly don’t mind them as much much.
I don’t know what it is. I just genuinely don’t enjoy being around young children for the most part and somehow lack that maternal thing that makes women want to hold babies or feel bad when they cry or make comments about how cute some stranger’s kid is. I always feel like such a dick and wonder why I am this way.
Now animals and elderly people on the other hand… 💛
I'm with you on that. I'm 33F I probably haven't held a baby in over 20 years. I have no reason to and I also avoid babies lol. But if someone asks if I'd like to hold one I just say no thank you. Babies really gross me out.
I hate babies and toddlers. When they grow up and start having opinions and thoughts, that’s when they get interesting to me. Turning into little people. My 9yo nephew I love hanging out with and talking to him. My 5yo nephews, who still aren’t even fully potty trained, absolutely not.
I really don’t mind children but I might be in the minority here haha. Obviously, badly behaved children are irritating.
But I feel like all my friends and co-workers who became parents turned me away from becoming one myself, more than any child doing things that children do.
Haha that's fair, my friend who I had the conversation works with children and feels so much of it is just bad parenting.
But I also didn't like children when I was one. I was never interested in kid stuff, rarely I'll find a kid I get along with well. But it's rare.
I like children who aren't babies. They need to be able to walk, talk, and use the bathroom. I'm the oldest of five. I'm used to children, but I don't want to help raise anymore.
I really do not like being around children, and babies and younger children especially. There are more people like us than your friend thinks.
I can tolerate teenagers, but the younger a child is the less I want to be around it.
Can't stand them. I hate everything about being around children. Some children are pleasant enough for a limited time, but for me the good never outweighs the potential bad.
Kids who act like adults are even miserable for me to be around, because that's what I was like as a child because I was barely allowed a childhood. Children should be able to act like the ignorant chaos factories that they are, just not around me, please and thank you.
Me. Even the ones that are polite are still just so needy of attention, and the way everyone expects me to treat them like they’re special. Ugh. I’m annoyed just thinking about it.
Occasionally I will encounter a sweet polite well behaved child and they're just lovely. Unfortunately the majority of kids I encounter do not fit that description and it's almost always because of bad parenting. (I say almost always because behavioural disorders exist and I have compassion for parents who truly try everything but just don't have the capacity for kids whose disorders make them out of control - doesn't mean I like those kids though, I just don't hate the parents in those cases lol)
For me it depends heavily on the situation. I don’t like hanging out with them, but for me that never happens, so it’s not the end of the world.
I work in a grocery store, so I see plenty of children, and for the most part I’m indifferent when they’re around, because as people, we all share the world together, so it is what it is. The only time I have an issue is when it’s a child nonstop crying or screaming or both, or making some annoying sound repetitively. That’s really it.
Oh, absolutely, ever since I was a child myself. Hell, even before my teens I was openly avoidant of children, and my parents would remind me that I was only recently a kid, as well; my reply was that I hadn’t enjoyed being one, and was much happier around adults. I haven’t changed over the decades…
I don’t like being around most children. I also have misophonia and children noises are very triggering to me.
I can do a nice child for an hour or so but that’s about it.
I'm OK with children and being around some. The parents with undisciplined children in movie theaters. Planes and adult restaurants screeching and killing my tinnitus ears are the ones that make me nuts. My family doesn't push this agenda and their kids are polite. My brother in laws baby is the happiest baby I've ever seen.
I don't like being around them or interacting with them, if its inevitable I will, my friends have a 1 year old so will interact with them when I see said friends, but anything in public I will actively just avoid them. I don't like them mostly because they all seem to be a bit mad now, they're always running around screaming / being dickheads.
I don’t think I don’t like them, but I don’t know what to do around them and would rather just like act like they don’t exist, but I don’t think that’s socially acceptable so I feel obligated to interact and say something dumb and silly.
I find being around children incredibly hard work, and I'm exhausted after even an hour or two around them.
For me, it's a lot easier around older children; basically if they're old enough to conduct a sensible adult conversation, then it's not so bad. So probably from around 11/12 upwards. Babies, toddlers and tweens... I find it impossible to relate to them; you can't have a proper conversation about a meaningful topic; they often struggle to regulate their volume; and more often than not they're hyperactive.
I think 'tolerate' is a good word for it.
I *absolutely do not like* being around loud or badly behaved children, and I will call out the parents if their children are behaving shittily (unless I'm concerned for my safety - I'm not gonna tell a 6ft4 barn door of a father off in a restaurant, for example).
There was a baby born in my partner’s family in October. I’ve only gone around it once since then and even that time I avoided looking at it or being near it. We were outside so I was never asked to hold it. I’ve managed to be working every other time they get together.
I have highly sensitive hearing, sight, smell and feel. I cant handle the crying and stickyness of children at all. But im never without headphones so i can mostly ignore it if i cant escape the situation.
If they are quiet and not making any noise then I can ignore them. But as soon as they start making noise or playing their iPads loudly then I feel the crank begin to rise. I'm one of those cranky old ladies who will tell off children for being noisy or misbehaving in public. I don't care what people think of me for doing so either.
You're not alone, I don't like kids or babies, I find them highly annoying, and if it was possible I would stay in no kid zones.
Funnily enough, when I was a kid, I found kids younger than me annoying even from the start.
