World's King

Nothing.


Not anymore.

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heavy is the head that wears the crown

*Nikki*

Agreed.

Until I had a child I totally did not understand children or what it is like to live in "their world", which is what your world becomes when you have them.

robot_parade

My own kids:

o Whining. I cannot *stand* whining. One of my kids in particular is very whiny, and no matter how many times I shut him down, help him get calmed down, and get him to ask for what he wants *nicely*, it's back to whining the very next time.

o Disrespect. A different child this time (the one that's almost a teenager...). He's quickly developing 'respect' issues when talking to his mother and I. And again, every time I shut him down, but it doesn't seem to be having an effect.

o Poor behavior in public. Yes, that is *my* child throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of the grocery store. Yes, I'll deal with it. Yes, the consequences will be severe. Yes, it *will* happen again.

o Doing Dumb Shit. "You did *what* to the cat?"


Other people's kids:

Same as above, except I blame the parents instead of the kids. :-)

hannukah harry

which is exactly what i hate about kids. i don't want to have to change my life for kids, make them the center of my life. don't get me wrong, there 's a lot of other things i don't like about them, but i think that falls more on their parents, and my patience.

what i hate about kids is that i'm selfish. yeah, sums it up pretty nicely.

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shabbat shalom, mother fucker! - the hebrew hammer

ring

They remind me how to be real and in the moment, no pretense or bullshit.
Enjoying and absorbing life, eyes without a trace of guile.

I wonder how children can stand adults...
who have forgotten how (or never had the chance) to be children.

ottopilot

That's a big part of it. The child is beat out of us bit by bit. I think if we ran everywhere and jumped on the furniture, we'd be a much healthier society. Our stuff would look like shit, but we'd still know how play like a child, and most likely moving around much better past 30 and 40. On the other hand, have you noticed how slow kids pretend to be, especially in adolescence? Slow-talkin, slow-walkin imitations of cool? We imitate slow and end up slow.

Getting back to the OP, I can't stand some of the punk-ass-jerk tweener/teens (too harsh?). I guess because I do substitute teaching now and then, but what comes out of their mouths as normal conversation is a crime. I'm not a prude, I grew up in a very rough environment, and every generation has it's rebels, but what I'm talking about is a trend, a major breakdown in basic respect for other human beings.

It's really not their fault, I only blame the parents, but it's disturbing. It's not just stereotypical poor kids, some of the most privileged are the worst. Last week at our neighborhood pool, a teen (about 14) gets up, walks along real slow, acting real cool, and spits on the patio surrounding the pool. I get up and quietly say something to the guy explaining how I don't want my daughter walking through his spit and he says "fuck you" and laughs. The genius didn't know I was on the neighborhood association and I asked him to rephrase his comment or apologize. He repeated his previous remarks and I revoked his pool membership. So here comes the root cause ... mom calls me at my home demanding that I reinstate her son and apologize for embarrassing her. Junior is swimming somewhere else this summer.

The reaction of the mother not expecting the child to understand their responsibility, let alone take responsibility, is indicative of the trends I'm seeing. It's not the majority of kids that act like this, most are really smart and caring. But I can't help feeling like we're slipping toward greater inhumanity and indifference to respect of others.

*Nikki*

Well I respect your opinion. Just make sure you don't ever find yourself being a father, even accidentally.

hannukah harry

no kidding. i was just kinda amazed how well you summed up my thought about it, but from the (assumingly) opposite persective.

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shabbat shalom, mother fucker! - the hebrew hammer

Derwood

this is the most refreshingly honest post in this entire thread

CinnamonGirl

At the risk of sounding very "when I was your age..." I hate that kids are so video-game oriented. Yes, I liked video games growing up, I still like them... but they aren't my life.

I also don't get the cartoons. I'm all about goofy cartoons, but some of the stuff on now...I totally don't get.

Oh, OH, and when kids order people around. I'm a server, and I've had tables where the kids treat me like shit (young kids, too, no older than eight), and the parents either ignore them or say something vague like "be nice," and that's it.

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"...for though she was ordinary, she possessed health, wit, courage, charm, and cheerfulness. But because she was not beautiful, no one ever seemed to notice these other qualities, which is so often the way of the world."


