Bear Cub

We all hear about just how wonderful and magnificent the little buggers are.

Well, I for one find myself routinely annoyed by children. I can usually tolerate it, but this is the last straw.

I am sitting in my room right now, and through my open window, all I have heard for the past hour is an ear-screeching rendition of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" attempted to be played one on of those cheap-ass plastic, standard elementary school issued recorders. Never before have I envied Helen Keller to the extent that I do right now.

What is it that kids do that you find absolutely unbearable?

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Living in the United Socialist States of America.

telekinetic

i'm very rarely annoyed at children. I frequently want to throttle their parents.

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twisted no more

ShaniFaye

quoted for absolute truth

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I want the diabetic plan that comes with rollover carbs. I dont like the unused one expiring at midnite!!

snowy

Amen.

Children, especially those under 5, are largely the product of their environment and the behavior that has been modeled for them. If they've never been taught that a thing is inappropriate, they're not to blame for their ignorance--their parents are.

For instance, I know a kid who must sleep with a nightlight. This became a problem when he tried to sleep over at someone else's house (I was babysitting them at the time). His friends didn't want to sleep with a nightlight, and he refused to go to bed without one. And it really isn't his fault--he's 9. It is his parents' fault for enabling him to go with a nightlight for so long. If they'd weaned him off the nightlight when he was younger, he wouldn't have this problem now.

Parents dictate how their children behave. If they aren't willing to set boundaries and play the bad guy once in a while, of course there are going to be problems.

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

Lasereth

Ungrateful kids. For example: I've witnessed children of my own family open presents at Christmas and then say "where's the rest?" after they opened 15 presents.

Kids who simply straight up don't listen. You tell them to do something, they grin and don't do it.

Kids who scream or cry the moment they don't get their way. Kids who whine constantly.

So basically I don't actually hate the kids, I hate the terrible parents.

thespian86

I am young, therefore I hate kids. I hate the following:

-Kids who hang off of you.
-Kids who are overly violent
-How kids are obsessed with growing up fast
- Constant lying
- Dirty hands and faces; all over our hands and faces
- Super precocious kids


Mostly I am annoyed easily by anything or one with a lack of social skills and kids lack them. Plus, when I was little I had a lot of respect for the older kids (ie: fear of God) and now kids have no respect... at all.

I realize they are merely the mirrors of our society and their parents but as I said, I'm young, and have a low tolerance for unhappy things.

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EX: Whats new?
ME: I officially love coffee more then you now.
EX: uh...
ME: So, not much.

lotsofmagnets

my 13 year old cousin came to visit with her family while i was back in au and i had to surrender my bed since not only does she need a light on while she sleeps she also needs to have vacant space between her bed and her parents´ bed ie next room and her door and parents´ door open....

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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?

Shauk

I just gotta go with the parents thing, Kids are victims of their upbringing. Kids are the instruments to the horrible band members that are their parents.

girldetective

What is it that kids do that you find absolutely unbearable?

Snot.

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As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons...be cheerful; strive for happiness - Desiderata

abaya

I dislike how they are the center of their own little worlds. I know it's natural, and I know I went through it, too (probably still am that way, lol). But I dislike how oblivious and self-centered they can be about anything and anyone outside of themselves. (At least with the cousins I spend a minimal amount of time with, for that reason, in Iceland.) My kids will not be the center of my world, and they are just going to have to learn to deal with that.

__________________
And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran

Willravel

I can't stand that I can't father a thousand of them.

Baraka_Guru

Their inability to listen to reason.

__________________
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

RetroGunslinger

I don't like kids. Simple as that. They're selfish, irrational, and annoying, while also being unbearably filthy. I understand I used to be a stupid little kid, but that doesn't make them any less unbearable.

If I must continue forth and have a child, I think I'll just adopt an 18-year-old Asian girl.

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It's a rare pleasure in this world to get your mind fucked. Usually it's just foreplay.

M.B. Keene

Willravel

It worked out for Woody Allen.

TotalMILF

Bodily excretions.

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"I'm sorry, all I heard was blah blah blah, I'm a dirty tramp."

RetroGunslinger

Hoozah!

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It's a rare pleasure in this world to get your mind fucked. Usually it's just foreplay.

M.B. Keene

Charlatan

I generally don't like other people's kids.

My own kids are fine (except for when they are bickering with each other).

__________________
"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke

inBOIL

I don't like that I can't backhand them when they kick me.

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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.

little_tippler

I like kids mostly. They can be annoying...but that is really down to how they are educated by their parents.

I don't like it when kids whine loudly. I don't like it when kids scream when they don't get what they want. I don't like it when kids are violent, particularly to animals. I don't like it when I can see a kid is clearly manipulating their parent and the parent is oblivious.

Otherwise I find kids fascinating. The way you can make a kid's day simply by talking to them about stuff they enjoy. The way they have fun with the smallest of things. The way their faces light up with a grin when they realise you can get on their level and be a big kid yourself. The way they will open up to you for just talking to them for a few minutes. The way they will hug you or smile at you and totally mean it, the love they can transmit to you so unabashedly.

Kids are pretty honest. I like that.

__________________
Whether we write or speak or do but look
We are ever unapparent. What we are
Cannot be transfused into word or book.
Our soul from us is infinitely far.
However much we give our thoughts the will
To be our soul and gesture it abroad,
Our hearts are incommunicable still.
In what we show ourselves we are ignored.
The abyss from soul to soul cannot be bridged
By any skill of thought or trick of seeming.
Unto our very selves we are abridged
When we would utter to our thought our being.
We are our dreams of ourselves, souls by gleams,
And each to each other dreams of others' dreams.

Fernando Pessoa, 1918

Derwood

it's pretty obvious that 95% of the people here aren't parents.

abaya

Well, yeah. To me, other people's kids = a reminder to stay vigilant on the birth control. I think that when I start appreciating kids more, instead of seeing them as parasites, we might be ready to think about having some. Maybe.

__________________
And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran

snowy

This strongly varies from child to child. Again, a large part of this is parental influence--do parents say "We don't do this because of x, y, and z" and bother to explain why, or do they just say, "Do x because I told you so." Children who receive the former versus the latter are much more likely to listen to reason because they're used to it.

And yes, I love kids, but they make great birth control reminders!

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

Grancey

What does the above statement have to do with the topic of the thread?

My opinion:
I don't like being forced, by relatives, to "talk" to their 2 and 3 year olds on the telephone. It means nothing to anyone, and only the parents can begin to understand the child-talk of their own children. So, I'm in agreement that the problem is with the parents.

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

Baraka_Guru

I disagree with the argument that the problem is with the parents. Or, I don't agree with it entirely.

These same problems aren't nearly as common between adults. They normally occur between adults and children. (i.e. if it weren't for them being children, there would be fewer problems.)

Edit: The problem in these cases is between the adults and the children. Responsibility and blame is another thing entirely.

__________________
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

it's an observation that people who hate kids are people who don't have kids.

sapiens

Yeah, that would annoy me too. I have kids. I've never put either of my kids on the line unless the caller asked to talk to them.

I agree. The problem is between the kids and the annoyed adults. Assigning responsibility/blame may involve the kids, the annoyed adults, the parents, or a combination of the previous three.

Grancey

Now you're jumping to "hating kids", so it seems as if you are trying to start an argument.

I'll add another observation. I have observed my relatives laughing at things their children do that are unpleasant to others. I don't think that the parents are always aware of how unpleasant the preventable actions can be. For example, when my niece was about 6 she would grab my leg, sit on the floor and hang on. I would say let go, and the parents would laugh. Their laugher reinforced her bad behavior, which may have been a game that her parents played with her. For me to physically remove her would have been unacceptable behavior so I just had to endure. So, I think parents need to be more aware, that's all.

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

yellowmac

I'm not a father right now, though eventually that's going to change, so I expect my opinion of kids will change.

Right now I can't stand kids. They're annoying, immature little humans that constantly run around, make lots of noise, and otherwise prevent me from enjoying life. Thankfully I don't routinely encounter or interact with kids that often in my daily routine, but when I do, say on vacation or when traveling, it sucks.

I'm hoping that my kids won't be like most of the kids I deal with. I'd be willing to put up with some brutal honesty about my kids if it would make me a better parent.

sapiens

The above seems like: "Kids will be kids, deal with it."

I'm a parent. I believe that children need to learn what is appropriate and what is not in social situations. If you said, "let go" and one of my kids didn't let go, I would put my son or daughter in a "time out." Whether or not the child is too young to understand, the parents should be more aware.

ngdawg

You should have removed her. If one of my kids did that, I would expect you to, then they'd get more from me.
Another example of "it's the parents, not the kid". Your not removing her and allowing it to go reinforced it as much as the parents' laughter. A simple, "I don't find this amusing or comfortable. Let go of me now" then physically removing her would have gone a long way.
A very long time ago, while shopping in a sewing store, a friend's kid called me, then ran up and stuck me in the leg with a straight pin. I smacked his hand. Hard. He went running to mommy crying I'd hit him. She asked, "what'd you do?" When I said "The little brat stabbed me in the leg with a straight pin", she told HIM, "that's what you get for doing that".