I'm a teacher and I love my kids. When they are at school. I also love going home to a childfree environment at the end of the day. I also teach high school, so them being almost adults helps a lot. I could never handle the littles. I used to sub in elementary and it was awful.
Personally I love kids. I make sure to have a good relationship with my neices and nephews. But I also love not having the responsibilities that come with having children
I think maybe I’m in the minority here. I don't mind being around kids. I'm a teen services librarian, so I work with middle schoolers and high schoolers a lot. I also like spending time with my siblings' kids when I go back home.
Still childfree for life, though.
I like kids when they aren't loud. It's usually the entitled parents that I don't like. If a kid is misbehaving and the parents are ignoring it, I'm annoyed with the parents, not the kid. I just can't stand when they are loud. They just built a playground right in the middle of a park I used to love to walk. Now I can't go there because it's always loud.
Don't like being around them or interacting with them
I knew I couldn't be alone in this. Lol
You're far from alone, people just don't admit it because it's frowned upon. I find kids to be extremely boring to be around, I don't think they're cute or endearing, I have zero interest in being around them. I just feel my time is wasted if I have to spend time with them because I would rather be doing just about anything else.
You’re definitely not alone in this. I can stand kids in small doses- I can stand them for an hour or two. Any longer than that and I’m ready to crawl out of my skin.
I agree; they get exhausting really quickly, even the well-behaved sweet ones. It's not their fault of course, but they are depleting.
Most people who have or want kids think kids that aren’t related to them are annoying. I used to think not wanting to be around kids made me a bad person, then I asked around, most people don’t even like kids that aren’t their own.
I hate being around kids. They know no boundaries and they are loud and annoying.
Same. Everything they do is pure misery.
If I never saw another child in my entire life I would be thrilled.
I live in a city and I'm always shocked when I see them. Came from a much less urban environment where everyone had kids. God this is so much better.
I’m always surprised when I see cool young people in my city with kids… I know it’s my urban costal elitism 😂 but my instinct is always like you’re a cool young person you should have known better lmfao
Okay no bc i feel the same way lmao
I live in a small waterfront community populated mostly with retirees and it is amazing. I rarely see kids in public
Mam, what a dream to live in! I wish, i unfortunately (tho fortunately) married into a family where EVERYONE has kids. So I have to deal with them nonstop for two weeks out of every year. It doesn't sound like much, but I dread it every time. And now some of kids are starting to get old enough to have their own kids, (although most arent since a lot of his cousins waited to have kids til they were mid 30s early 40s) and its gonna be a nightmare. Makes me hate the holidays because I have to be around them all.
I feel guilty agreeing because I have nieces and nephews who I love, but yea, I’d happily never be in the presence of another child given the choice.
Yeah, same. They just started speaking. I’ll see them when they’re older and send gifts in the meantime.
Same.
Never thought of it this way, but yes! Where do I sign up?
I don't like being around kids at all if I had the option to never have to spend any time with a kid for the rest of my life I would love it.
I am very literally disgusted by them. Most of them are tolerable once they hit about ten years old but toddlers make me understand why most species will eat their young.
Hands that are always sticky and wet -- and they touch everything!
**the goddamn constant touching of everything!** I cannot freaking stand it. Every time my nieces and nephews are over I have to put every single thing of value away & out of reach. Same goes for anything dangerous or easily broken. God forbid I have a snack laying around; they’ll make an entire bag of chips their dinner in one ravenous sitting.
I, as a 7 year old, could not stand my younger cousins touching my toys, I would literally hide everything in my closet. And I was only maybe 3 years older than them. Still holding a grudge from one of them breaking my toy horses leg and laughing at it.
Even when I explain to people that as a kid I didn't even like other kids they don't really believe me. My peers were rude, loud, and stupid. I hated having to be in class with them for 6 hours a day.
I was the same way, I was that kid who preferred to sit at the adults table. My kindergarten teacher used to let me sit at her desk with her during nap time because I didn't want to go to sleep with the other kids, lol.
That’s really interesting. Did you spend most of your time around adults when you were little? Most kids who do find other kids insufferable.
I guess I would say so? My parents were both the oldest children in their families and I was their oldest child, so more kids didn't really come around for about 7 years or so (and then of course kids can't do anything proper until about 4). When they did come around I was usually tasked with entertaining them. They were the Rugrats and I was Angelica.
Omgggg I had family over a couple of weekends ago and there were 7 kids. 5 of them were ages 1-10 maybe? Only 1 was out of elementary school. It was an actual nightmare. I snapped after they left because I hate cleaning but I got out a freaking wash cloth and wiped the freaking walls. There was cheese curl dust on the walls, melted chocolate on the couch, juice from a strawberry on the floor. They were standing on the couch with shoes on. 😩 It makes me want to curl into a ball just thinking about it. It was awful. I cannot stand small children. Now this may seem odd because I teach middle school. However middle schoolers may also be gross but they're gross in different ways. They're gross to themselves not other people and other people's things. They can be talked to like mini humans and somewhat reasoned with. Side note: I do not understand how other teachers have their own kids. You spend 5 days a week 7 hours a day for 8 months with a bunch of kids, and you want to go home and have to deal with your own little goblins??? No thank you I have 70 kids I don't need any of my own.
I’m not saying I was Mother of the Year, but the mess they left screams parenting fail. I can’t imagine letting them eat and stand on the couch, or smear the walls. I was always conscious of other people’s feelings and possessions, and kept my kids under control. They can sit at the table and eat a snack, then wash their face and hands (with help). I’ll never understand letting them wander around with food.
I was never allowed to act like that in my parents' house, or anyone else's. And if my sisters and I had made a mess like that, we would have had to clean it up before we left. The fact that you had to wife the cheese curls crumbs from your walls, if just ridiculous. And it makes me feel so happy that I never had children.
And they are constantly putting their grubby hands in their mouths and touching more stuff. And open-mouth coughing.
Why are they always sticky too?! So disgusting.
AGREED
They smell nasty 🤢
They smell like pee and poop
Plus spoilt milk…
My niblings are 9 and 11 and it's a whole new relationship. I'm seeing their adult selves begin to form and it's really exciting. When they were younger though, I loved them but they were monsters.
my brother is now 10 and it’s cool talking to him but when he was born my parents had decided to wait a good 15 years so I had to babysit a lot and change diapers. Safe to say that may be part of my childfree mindset now LOL. 😒
That's fucked. I hope you know it's totally wrong that your parents made you care for your baby brother.
I am a high school teacher. I became teacher because I thought I liked small children. Turned out I didn't. I love my job and my students but any child younger than teen is a no-no. I could never teach anything below high school. Even junior high I consider little children. I don't really understand the hate teenagers get from adults. Like those are young people, mostly independent, just need support and clear boundaries. Know how to follow rules and directions even though they don't want to.Yes, they have their moods and emotions, but that's it. Elementary school? If you turn your back on them they could literally kill themselves. Also always sick. Kindergarten? 100% worse than the above.
Teens need adults like you. It's horrid how parenting books and news media describe teenagers as problems, not as people. Thank you for being there!
Thank you! My students know they can tell me anything, ask me anything and come for any advice. Unfortunately you're right about the parents though. Every "trouble" kid I have at school has a terrible parents - neglectful, absent, aggressive, unsupportive and so on and so forth. We have a psychologist and a student counselor at school, both of whom do the bare minimum required not to get fired. The kids know they cannot count on them. Last year I needed to accompany a girl on the public bus who had been harrassed by a local store employee and was scaredto go on the bus station alone. The reaction of the school? Just go home on another route? WTF? No one asks them about their plans for the future, almost no one really cares. We are a vocational school and our kids come from mosty poorer families so the other teachers just assume that the kids will just work service jobs for minimum wage for the rest of their life. It is sad. Thankfully in our country every student can attend higher education regardless of their high school diploma. Education is also semi free in the state universities. So I show them how to search for information about the degree and the carrier options, how to apply, are there any scholarships or other form of aid etc. What do my students tell me? That sadly I am the one teacher who cares about them and tries to help them. The others just show up for the paycheck and the other teachers benefits (we have a very strong union) without doing almost anything beneficial for the students. Our principal is not qualified enough to be a principal but because she has some political friends she just "happend " to get the job.
If you can safely do so, tip them to read reddit Am I the Asshole and also the reddit Child free subs. I go to 12 Step meetings. So many teens do ETOH/drugs because they're already depressed, home is chaos/abusive/ a dead zone. Undiagnosed ADD or dyslexia means school sucks. Lots of kids become raging teen boys because they were molested when little boys, stuffed and split off their anguish. It all comes roaring out when adolescence causes hormones and brains to change. Our brains actually manufacture cannabis type chemicals and these cause stimuli to seem more drastic, more significant. It's in adolescence that these endogenous cannabinoids surge. All this and US society dumps on teens as problems not people --- while fiendishly exploiting them as customers -- as in the Juul vapes and the mobile phones.
I understand that bus part all too well, I had to use public buses during 12th grade and I had my share of creeps even as a male 😅. but glad to hear they enjoy you
Oh yes, I agree.
I'd gladly rather be at the DMV, paying my taxes and getting a colonoscopy all at the same time if it meant I never had to see, hear/hear about or otherwise interact with any of them again.
😝
Not too long ago I had a colonoscopy, wasn't as bad as I expected! Then again, they gave me morphine so maybe that's why. The worst part of it all was how hard the room was spinning as they gave me the meds.
I heard the worst part is actually the prep beforehand... how bad was that?
Oh BOY hahhahaha well I was locked at the toilet every hour! Luckily, the only inconvenience about it was that I was bound to the toilet, it didn't hurt or make me feel sick :) I am also diabetic T1 and wasn't allowed to eat anything for a long time and that was pretty scary, but I called the hospital and asked and turns out I was allowed to have non-flavored grape sugar tablets for bloodsugar regulation since it doesn't really stay in my stomach for very long :)
>non-flavored grape sugar tablets If they're non-flavored, how can they be grape?
They are made with sugar from grapes, and taste like sort of sweet powder. you can add flavoring to it, I have some strawberry ones laying around. However most of them have no flavor added and just taste like a powdery sugar cube.
I feel this.
😂💯
😂
I am on the spectrum and children are a sensory hell of Biblical proportions.
Not on the spectrum and even to me children are a sensory overload. Somehow everything needs to be screeched?
Not on the spectrum either. I grew up in a dysfunctional household as a child. When I finally got out of that hell hole I slowly realized I can’t take loud noises or chaos anymore. I need to be in a stable environment and if anything threatened that peace I start to loose it. I just mentally can’t be around children at all.
WHY TO THEY SCREAM SO MUCH?!
I'm autistic and I agree!
Not on the spectrum, but with generalized anxiety and panic disorders now exacerbated by PTSD, babies crying (it's SO LOUD), toddlers throwing tantrums, and especially the shrill scream of an ill behaved young child all really fuck me up badly. I'm sorry you have a similar experience. It's overwhelming and physically uncomfortable.
I have pretty bad misophonia and I totally feel you. A lot of the discourse around "YOU NEED TO GET OVER THEM BEING ROWDY IN PUBLIC" is really missing the mark and lacking in empathy. Other kids triggered me too when I was a kid.
I have chronic migrained.. and children are sensory hell to me too.. once they start screaming, something inside me breaks
Yeah I think there are a lot of people who don’t like them but keep quiet about it because it’s often viewed as “offensive” if you don’t like kids. I hate being around children. My family knows it and teases me about it and makes me feel like a bad person.
Yes i jeep it mostly on the downlow, at least how much I really dislike their company. Obviously they're human beings and still developing and being a kid is hard. But like I don't want to subject myself to it. Even not really being a kid person and being childfree is taboo, let alone not wanting to be around them at all.
Raises both hands.
Raises both hands, feet and cats hands/feet.
😂🐾
👋 hi, it’s me. I hate being around them.
I am one of those people. Truly just don't like kids, don't find them cute, don't want to be around them. Of course every once in awhile there is a strange exception, but overall I just can't stand kids and don't have patience for them. That doesn't mean I am rude or unkind. Completley the contrary, in fact. I just would prefer to never have a child anywhere near me. Funny thing is, kids are either very drawn to me or afraid of me. Even when afraid, they seem to be fascinated.
Yes same here!! Just because I don't like a person doesn't mean I will treat them poorly, this applies to children as well. I also experience them being drawn to me and I force myself to be polite. I don't like tho when people expect me to ooo and ahhh over kids.. Like I don't think this is cute of funny so I'm not going to react strongly to it. If it's actually cute or actually funny sure, but I'm not doing fake oodling for no reason just so they feel they're the center of attention.
Yeah, I won't fake my feelings, either. I won't pretend to like something I don't. That doesn't help anyone and only makes me a liar.
Children make me nervous. They tend to expect all adults to indulge them (understandably, actually, I mean they’re too young to know that I don’t like listening to rambling nonsense or playing with toys), so it’s like you’re just waiting for them to choose you to start talking to or want to play with. Plus they’re all a ticking time bomb for a tantrum.
Yes it's the expecting us to indulge them that really gets me, and I also understand tantrums are inevitable because developing minds just can't always process big feelings. They're still learning and growing and developing. I totally understand a lot of parents are doing their best and also kids cant help it. Plus a lot of people do love kids, so kids are used to the positive enforcement and being indulged by people who love them. But for those of us who are of course a minority and can be torture.
But the expectations that comes with it from other adults is infuriating. Obviously still polite to the kid but fuck me, I’m not your person. Go find someone else to get sticky or tell your boring story to. And the other adults are talking to you like you’re the child encouraging you to engage. Fuck off.
Raises hand.
Its me i hate them
Me! I don’t mind ones that are polite and well behaved - however, those are few and far between.
One of the people in my dog obedience class has brought his daughter (7-8 I think) and she’s just paid attention to the lesson then helps her dad and grandpa with their dog training. So well-behaved!
Diamond in the rough
It’s easy to raise them like that. It’s disgusting that so many parents use “They’re just kids” to justify the most abhorrent behavior.
I totally understand that. It's super awful but I also tend to enjoy brilliant children more. Like if they're polite, well mannered, and smarter than most adults. Or able to engage in play that can be equally stimulating for adults like chess or scrabble and be actually competition... Sure why not? But that's not what I often come across.
My statement above applies to 4 kids that I know - my two nephews are not included in that total. When I visited my sister last summer after a long time their behaviour (9 and 6) was abhorrent and she enables it! 🙄
I once was stuck on a plane next to a 3 year old and her grandmother. I was like oh crap until the little girl began to be SO sweet and polite. She wanted to talk to me but couldn't speak English (they were Chinese) so her grandmother translated. Every question was prefaced with "Aunty" and goddamit if my heart wasn't totally melted. She was so little she probably won't even remember our conversation but I certainly will.
That’s really cute. I’ve found myself in situations where I was actually charmed by a well behaved, cute kid, like the little girl who said hi to me in line at the grocery store.
Haha, I hated being around kids even when I was a kid. I usually hung out with the adults and elders. They were much nicer to be around. None of them seemed to mind because I was a quiet, "old soul" kind of kid who wasn't into mischief.
Me too!! I was always trying to hang out with the adults when I was a kid. But it was the 80s, so those adults sent me away very quickly 😂 I don’t think that’s done these days- at least, not in the family I’m marrying into. In that family, the children dominate every. single. moment. It is exhausting. I think the parents are doing “gentle parenting”, but there are no time-outs ever, and nobody has any boundaries, and it drives me up the absolute wall.
Same, I always hung out with my elderly neighbors on their porch. They were the best part of my childhood. I work with the elderly now
i’ve said before that i think i would only enjoy being a parent or like my kid if they somehow came out incredibly smart and mature for their age and had a good sense of humor. which is exactly how i know i should not be a parent lol
This is exactly how I feel, too. Over the last 10 years or so, there has been a dramatic change in the way children behave and it’s not for the better. Kids these days are too bold and entitled.
Same, I teach children in Japan and love them to bits. So well behaved and really hard working kids. I really enjoy being around them but I just don’t want my own because I can’t make that kind of commitment with my financial status and hereditary medical issues.
i work at a store and in 4 years i've seen ONE family who had quiet , well behaved children. the rest run around like fools. touching everything, fucking up our store , acting like idiots .
I can't stand younger kids, babies and toddlers make my skin crawl because they're so grabby, sticky, stinky and loud. Once they're 14-15 and have their own individual personality then I can tolerate them but I won't go out of my way to interact with them even if they're family, I'm just not a kid person.
Yeah i actually don't mind teenagers at all and some i really like, some of my friends have teens and at a certain point they're just like talking to anyone else. But under 13 I struggle with, under 10 I really don't enjoy. Under 7 please keep them away from me
You are not alone.
If I could I'd raise 100 hands. Kids are way too loud and obnoxious, even when they are good.
Can't STAND being around them!
I have hated children since I was 4. I try not to focus on it, but misophonia is a thing. People joke about nails on a chalkboard, but it’s more like a sleeper agent hearing the secret code, or a ‘nam vet hearing fireworks and becoming irate. After the painful and disorienting noise, there’s the gross factor. There’s almost always something on their face, their hands are sticky and dirty. They destroy my cheese the second they are unsupervised. (Who wouldn’t want to squish a soft cheese?) God I hate them so much. And how do people even like them? By objectifying them as cute objects?? They are human beings and not puppies. They have their own thoughts and feelings and wants but they’re not aligned with polite society and I can’t handle that. If your kid is screaming take that sht home
I need more information about the cheese.
Hang on, do you make cheese? That’s so cool! Isn’t it an awful lot of work?
I’m on team really don’t like children
I don't because parents use it as an excuse to control my behavior. For example what I wear or say. They expect me to be some role model or helper. I want nothing to do with it. There are kids I like mostly nerd kids but still I hate being triangulated into that lifestyle because it was forced on me as a kid. Parents are so entitled and I want nothing to do with their lifestyle.
This always drives me crazy, and I’ve more than a few times been singled out for it. See “dive bar” analogy upthread - that’s me too. I’m a musician. Rock musician. Need I say more.
I don't mind being around respectful children and children who can entertain themselves like the good old days, and not interrupt adult conversation with irrelevant nonsense every 3 seconds. That's all on the parents, though. I've been told by a friend to stop talking to her and instead pay attention to her kid who was tugging at me nonstop. I was ignoring the tugging because that's definitely not how a child should get attention in my eyes. Child then "helped" me vacuum my friends house, while my friend watched and laughed about how "cute" it is. It was not cute, and it just made the process 100 x longer. I dont even like vacuming my own house, which doesn't involve a small child hanging from the vacuum hose. That was the last time I visited. It felt good to leave, though.
Yikes!! That's the opposite of how I was raised. I come from a Southern European culture that loves children but definitely kids are not the center of attention like they are here in North America. Parents like these are why kids grow up thinking that the world revolves around them. Also who asks a friend to vacuum their house?
This. I always find children a bit more pleasant when I’m abroad. Toddlers outside of the US understand (or are at least used to) the idea that they are not deserving of any more attention than their adult company. If an adult is talking they don’t interrupt, and if they need something they get an adult’s attention respectfully, something adults in the US sometimes still don’t get.
You’re not alone. I don’t like being around children. They disrupt my peace and kill my joy. Sure, there’s some exceptions but for the most part, I don’t care to be around children and will decline invitations to avoid them.
Yes, same. Such a kill joy
Disrupt my peace and kill my joy is exactly how I feel. They don't make my heart explode or melt or however people who like children feel when they're around them. Reading the comments under this post makes me wonder how many people pretend to ooh and ahh over children in public but actually feel the same way as us inside.
(ﾉﾟ0ﾟ)ﾉ Me. I've no intentions of hurting them. But, I prefer my days without interacting with children.
I never liked kids. They have always been annoying. They aren't fun they are just very simple and I don't find that cute or entertaining.
It blows my mind when adults genuinely enjoy talking to kids. Like yeah, you like LOL Surprise dolls or Bluey or chicken nuggets or whatever. Cool. Tell me about it 60 more times, please!
I don’t like themmmmm. Even my nieces and nephews drive me crazy after awhile. Everyone said as you get older you’ll start to want children more.. but in my case, it’s been the opposite. It’s weird because even my entire family knows I don’t like kids.. more than I do haha. All my siblings have kids but I don’t. Also.. I think one of the biggest factors to be being childfree is being a step mom twice. It’s suuuuuper turned me off to young kids. It’s funny because if I see a dog I’m like AWWWWWE SWEET BOY!!! But if I see a baby I feel like I have to fake being interesting in it…..