"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

snowy

Again, this depends on the parents. Kids aren't going to pay for cable on their own, and obviously they're not going to acquire expensive video game consoles without parental assistance. Many of the families I babysit for don't have cable television or buy their children video game systems (the exception seems to be Leapfrog, which is educational). The one channel we get reliably via antenna here is Oregon Public Broadcasting, and so that's the only television channel a lot of kids around here get to watch.

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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

vanblah

Kids are not much different than adults. I find myself ROUTINELY annoyed by children. But even more than being annoyed by children; I'm more annoyed by adults.

So to answer the OP ... I find the same things annoying with regard to adults and children. I'll see your child's rendition of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" and raise you with annoying adult upstairs who feels the need to stomp everywhere he goes--it shakes my whole apartment. Good thing we're buying another house soon.

At least children have the whole "don't have any objective reasoning" thing. It's not like they are being selfish on purpose. Adults on the other hand ... I don't know where people get their sense of entitlement.

<slight threadjack>

I am a very selfish person and I will always be. But (and I've said this before) since my daughter was born I have a certain drive that I didn't have before. It helps to have an awesome wife.

One thing that I enjoy about having a kid: I laugh at people who get annoyed by my kid especially at restaurants (unless my kid is doing something on purpose).

As for running around and jumping on furniture and being generally child-like ... we do that. Our couch is a nightmare ... but it's just stuff. Time with loved-ones can never be replaced; couches can.

</slight threadjack>

Ever see the Fawlty Towers episode with the spoiled kid who wants "salad dressing"? EDIT: I think the episode is called "Dinner with Andre."

figomago

Has it ever occurred to any of the posters here that when they were 3 or 5 years old, some bewildered adult somewhere was making the same observations about them, and blaming it on their parents?

It's the circle of life - unfortunately - and kids will be the same 95 years from now. Just the way it is...

Giant Hamburger

I hate that even when they grow up there's still a very good chance they wont stop whining and complaining.

boink

not a big fan of the screeming, screeching and crying. thankfully I don't encounter it alot.

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when you believe in things that you don't understand, then you suffer. Superstition ain't the way.

MSD

Kids are little people. They're not fully developed, they don't know everything they need to get by in the world yet, and a lot of their parents do a shitty job of raising them, but in the end, they're just people.

I fucking hate people.

Grancey

I laugh when children who are running around the dining area of a restaurant, trip and fall and start crying.

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Quiet, mild-mannered souls might just turn out to be roaring lions of two-fisted cool.

Baraka_Guru

My real answer?

They're too expensive.

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

vanblah

Yep. That's funny too.

It's even more fun if you do the tripping:

Baraka_Guru

Thanks....

I was just reminded of the "Breakdancer takes out kid" video.

I would post a link, but I'd feel bad since it's a bit shocking.

If you want to see it for yourself, be resourceful.

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

vanblah

First time I saw the breakdancer video I wondered if it was real. That video is a little on the extreme side; but hey, at least it was an accident.

lotsofmagnets

the marching band one was great. also shows how indestructible small kids can be....

was it wrong to find the breakdance video hilarious?

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mother nature made the aeroplane, and the submarine sandwich, with the steady hands and dead eye of a remarkable sculptor.
she shed her mountain turning training wheels, for the convenience of the moving sidewalk, that delivers the magnetic monkey children through the mouth of impossible calendar clock, into the devil's manhole cauldron.
physics of a bicycle, isn't it remarkable?

Derwood

for what it's worth, i have two kids and i mostly hate everyone else's kids

*Nikki*

Yes Derwood, I have found this to be true also.

MSD

More than anything else, I despise the attitude that it is everyone's duty to have children. The two main things to come from this are that too many people have kids who shouldn't and that people who either don't want them or want to wait a long time are looked down on.

Martian

__________________
I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said

- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame

Baraka_Guru

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Derwood

I actually cringe when my daughter wants her friends to come over to our house

fnaqzna

Parents. Especially those that think they're on some sort of mission to make the planet safe for children. I've spent the majority of my lifetime as an adult, and I have zero interest in living in a G-rated world.