There's no law that says those of us who don't like brats have to tolerate them. If I'm annoyed, someone's gonna know it.

Derwood

Jumping? Notice the thread title. I'm not trying to start an argument. I'm just making an observation

abaya

Yes, definitely. If I'm screwing up as a parent, I want someone (in a position of respect/authority) to tell me that.

I'm also afraid, though, of the grandparents (our parents) spoiling our kids... I don't see any of them being particularly strict on the kids, just indulging them mostly... and I wonder if that kind of thing influences kids' behavior much, if their main caretakers/babysitters are their indulgent grandparents? Where is the trade-off between expensive, strict daycare and free, indulgent grandparents as babysitters?

__________________
And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran

Charlatan

The problem is that most parents *don't* want brutal honesty. They lose all perspective when it comes to their kids.

__________________
"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke

Grancey

With my brother and his wife and the whole disfunctional family stuff, and my brother being the "golden child" this was not possible. Other times when I wanted a behavior to stop and I expressed this to my brother's wife, she laughed at me knowing that she had "gotten" me.

You are right, in any other situation and any other child I would have stopped it on the spot. I guess it's not the same to include family issues in a thread about the behavior of children in general.

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

Tully Mars

I think this is correct. I have a very good friend who could see no wrong in his daughter. Kid ended up on drugs and totally screwed up. We went on extended vacation as families for a years. Had to stop to keep my kid away from the insanity.

Um, dude your 13 yrs. old is drunk.

Yeah, she got the drinks mixed up down at the pool, was complete accident.


That kid had a A LOT of accidents such as this, was always some else's fault.

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I used to drink to drown my sorrows, but the damned things have learned how to swim- Frida Kahlo

Vice President Starkizzer Fan Club

Giant Hamburger

I can't stand their little hands and tiny fingers.
Stupid kids, why can't they have normal hands like everyone else?
Their oversized heads and stubby body parts fill me with revulsion.
They should be harvested for food.

yellowmac

I would offer that if your parents did a good job of raising you, they'd do a good job of raising your kids. My grandma played a big role in helping to take care of me, and I'd like to think that I turned out pretty well. Mind you, this is based on an extremely limited world-view, so the norm may be totally different.

Psycho Dad

Their parents. Through all the years of coaching soccer and baseball, I can't recall anything I didn't like about any of the kids I coached. I loathed many of the parents though.

I had kids who never missed a practice or a game. Yet I never saw their parents other than when they would drive up to pick them up after practice or games.

When the kids couldn't seem to get along, I could always seem to get them to work together. I saw several parents ejected from the field by umpires and referees.

The kids always seemed to be accepting of each other. You wouldn't believe the narrow minded racist parents and the things I heard them say.

But hey... If kids being kids is the biggest thing that can get under your skin these days, everything else should be cake.

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Don't always trust the opinions of experts.

abaya

Well, a big part of the reason I turned out semi-okay is because my mom had my stepdad to balance her out. They split up as soon as I left for college, and so if I ever leave our future kids at her house, it's going to be just her taking care of them... my stepdad would not be around (he would get his own time with them, but not at the same house obviously). I'm afraid of what she would be like without his balancing presence there. I would have turned out as one EXTREMELY screwed-up adult if my mom had been left to her own devices with me, that's guaranteed.

Also, my grandma lived in our house while I was growing up, and that was a huge help... but she and my mom are like night and day, in terms of personality, maturity, patience, and all the rest. My mom has some mood disorders. My grandma was like a Zen master.

__________________
And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran

blahblah454

Soylent Green....

I hate it that they don't listen to reason, as Guru Stated.

But I love kids, and can not wait to have some of my own! Actually I can wait, I want to travel the world first, then have lots!

I hate it when they just don't listen, and when they are lazy little shits and do not clean up after themselves when they know that they should. While I am not a biological father I did date a girl for 3 years who has a child (now 6) and am still excellent friends with her. So I pretty much was a dad for that time, I am still more of a dad to him than his own father. Amazing kid, love him lots and he gets compliments on how well behaved he is. But he still does shit that makes me just want to strangle him, you need lots of patients to have a child.

All I could think of as a child was how adults never understood us, even though they used to be children. And now I think back on that and just laugh, cause I have a seriously hard time thinking like a kid, I expect them to be like me, and think like I do at times, but that just isn't going to happen.

So yea, when they just don't see reason, and do shit that they know is wrong and try to get away with it. drives me insane!