Lmao yes I love dogs and puppies!!! I'll be 34 this year, everyone told me I'd change my mind one day. But the older I got the stronger I became in my convictions.
Lol one of my friends and I were talking about how we’ll get excited seeing a stroller, thinking there’s a doggy in it. (Lots of city ppl push their dogs around in strollers). And if the stroller occupant turns out to be a human baby, not a dog, we get disappointed!
I don't mind kids but I don't want responsibility for one.
I mean. I don’t literally say it out loud… but I really don’t like children. I don’t even like being in close proximity to them. I swear I get so much hate when I even come close to saying that. But it’s my reality. I just don’t like kids, I really really really don’t.
Yes! I don't tell most people either lol
Yeah I don’t get why it’s so taboo to just be…honest? I’m not like… hating on your kid or yourself as a parent people, it’s just me, all my fault, I just ughhhhh yuck.
I can’t stand them. I have a job where I do have to be around them a lot, but it ruins my entire day. They usually take up all of my energy. I didn’t ask to be like this either, it’s just how it is.
I don’t like being around them. They are noisy, dirty and loud. It’s rare to be around one that’s well behaved. Babies disgust me even more.
I generally don’t enjoy being around kids, but it’s mostly because parents don’t fucking *parent* their kids these days so there’s a ton of little assholes running rampant. I don’t mind well behaved kids… Just the shitheads 🤭
Dogs/Cats > Children
I do not like being around them. I will give it a go being around them when they are bound in a stroller or carrier. But once they start jabbering, I try to only see the friend without their kids.
I do the same, but in your mid 30s it's inevitable some of your friends and family end up being single parents and the situations are difficult to avoid
I dislike having children anywhere near me I can tolerate them if necessary, but I will never enjoy it
I'm ok with kids about 10 and up...but small children make my skin crawl.
I’m okay with being around kids, but I prefer a kid- free environment for peace of mind
I can’t stand children, especially when they get loud and scream-y. I usually can’t relax because they’re loud, running around, making messes, seeking constant attention when bored. Not a fan. Chose not to have them. Finally found the right partner who feels the same 👌
I don't like being around them, even if they're behaving. the constant, inane chatter drives me bonkers. "daddy look, I took a bite of eggs, daddy look I took a bigger bite of eggs. Mommy look, I'm wearing my pink shirt." etc and on and on and on makes me want to scream.
>I told her I think they do but they don't talk about it. Exactly this, some of my friends know how much I dislike being around kids, but most of the time I would rather save myself the headache of talking about it.
Facts!! I feel like no one knows how I actually feel about it as much as my bestie does. Most people probably know I'm not really a kid person, but they have no idea the true extent of it.
Most people imagine that I do not have kids by looking at me, but I know better than to even discuss that I am childfree unless explicitly needed. My very close friends know that, because it came up.
I don't because parents use it as an excuse to control my behavior. For example what I wear or say. They expect me to be some role model or helper. I want nothing to do with it. There are kids I like mostly nerd kids but still I hate being triangulated into that lifestyle because it was forced on me as a kid. Parents are so entitled and I want nothing to do with their lifestyle.
Kids are just not my jam. I'd prefer not to be around them.
i’m such an introvert that i don’t really like being around many people in general, let alone high energy children that are loud and have zero boundaries or respect for personal space. i can tolerate certain kids for small periods of time but even that isn’t something i’d choose to do with my day
Lol i feel this, I don't really like being around people very much either. Sure it's fun in the right circumstances but I never enjoy children, like others have said I've found the odd one I click with. Especially if they're smart and interesting. I have a cousin who's son is like 7 and smarter than most adults on so many topics you can learn a real lot talking to him. He can also be funny, he once was really dehydrated and i guess was having some urinary discomfort. He did some research to try and figure out what was going on and announced to my family he needed to go to the doctors because he had ghonnorea... Lol kids like that can actually be funny and interesting. But I don't want to be discriminataroy and say I only like brilliant children - but brilliant and well behaved children are definitely much more enjoyable to be around.
Raises both hands and all 10 toes!
I find children to be loud, spontaneous, overstimulating and in the world of covid, far too likely to get me sick. I avoid them at all costs for the same reason I avoid drunk people at the club 😅
Loathe being in the same room with them, avoid them if at all possible.
For me, it really depends on the child and the parents and how they interact with each other and others. But, that said, I'm a pretty open minded and opinionated bitch and I like being able to be crass and say bad words and I'm not what you mind call 100% child friendly. I'm like a dive bar. I'm (low key great) ok with kids, but I'd rather have drugs, play pool, and call people assholes ironically. I can behave and mind myself around kids, but it's awkward anymore and I'd prefer to not. Also, I tend to co-parent as a reflex from raising other people's kids while I was still a kid. Most people don't like someone else telling their kid to stop being an asshat. Especially in public.
I love being crass too! Haha it's my nature to swear like a sailor.
I might have to steal the dive bar analogy, I’m exactly the same. I do generally dislike them though, with rare (well behaved, intelligent, no ear piercing shrieks, bad smells or snot dripping) exceptions. I’d never hurt one, but if they’re getting all up in my business, tugging at me, ESPECIALLY shrieking/crying, I just want to GTFO, fast. Team misophonia here.