Martian

Incidentally, I'm spending more time now at a music store where lessons are given, and I've found that I'm not the slightest bit bothered by kids being musical (or attempting to be musical). That actually surprised me because adults who are poor musicians bug the heck out of me, but I guess that just goes to show.

I don't hate kids. As some people have pointed out, it's the parents who are usually at fault.

__________________
I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said

- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame

Starshine

I think I hated kids even when I was one...

I've been staying in my SO's dorm while in Germany and there is a kinder garden right outside the building and all day from about 7am to 4pm I hear,
"HALLO! HALLO! HALLO!" and them just counting to 10 and screaming colors....
All f***ing day for the past two weeks.

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I fly like paper, get high like planes

allaboutmusic

I get annoyed with kids every single day of my working week. Some of the stuff they come up with is simply beyond comprehension. They can be rude, evil, crazy, selfish, clueless, ignorant, lazy, and can spoil your day with a single comment or action.

I am amazed and inspired by kids every single day of my working week. Some of the stuff they come up with is simply beyond comprehension. They can be polite, angelic, energetic, generous, insightful, brilliant, resourceful, and can make your week with a single comment or action.

Oh yeah, I'm a teacher. And I love my job.

Derwood

i know some people hated my kids at the grocery store today. who boy, what a meltdown

inBOIL

I just remembered this story. Amusing, even if its truth is doubtful.
http://www.bash.org/?777977

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And you believe Bush and the liberals and divorced parents and gays and blacks and the Christian right and fossil fuels and Xbox are all to blame, meanwhile you yourselves create an ad where your kid hits you in the head with a baseball and you don't understand the message that the problem is you.

Bear Cub

Need to add another one to the list.

I hate when small children feel the need to run up and down the aisles of a store with their hands out to the side, slapping everything, and everyone, in their way.

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Living in the United Socialist States of America.

diddagirl

I seriously can not stand when kids talk in baby voices.... like, your nine... we are aware that you can talk better then your two year old brother.

__________________
"Is it so small a thing to have enjoyed the sun, to have lived long in the spring, to have loved, to have thought, to have done."
-Matthew Arnold

jewels

What he said.

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We are always more anxious to be distinguished for a talent which we do not possess, than to be praised for the fifteen which we do possess.
Mark Twain

mixedmedia

thirded.

Honestly, I'm not around a lot of other kids. I've usually liked my children's friends. The only children that can annoy me are ones who are screaming and crying in stores while their parents do nothing. Like the parenting method is 'ignore them and they will stop.' Meanwhile you are ruining everyone else's day. And yes, I blame it on the parent. If your child is crying and/or screaming, take them out of the goddamned store. Yes, that calls for you to stop shopping and do something about it. Oh my...

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Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce

The_Jazz

I live very close to a store that made national headlines a couple of years ago when they posted a note in the window that reads (and I'm paraphrasing) "Children of all ages are reminded to use their indoor voices". A few neighborhood moms took umbrage to it and, well, the New York Times picked up the story.

We've taken our boys there a few times - they have great ice cream. But if one of them starts to melt down (Max, more likely than not), then we leave. Pure and simple. He knows the rules, and part of parenting is teaching that actions have consequences. It sucks, and we've had to leave half-eaten meals. That said, if a place is "child-friendly" (and lots of places are), I would say that half of our melt-downs occur because the restaurant screws up, not our kids. We order food for kids as soon as the waiter/ress appears to get ahead of the curve, but if you wait 30 minutes for chicken fingers, something's wrong in the back room. I got in a shouting match over the phone with a restaurant manager about 2 months ago after we left after waiting 40 minutes for scrambled eggs for Max - all the other food came out, but not his. So as we left - with everything boxed up and ate at home. And they charged us for the eggs that never came.

In my house, meltdowns happen because someone's hungry, uncomfortable, bored or not feeling well. We can fix 3 of those easily in most cases. If we can't, we have to leave. If other parents can't understand that, shame on them.

Beyond that, this thread is just an excuse to bash anonymous people.

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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin
"There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo

roachboy

i think this thread is just a frame around giant hamburgers post above, which is repeat for it's beauty:

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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite