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

It got pulled?

I was on that. Why?

Agreed!

YANBU. If people routinely said things like 'I don't like disabled people, they're noisy and annoying' or 'I don't like women, they don't know how to behave in public' they would rightly be lambasted for saying something untrue, derogatory and discriminatory. But somehow it's fair game when the group being despised is children. It doesn't make sense.

It's also irritating when people make disliking children a key facet of their personality. It's perfectly possible to dislike children and go about your life quietly and inoffensively without proclaiming your prejudice from the rooftops and making kids and their parents feel uncomfortable and excluded, but a lot of people seem unable to manage this for some reason.

YABU. It's a free country. People can say what they like.

I don't dislike children as a whole group but I do dislike SOME children. Especially the wee brats in my street (not far from me,) who are a clucking nightmare. Their mother CBA with them and just shoves them outside constantly so she doesn't have to bother talking to them/playing with them. Not their fault I know, and that's why I'm not horrible to them. I just avoid them.

They are a nuisance though. Noisy, irritating, badly behaved. have vandalised things in the village, and are a menace. They get on their little bikes or scooters, and deliberately run into disabled people, a blind woman and her guide dog, and people with dogs. One day one of the dogs will turn on them and the mother will blame everyone but herself. (No, I don't know where the fathers of the 2 children are.)

I can’t stand dogs but totally accept they’re not all whiny, smelly, nuisance mutts.
I guess it’s the same thing really.

It's not something I'd say, partly as pps have said, replace 'children' with 'other group of your choice' and see how you sound. Even more fundamentally than that, I suspect that one of the things I find unsettling about children is that they remind me of the things about being a child that I absolutely hated. I don't have children and this is one of the many reasons why; there are times when being eleven, frightened and angry and totally at sea with the whole world seems very present (it was decades ago.) I couldn't bear to go back there and to some extent, when you're a parent, you have to, so that you can help the eleven year old (or whatever the age) you've got now.

That said, when I encounter a child who has some of the more positive aspects of me at that age (being an extreme bookworm with a love of cheese) we get on like a house on fire. I just have to dig a little deeper and remember that growing up isn't aways grim.

What I notice is that it seems OK to say you don't like children, but woe betide you if you don't like dogs! The thread that got pulled yesterday was a prime example...
I don't trust people who don't like dogs
There must be something wrong if you don't like dogs
My dog doesn't bark or bite, everyone loves him (so you must too)
Why? Why do I have to like dogs? Why am I untrustworthy if I don't?

It's ok to express an opinion. Personally, believing my DC are the best people on the planet 😁, I think it is an unreasonable one.

pretty much this. I neither like not dislike children but I find much of the behaviour of many children very annoying. They aren't doing it on purpose to be annoying. I don't even think that their parents should completely suppress it but I don't want to be around it.

You can be a Mum and not particularly like spending time with other people’s children in general, even your own sometimes!

i don’t like children

I don't like old people, they're entitled and rude.

Who are all these people telling you this?!! If they’re your friends then maybe it’s concerning your child, do you focus the conversation solely on your children. Other people’s children are a bit boring for a lot of people. Maybe they just want to talk about adult stuff with you?

If it’s random strangers, then that’s very odd and I would say that maybe they have something else going on as most people don’t bark out opinions to random strangers.

I don’t really like children. It’s unfortunate I’ve got some 🤣 I dislike other people’s children but that’s usually down to the parents not parenting, not the children themselves!

And that’s the point.

they are the only group of humans where you CAN apply a trait that applies to each and every one of them. No babies are stimulating conversationalists.

I think that lots of people have no tolerance for anyone else these days. Small children, teenagers, groups of people can all be really annoying - noisy and generally irritating but I think they are part of life. I think as adults we forget what it is like to be young. Saying that I would not choose to go to a children's party for fun unless I had to. I think we all need to develop a bit of tolerance for one another and chill out a bit.

Decent, engaged, and well behaved children are likeable. Feral, annoying, loud and obtuse kids are rancid. Much like any other human of any age group. Some are tolerable, some are not.

You are overthinking this OP. Saying ‘I don’t like kids’ is not quite on a #kidslivesmatter#, let’s start a revolution scale.

Yes @pinkdelight , that’s spot on, like dogs is a much better comparison .

I’ve just compared children to spaghetti so I think you’re all right with dogs 🤣. It’s a really good analogy.

I find people who say things like “I don’t like children, old people, women, men, teenagers, new mums, divorcees, etc” are not great thinkers.

Not many people would like a ward of elderly severe dementia inpatients, no.

I understand why people might not like young children. Their brains haven't finished developing so they do act differently than adults, and that can result in some annoying behaviours.

Now you say it, it is rude though.

Elderly people often don't behave exactly like younger people either. Obviously there's a spectrum, but as we age we often lose some of the same faculties we developed through childhood. I can't imagine saying "oh no, I'm not going to Jim's 90th, I just don't like elderly people. They sometimes say inappropriate things, some are messy eaters, and they are even known to have accidents sometimes!".

I think it's not comparable to 'I don't like elderly people'. Because equally no one says 'I love elderly people'.

It's more like saying 'I don't like dogs' or 'I love dogs'. There are dog mad people who love all dogs, and dog-averse people who can't stand any dogs, even though dogs are all different and have their own personalities. Like children are all unique, but to children-averse people, they're all one of a mass of little creatures they don't wish to be around, usually in public spaces like restaurants, parks etc where they feel their peaceful adult time is infringed upon. Same way as non-dog people can't relax around the unpredictable presence of dogs.

Sure I'll be told I'm dehumanising kids by comparing them to dogs, and for the record I do like (some) kids, more so since I've had my own, but I can see the stance on people making sweeping generalisations about not liking kids - or indeed loving them, and I think it's fair enough. It's definitely not 'unacceptable' and not akin to an 'ism'. As long as no one's going beyond a passive dislike to actively harming DC - and people who dislike kids would by definition give them a wide berth - then I don't see the need to police their feelings and language.

I think it’s perfectly possible to love your own children but not like children in general. Like loving your own spag bol but not liking anyone else’s 🤣.

And I think this equivalence of children and, say, seniors, doesn’t really work as others have pointed out.

(I agree about the “I love children” sentiment - it’s a bit like saying “I love Ethiopians” or “I love redheads”. Slightly weird.)