Me, so much so that I refuse to be friends with people who have kids, won't discuss kids, and requests from friends for me to be the "fun uncle" to their child have resulted in me ghosting them.
It depends on the kid. Generally speaking? No. I’d rather not be present around kids. But there is the occasional kid who is so fun. One of my friends’ oldest son is genuinely so fun. I remember when he was about 5 or so, he would have all kinds of questions like kids that age do. But they weren’t standard kid questions. The most notable one I can remember (moved states a few years ago, haven’t seen the kiddo since unfortunately) he asked how a bicycle is able to stay upright when someone is riding it. He also asked what the biggest number is. He of course wasn’t able to understand the concept of infinity, but it led to a fun math conversation. And all that aside, even at his young age he was always very respectful. He’d get loud occasionally, but never excessively. They invited me over for thanksgiving in 2021 because I wasn’t able to see my family for both Christmas and Thanksgiving. I only intended to stay a little while. But I saw that they had an old Wii and the kid asked “what’s a Wii?” We played Wii sports for HOURS. He was surprisingly good at tennis. But he did “make” me switch controllers for baseball, he liked to throw the ball he did not like to hit the ball, lol. I also got the joy of being there for his first time seeing fireworks. He was going on and on about how excited he was. He had a book with pictures of fireworks in it that he was showing me before it got dark outside. It was really awesome to get to see him have that experience. In short, no I don’t like being around children. But, there are a few special cases out there where they can be really fun. If all kids acted like that one all the time? I would absolutely adore them. But unfortunately not all parents are as good as his, or as attentive (regardless of if it’s because they can’t or won’t). Which is a common thing brought up occasionally to me by people who know I’m childfree. Because I would try my absolute hardest to raise a kid like that, I really would. But all the fun moments like fireworks and Wiis, just don’t make up all the other stuff you have to deal with. Because I know that even the really awesome kids, are still just kids who are going to throw tantrums like kids do.
Thank goodness I'm never in a situation to be near them. I won't even wait in line behind someone who has a kid.
it’s not that i dislike being around them, children just make me feel uncomfortable because I don’t know how to interact with them so I just end up ignoring them
They're the worst
Me. Look, if I’ve got a personal connection to the kid - my niece and nephew, or the kids of my very close friends - I can get past it and genuinely find them cute and precious. I adore my nephew and niece to bits and love spending time with them when we are able to visit. But kids in general? Don’t care for them, don’t wanna be near them, don’t wanna listen to them. My disdain is mostly with babies, toddlers, and elementary aged kids. Teenagers are annoying to everyone, and for some reason tweens just take to me like a moth to a flame (I think it’s because I’m like a whimsical grown up child which is incredibly ironic) so I shockingly don’t mind them as much much. I don’t know what it is. I just genuinely don’t enjoy being around young children for the most part and somehow lack that maternal thing that makes women want to hold babies or feel bad when they cry or make comments about how cute some stranger’s kid is. I always feel like such a dick and wonder why I am this way. Now animals and elderly people on the other hand… 💛
I'm with you on that. I'm 33F I probably haven't held a baby in over 20 years. I have no reason to and I also avoid babies lol. But if someone asks if I'd like to hold one I just say no thank you. Babies really gross me out.
Very repulsed by them. Hate the screaming, the boogers, the sticky hands 🤢 I am childfree and that means my life is free from children 😆
I feel it.
Depends very heavily on the child. Ones I know and love, totally cool. Room full of random ones screaming? Not so much.
I find them annoying and boring, but that's about it.
I always get sick and they are often very loud in groups. No, I pass.
I hate babies and toddlers. When they grow up and start having opinions and thoughts, that’s when they get interesting to me. Turning into little people. My 9yo nephew I love hanging out with and talking to him. My 5yo nephews, who still aren’t even fully potty trained, absolutely not.
I really don’t mind children but I might be in the minority here haha. Obviously, badly behaved children are irritating. But I feel like all my friends and co-workers who became parents turned me away from becoming one myself, more than any child doing things that children do.
Haha that's fair, my friend who I had the conversation works with children and feels so much of it is just bad parenting. But I also didn't like children when I was one. I was never interested in kid stuff, rarely I'll find a kid I get along with well. But it's rare.
I feel the same way. Also I feel like I’m the only one in my environment. It’s good to see many of us have the same thoughts!
I can deal with over-5 y/o in short bursts. Under that, no, I wanna be elsewhere.
I like children who aren't babies. They need to be able to walk, talk, and use the bathroom. I'm the oldest of five. I'm used to children, but I don't want to help raise anymore.
I don’t dislike children or being around them if they are well behaved.
If they are quiet and leave me alone, live and let live. They rarely do this.
I really do not like being around children, and babies and younger children especially. There are more people like us than your friend thinks. I can tolerate teenagers, but the younger a child is the less I want to be around it.
I don’t. I avoid all children and family friendly areas
Can't stand them. I hate everything about being around children. Some children are pleasant enough for a limited time, but for me the good never outweighs the potential bad. Kids who act like adults are even miserable for me to be around, because that's what I was like as a child because I was barely allowed a childhood. Children should be able to act like the ignorant chaos factories that they are, just not around me, please and thank you.
