This has been an interesting thread to read.
People who don’t like children have (mostly) given valid, well thought out and considered arguments. The people who are offended by this choice of opinion seem to parrot the same old cliches.
You were a child once,
Would you say that about old people?
People who say they don’t like kids are protesting too much and must be bitter because they didn’t/couldn’t have any,
People who say this must be lacking in intelligence
and my favourite - all kids are different you haven’t met them all so how can you say you dislike them all?
I don’t really like kids - or should I say I don’t like being around them. I haven’t met them all but they all have various things in in common that have been mentioned a few times on this thread.
Kids haven’t been fully socialised, they ALL need constant supervision and attention under a certain age.
Children are noisy, over emotional and needy, you can’t sit in a room and have a intelligent conversation with them or read a book and expect them to do their own thing, you have to put them first and they often need help with personal care.
If you aren’t in charge of the child you still have to accept they will interrupt, likely cry about something or have an opinion about something they know absolutely nothing about.
I prefer adult only spaces and to spend time with friends without their children, I have nieces and nephews who I have no choice to spend time with but they haven’t been brought up well and are spoilt so I only spend time with them when necessary. When they were babies and toddlers before their personality started to emerge I was bored to tears with them, I hated playing the same games and answering the same questions over and over, I got frustrated by the repetitiveness engaging with them.
Children have awful hygiene as they know no better when they are young. They often have snotty noses, are sticky, scratch their bums and touch things, they are very often incontinent.
I haven’t met ALL children but I imagine the reasons I prefer not to be around them applies to most - if not all of them.
I don’t wish harm on them, I would help a child if needed and if I have to spend time with them I’d be kind. I don’t tell people I don’t like children for no reason but I do if people keep asking why I don’t have any. I find it amusing that if I do mention that I’m not keen on them that it appears to offend some people and yet I’ve heard many people say they only like their own and not other peoples and that seems to be acceptable.
Everyone has been a child - old people, ginger people, Jewish people, black and disabled people, it’s not the same to say disliking children is the same as other groups as it’s not singling out anyone - including myself.
Yes I was a child once but I don’t think that is a valid argument as I don’t take offence that people might have disliked me just because I wasn’t an adult, I’d expect that I’ve matured since then and people feel differently, I’m not always convinced but I do hope so 😂.
As for the people who assume all childfree people use this to hide our jealousy and cover up our longing and desperation for not having reproduced, do you not think childfree people actively prevent having kids? I have friends who have been sterilised to prevent pregnancy, have had abortions or are obsessive about contraception. It’s not every woman's desperate desire to have babies, some of us really mean it when we say we don’t like kids and don’t want them.
I wonder why the some of the people on this thread are so offended by people by people not liking kids? how does it affect them? You like yours and that’s all that matters. There isn’t a single person who said they would be nasty to a child, they just don’t want to be around them.
I have heard some of my friends with children bemoan the lack of a “village” in raising their kids and expecting more help from people, I have been expected to be part of this “village” in the past. What they don’t seem to understand is you get out of the village what you put in, you can’t just expect strangers to want to help raise your child for nothing in return - especially when you get angry when they stop asking little Jonny to stop kicking your plane seat or to sit round and stop running round in a busy restaurant so they don’t get scalded.
I read most of the comments on this thread (bad case of insomnia) I was mainly waiting for a good reason as to why it’s so wrong to dislike children without it just offending people personally because it’s not the same as what they think. I haven’t seen a single good reason that someone else hasn’t had a better argument for.
This of course is only my opinion, I’m entitled to that opinion though and i’m not going to call anyone bitter, stupid, bigoted, a narcissist, ageist or a psychopath in return.