To think it's unacceptable to say you don't like children?

Quite.

I didn’t like children until I had my own. I enjoy the company of babies and children now, but that wasn’t always the case.

I like (and indeed love) individual men but as a cohort I don’t like them. So I spend my free time in women only spaces most of the time.

It’s ok to have preferences. You don’t have to be an arse about it. Just stick to the kind of people you like.

Yes this annoys me too. A lot of my friends always said this, and now I feel awkward having my kid around them. I think it's mainly an immaturity thing, and that they have never really got to know any children. I think a lot of women say this as a backlash against society assuming they exist to procreate, and to get people to stop asking when they will have kids etc. Some young women do it to seem appealing to men as well. That happened a fair bit in my circle 20 years ago.

Are we allowed to say we prefer dogs to humans (children)?

I had an obnoxious colleague who always exclaimed loudly how she hated children including her own family members. Her behaviour became really bad when new parents brought their babies in, so people stopped it or waited until she was out of the office.

It was pointed out to her that she was a child once but the point didn't sink in. She then got pregnant and couldn't understand why people weren't so enthusiastic about her own pregnancy! A very honest colleague explained that because she was a dick towards everyone, people couldn't forget her nasty behaviour towards them regardless of her being a new mum. She wasn't happy or understanding, she was expecting the red carpet to be rolled.

Some people are such unaware dickheads, that there isn't any hope for them.

I'm not a 'don't like kids' person but I have a couple of friends who are. What is underlying is 'I don't know how to interact with children' and 'I don't want to be responsible for children.' As someone who has been working with kids in various capacities since i was a young teen I'm fine if I'm with a group of kids to look ahead to something going wrong and take steps to prevent that. If I was the only younger person in a group of pensioners I wouldn't feel the same level of responsibility.
One of my non kid friends does a job that can be done with kids or adults and all the opportunities coming up are with kids, she doesn't really have the experience to know what to expect from a 3 year old or an 8 year in terms of development. 'Don't like kids' is a shorthand. She thinks mine are OK because I wouldn't dream of asking her to look after them!

That's fair

Depends on context, saying you don’t like kids to friends in the pub when there’s annoying kids tripping up staff is just fine, as in moaning about elderly people who are getting on your nerves but be careful in what company you say it in!!!

I work in retail and you regularly get toddler/children throwing tantrums in the store (big toy department) and it always makes me roll my eyes when I hear childless colleagues say - I would never let a child act like this, and general other judgments on three year olds, It’s ridiculous.

I can’t say it bothers me tbh. I have a child and love children but can understand that they’re not everyone’s cup of tea. I’d rather people who don’t like children are honest about it and don’t have children they will regret.

I really like children, even the worst behaved, most troubled of them are preferable to me than the general adult population. That’s why I work with children and young people but a lot of people including parents, teachers and staff members really don’t, will admit as much, and that’s okay. As long as they’re good parents/good at their job and not treating any child badly it’s okay to not enjoy spending time around children/to not like children imo.

I think it's a cold and crass thing to say. I think less of people that say it.

Personally, I think it comes from a place of older women pretending they never wanted children but deep down they would have liked it, it just never happened for them for one reason or another and they become inbittered.

It's a sad person that cannot tolerate the laughter and playfulness of young children.

https://www.google.com/search?q=mitchell+and+webb+sound+i+hate+children&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:a2dfe508,vid:gQw6PoHQPco,st:0

This thread reminds me of this.

I absolutely do understand the joy that other people find in them, and understand that that joy makes the rest of having them worthwhile. it still doesn't mean that I want to be around the ick and the annoying behaviour though.

I have children, some days I don’t like them and I made them!

I think policing what people like or don't like is going down a dangerous path.

❤️👆

I don’t like men so prefer women only spaces and places.

As a child-free woman, when I've said this it's usually been because I'm being deliberately abrasive/brusque in order to get a nosy person to shut up and stop asking me questions about why I don't want children.

The polite version is that I don't enjoy spending time with children, I have no interest in them and I want a life in which I don't have to think about them.

I'm a parent of 2 adult children, whom I love. I was a teacher in various settings (not always schools) during my career. I do not seek out or enjoy the company of children.

This sounds bonkers - but what I mean is - I've never thought of these young humans as a category which makes them automatically adorable. To me they are, and always have been, individuals. Some I like, some I don't, just as I would with adults.

Despite the eternal sentimentality about children, they are not angels just by dint of being under 16. I've met nice and nasty ones...and one or two who actually scared me - and everything in between. Just to be clear - of course I make allowances for youngsters - I don't mean I treat them as adults, and I was a good teacher who had happy classes/groups and had fun with my charges.

But I acknowledge that children en masse are not always good company, especially if they're not your own - in which case you put up with a lot because you know it's not for ever. They're a bit like dogs, in the sense that if they're well-behaved they're lovely, but rude, entitled or out-of-control children are horrid.

I once went for coffee in a local cafe and the place had been taken over by a gorup of mums and pre-schoolers. The mums sat chatting while the children ran wild amongst the tables, bumping into people and furniture, getting in the way of the staff, knocking things off tables and screaming. I decided not to scold anyone but not to engage with the kids either. I just ignored them - and I did get some indignant looks from the mums who seemed to expect me to coo over them. It's rarely the fault of children if they're a nuisance, is it?

It is not unacceptable; at least not in the way that disliking other groups are.
As EVERYBODY who claims to dislike children has been a child, whereas not everybody is Black, White, Gay, Disabled, Elderly....it would be hard to claim the dislike is based upon prejudice.

Children have rights, little responsibility, take up a lot of space in an increasingly child centred/parents who do not parent with a view to socialising their children world ( well, at least the Anglo first world) and where the notion of childhood has been extended to one's third decade of life by too many.
Worse is the notion of a child being entitled to the aid of a "village" where none of the villagers are entitled to even raise a voice at the child when said child acts out.
So no, I do not see how it is unacceptable to say that one dislikes children , especially this century.
And I'm a parent.

The deluge of childhood bad mental health speaks to the fact that the current notions of Western childhood and parenting cannot hold.

this

I say it regularly. What I mean is that, while I like the individual children I know, in general I don’t enjoy being with children, especially not looking after children, and especially not groups of children. By contrast with those adults who really enjoy spending time with children, even choosing to work with children.

I don’t think anyone means that they’ve got a blanket hatred for all under-18s.

I don’t like people in children - be it children adults, anyone really.

From MN: This thread has been deleted
We've removed this - OP isn't a genuine MNetter

I used to not like children and especialy babies. I hated dolls growing up too.
I had no younger children or babies in the immediate or wider family until I was mid 20s. I just didnt understand anything about children, or babies, had never held one and had not spoken or played with younger children. I found them gross, sticky hands, snotty noses, noisy and needy.
But then I had my own, I always knew I wanted my own children, ai had assumed thry would be little perfect prince and princesses, never dirty, always quiet and polite, able to recite all the world countries by age 4.
Boy did motherhood come as a shock, 2 boys, loud and messy as thry can be, I quckly adapted to being a human pooper scooper and being used to spending all days in a muddy field with children rolling around in puddles.
I actually love kids and babies now.
So I think it is the unknown, if someone has never been really involved with small children it is a hard leap to try and understand the joy of them.