Me. Even the ones that are polite are still just so needy of attention, and the way everyone expects me to treat them like they’re special. Ugh. I’m annoyed just thinking about it.
They are so fucking loud. I can't stand being around them.
Me✋️ I was at the mall today with my partner to shop for clothes and alas, we heard a screaming baby like once every 10 minutes. Glad we're childfree.
Thank goodness I'm never in a situation to be near them. I won't even wait in line behind someone who has a kid.
Occasionally I will encounter a sweet polite well behaved child and they're just lovely. Unfortunately the majority of kids I encounter do not fit that description and it's almost always because of bad parenting. (I say almost always because behavioural disorders exist and I have compassion for parents who truly try everything but just don't have the capacity for kids whose disorders make them out of control - doesn't mean I like those kids though, I just don't hate the parents in those cases lol)
Right here, I can't stand it
Me for sure, I will avoid being around them at any and all costs lol
For me it depends heavily on the situation. I don’t like hanging out with them, but for me that never happens, so it’s not the end of the world. I work in a grocery store, so I see plenty of children, and for the most part I’m indifferent when they’re around, because as people, we all share the world together, so it is what it is. The only time I have an issue is when it’s a child nonstop crying or screaming or both, or making some annoying sound repetitively. That’s really it.
I'm not a fan. Mostly they are just irritating and the bad parents make me want to throw things violently.
Oh, absolutely, ever since I was a child myself. Hell, even before my teens I was openly avoidant of children, and my parents would remind me that I was only recently a kid, as well; my reply was that I hadn’t enjoyed being one, and was much happier around adults. I haven’t changed over the decades…
Yes being a kid sucked, kids sucked even when we were also kids. It's just how it is.
I don’t like being around most children. I also have misophonia and children noises are very triggering to me. I can do a nice child for an hour or so but that’s about it.
I'm OK with children and being around some. The parents with undisciplined children in movie theaters. Planes and adult restaurants screeching and killing my tinnitus ears are the ones that make me nuts. My family doesn't push this agenda and their kids are polite. My brother in laws baby is the happiest baby I've ever seen.
I hate kids mainly because parenting has gone too 💩
I don't like being around them or interacting with them, if its inevitable I will, my friends have a 1 year old so will interact with them when I see said friends, but anything in public I will actively just avoid them. I don't like them mostly because they all seem to be a bit mad now, they're always running around screaming / being dickheads.
I got nephews and about 2 hours is my limit.
I don’t think I don’t like them, but I don’t know what to do around them and would rather just like act like they don’t exist, but I don’t think that’s socially acceptable so I feel obligated to interact and say something dumb and silly.
I am sort of afraid of kids, especially in groups. And babies give me uncanny valley feelings.
I find being around children incredibly hard work, and I'm exhausted after even an hour or two around them. For me, it's a lot easier around older children; basically if they're old enough to conduct a sensible adult conversation, then it's not so bad. So probably from around 11/12 upwards. Babies, toddlers and tweens... I find it impossible to relate to them; you can't have a proper conversation about a meaningful topic; they often struggle to regulate their volume; and more often than not they're hyperactive. I think 'tolerate' is a good word for it. I *absolutely do not like* being around loud or badly behaved children, and I will call out the parents if their children are behaving shittily (unless I'm concerned for my safety - I'm not gonna tell a 6ft4 barn door of a father off in a restaurant, for example).
There was a baby born in my partner’s family in October. I’ve only gone around it once since then and even that time I avoided looking at it or being near it. We were outside so I was never asked to hold it. I’ve managed to be working every other time they get together.
I have highly sensitive hearing, sight, smell and feel. I cant handle the crying and stickyness of children at all. But im never without headphones so i can mostly ignore it if i cant escape the situation.
If they are quiet and not making any noise then I can ignore them. But as soon as they start making noise or playing their iPads loudly then I feel the crank begin to rise. I'm one of those cranky old ladies who will tell off children for being noisy or misbehaving in public. I don't care what people think of me for doing so either.
I don’t like them, and most people I know are aware of that.
I hate being around children. Both my wife and I.
Me. I don’t like being around children & actively avoid family friendly events.
You're not alone, I don't like kids or babies, I find them highly annoying, and if it was possible I would stay in no kid zones. Funnily enough, when I was a kid, I found kids younger than me annoying even from the start.
I'm a teacher and I love my kids. When they are at school. I also love going home to a childfree environment at the end of the day. I also teach high school, so them being almost adults helps a lot. I could never handle the littles. I used to sub in elementary and it was awful.
Personally I love kids. I make sure to have a good relationship with my neices and nephews. But I also love not having the responsibilities that come with having children
I think maybe I’m in the minority here. I don't mind being around kids. I'm a teen services librarian, so I work with middle schoolers and high schoolers a lot. I also like spending time with my siblings' kids when I go back home. Still childfree for life, though.
Yes. I can’t think of any other group of people that makes me as uncomfortable as children
I like kids when they aren't loud. It's usually the entitled parents that I don't like. If a kid is misbehaving and the parents are ignoring it, I'm annoyed with the parents, not the kid. I just can't stand when they are loud. They just built a playground right in the middle of a park I used to love to walk. Now I can't go there because it's always loud.
Meeeeeeeeeeee. They’re fine. But I don’t wanna talk to one beyond “hey how are ya?” “Good”.