To think that hating/ not liking children is an unacceptable predjudice.

[GothAnneGeddes]

Children are human beings and we were all children once, yet people think it is acceptable to dislike them, just for being children.

Often people will say that they don't like bratty, ill behaved children, but then adults behave far worse and yet it is generally unacceptable to say "I hate men/women".

People used widely say I hate Jews/gays/black people, but now people generally (not all, sadly) know that it's wrong to think that way, so why don't people realise that about children?

Before anyone thinks I'm being over sensitive, there is far too much ill treatment of children (there's been some heinous threads on here, where I've wanted to weep for the children involved) and I think we really need to change our attitudes.

I have grown up to know that I should only judge the behaviour and not the child/dog/>>

Agree with shirley, that to start comparing this with racism is

I've never heard anyone say they hate children.

If they don't like them (and have nothing much to do with them), fair enough.

I love newborns. would like to be given a newborn every year. bfeed them for one year and then give them back.
thta would make me very happy.

YABU

I don't really like newborns.

My dislike of children is location and parent specific.
For example I hate parents who think their children are being absoloutely adorable when they run up and down the gangway in an aircraft bashing your chair/elbow/feet as they go.They are not adorable they are a pain inthe arse.
Or parents who think their child is being high spirited when actually they are being a nosiy little shit and beating the crap out of their playmate.
Or the child who apparently needs their mother to shriek "Os--carr!!! don't do that/ don't go in the water/mind that trike honey, the trike isn't easy to play with in the bar..Ooosss- caRRRR!

Mostly kids are great. their parents however are often over indulgent wankers who think the world should step out of their little sweeties way because it is after all ALL about them.

Oblomov - "I think parenting is getting worse and the world is too child centred. not every couple has children or wants to be around children."

I totally agree and actually put this in my response (well, words to this effect) and then deleted as I couldn't be bothered to get into it.

Look, in most of these YABU comments if you replaced the word 'children' with black or gay, there would be mass deletions going on because it would look so prejudiced.

Surely, it can't be right to think of children in such a way?

only in England woudl anyone (a few here!) justify not likeing children with an analogy between children and.... DOGS (shocked!). Says it all really.

OP, you are right.

I like children generally. I think they are funny and refreshing and much more easy-going than adults. However that is in the context that they aren't my responsibility and I don't have to worry about them - or at least not for too long. I had a day out with my 2 youngest and 4 of DD's friends on Friday. They more or less behaved impeccably and were good company - but by the time I took them home I was quite happy to do so, and one of them had traits that made me very glad she wasn't mine

But then I tend to like most adults too.

I don't think anyone compared children to dogs.

I justified some people claiming that they dislike children by likening it to what I say about dogs ie it's easier to say you hate them all if you want to avoid contact with the more horrible ones.

I just cannot believe that you're drawing that conclusion, and actually; I find it really quite massively offensive.

We could say that about anything People who don't like BREAD for example..Oh, replace the word BREAD with the word JEW and you're being totally racist/BREADIST.

I don't particularly like people in their twenties - what with all their youth and enthusiasm and whole-life-ahead of themness.

Racism is defined as

?noun

1. a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.
2. a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.
3. hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.

Do you see how nonsenical your argument is?

It just doesn't fit.

But being black or being gay isn't comparable to being a child.

Is that the only point you have?

Can you expand on it at all?

I've never much cared for children or babies - I find them both boring and tiring.

I would however dearly like some of my own.

If the OP (going by her name) has a fondness for this kind of Godawful saccharine bollocks I can quite see why people who don't melt in warm puddles of candyfloss and butterfly wings at the sight of anything under the age of 10 are, in her eyes, no better than damn dirty Nazis

What Oblomov said.

I don't like other people's children. Some I positively dislike, a few are hateful (as, before everyone jumps up and down and screams at me, are some adults I know), and I reserve the right to feel as I please about this.

As much as I could happily swing for some children, be they badly behaved, spoiled brats, rude or hooligans (again, adults similarly), I don't act on my feelings so I hardly see how dislikng them is going to harm them.

And btw, I have a Jewish background. If you want to tell me that you dislike/hate jews, that's fine by me, providing that you aren't waving an axe at me at the time.

That is a nonsensical interpretation of what is being said.

If someone says 'I don't like black people' that is a prejudice because it is based upon one random facet of that person.

People who say they don't like children are almost always referring to child based behaviours.

I have never heard anyone suggest that they hate children simply for the fact of their existing. What they usually mean is, 'I don't like being required to engage with children in the manner which is required to do so. I dislike childrens games, their developmentally limited conversation and their behaviours in an adult setting.'

As it goes I think children are pretty fabulous but in the right place and at the right time they can be bloody annoying.

I don't actually know anyone who just irrationally hates children in any given setting. People expressing a dislike of children are usually complaining when children and childish things are foisted upon them.

I like some children. I love my child - and like him, he is funny, interesting and good company. I like a lot of the teenagers I teach - but not all of them, but then I don't like all of the adults I work with either.

I certainly don't naively declare that I like all children just as I wouldn't declare that I like all of any broad category in that way. I meet children and decide whether or not I like them depending on their personality.

I don't like children who are spoilt, show offy, rude or allowed to be the centre of attention at all times.
I do like children who are sweet, funny, interesting or closely related to me
I am indifferent to children who are dull, quiet or un communicative.

You could also substitute the word adult for children in any of the above.

I find it less bizarre that some people proclaim a blanket dislike of all children than those who claim to dislike all children except their own.

I hate teenagers, well hate is a strong word, but generally dislike. Is that ok?

I don't mind kids most of the time, but (for example) I don't like kids running round restaurants in the evenings when they shoudl be in bed. I certainly think adults are entitled to adult only time.

Yes, I'm a teacher - I'm very good at what I do and surprisingly I can put my child-less grief to one side when I have my work head on (probably the one time I can). I relate well to kids - they always seem to gravitate to me. I also though understand fully how other people can't relate to (particularly small) kids - think of the usual politician looking slightly terrified while trying to talk to a 5 year old to see how that kicks in. I can also understand why some people find groups of kids intimidating - they can be loud, quite physical and if you don't realize they're usually obsessed with something much more interesting than you passing by on the street - they can be quite scary for people... I don't expect everyone to see the world in the same light.

Babies - no, I've never had the female gene that makes women go mushy at babies. These days I avoid them as reminders of the one I lost unless I have to be in a work-related situation when I can hide behind my professional persona but my mother's never been a baby person either - she always preferred them when they could talk.

Do not EVER dare to use my reproductive status to question my professional ability though. That's unacceptable and if you're throwing that into the argument here I'll be reporting you for personal abuse. You wouldn't kick a grieving mother when they were down yet it's perfectly acceptable to stick the boot into a grieving never got to be one. That's just disgusting

At my DS's christening, one of our friends arrived and the first thing she said was "I don't like babies".

Now, fair enough to have that opinion, but not necessarily the first thing to say upon first meeting of your friend's baby and just before their christening?

Being still quite hormonal as well, I was pretty upset by this. Not bothered now other than to think, actually that's quite poor manners.

swanandduck agree with your post.

Agree with Oblomov, ShirleyKnot and swanandduck.

I must be a doggist. Shoot me down.