To not like other people's children very much?

[purplespottedelephant]

Sounds really harsh but I have have DCs who I love more than the world and have endless amounts of patience for them

But lately just seems like every other child I come across irritates me beyond belief and I have zero patience for them!

It's very possible people feel the same way about my kids too though

[mimishimmi]

Often I like other people's children far more than my own I wouldn't like to be expected to look after them for the parents convenience however...

[SteviebunsBottrittrundle]

I love little babies and toddlers and I've never had to spend that much time with older children, but any time I have I've found them very likeable.

I'm ashamed to say that I seem to dislike a disproportionate number of other parents , (not on MN but in RL, at playgroups etc). I usually love people and find them really interesting, but I seem to meet a lot of parents who I find a little bit irritating. Not sure why that is. I do have friends who are parents of course, but they usually tend to be people I already knew before I had DD.

[OohMavis]

I'm able to overlook my own children's annoying traits (of which I'm sure there are plenty) because I bloody love 'em.

I'm less able to overlook another child's. So I find them immensely irritating as a result.

However I'm an extremely good liar so nobody can tell. I hope.

[blackheartsgirl]

I'm ok with other people's kids except when they have to come in my house to play with my dd2 and 3. I can't relax, had one sweet but very annoying 6 year old in yesterday..all she was follow me round and tap me every 2 minutes to ask me something. 'Yes darling' . In my head FUCKOFF argghhh.

[stegosauruslady]

I sort of enjoy other people's children more than I get to enjoy my own. I can take DP's nephew out and its fun and we can give him back, my own three I have to parent relentlessly.

This said, I have just got home to them after a 34 hour shift and I'm bleeding knackered. If you ask me tomorrow after I have slept I will feel differently!

[phoenix1973]

And I miss the days when kids just played out all day! I did! Less involvement with OPK's.
My mum must have had an easy life. Yes, 3 kids, but we were out all the time with our mates....not on pre planned with military precision "play dates" which are nigh on impossible as most mums and dads work. So her mates are not in, but with the child minder in the holidays.
I'm a mum of 1 9 year old.....she never plays out and I find it hard to keep up with her.

[phoenix1973]

I need a house with a proper separate lounge. Rather than my current one (I call it a shotgun house) where all routes go via the lounge. Such a pain when my child has a mate over.
I never get involved or try to entertain as she's here to see my child not me.
OPK's ugh!

[Happyhippy45]

I wasn't keen on children and babies until I had my own.
I used to teach after school classes (cooking and a games class.)
It was bloody hard work but I really enjoyed spending time with them. There were one or two obnoxious little shits but it's the same in the adult world. I get on well with most people.
My two are young adults and I think I like little kids even more now. They are fascinating.
I have more of a problem with parents who aren't parenting because they are too busy chatting or checking their phone.

[voluptuagoodshag]

I'm the sort of person who likes my own company. Of course with kids that luxury becomes non-existent. So until they reach an age where they are independent and don't need constant supervision, cajoling, feeding, clothing, organising (does such an age exist ) then I feel myself bristle as soon as I hear my kids' pals at the door. I think I need a house with a drawbridge.

[kurlique]

YANBU in fact I find it a pleasant surprise to find, on the very odd occasion, another child whom I consider to be bearable! I like my own and those of my 2 closest friends ( oh and my DNs but they are grown up and I am pretty ambivalent about one of them TBH) but the rest largely leave me cold... Even the bearable ones have their annoyances! I'm quite good at acting though... DDs friends think I'm great apparently (much to my surprise!) but maybe the trick is that I am, as a result of finding them a menace, not too in their faces!!

[NeverEverAnythingEver]

Value I hate the thought that people should be nasty to your DC.

I don't especially like people in general but that doesn't mean I am nasty to them. You don't have to like them. You just have to be polite, and that includes children, as far as I am concerned.

[MilkyChops]

I love hanging out with toddlers and little ones but I struggle with older ones. Not because I dont like them but because I just don't know what to say or do with them .

When I was 7 or 8 I played out. On rollerskates or my bike, mass generalisation here but they don't seem bothered about playing out now. So i don't really know what 8 year olds do.

When you haven't spent much time around children apart from your own, you only sort of know what kids enjoy that are the same age as yours.

I have a toddler so know what toddlers do haha

[ValueCunt]

I would have agreed with most people on this thread until I had my own children. DC1 has complex SN which unmedicated make him seem like a "little shit". Despite the work we do, the endless teaching of social skills, the only thing that really works is high doses of medication and then he can show the marvellous child he is. He is intelligent and funny and loyal but I am aware of all his other traits because so few will give him the time of day and most are shitty to him.
I have had endless kids over to our house. Every week, every weekend. They love coming to us because we do stuff and go out. I have learnt that most of them have good qualities and are good fun. The ones that a aren't incidentally, were those marvellous "golden children" adored by their alpha patents as perfect. Those are the ones who were sneaky dishonest and unkind.

I was the least child friendly person before having a kid with SN. I don't know a more child friendly one now. However I have rules and will tell them off if they don't obey them! You have to have structure not a free for all.

[MuffyTheUmpireSlayer]

hadley does your area have a MN Local page? That would probably be the best place to look, or start a new thread as you won't get much traffic for something so specific on this thread

[purplevase4]

I so often hear people on here and in rl, writing children off as 'little shits' 'bullies' and 'brats' about children who are 3 or 4, and it makes me so sad

That makes me sad too. Although I don't want to spend more time with kids than I have to, I also find some descriptions of them horrible. It's not horrible to say that a lot of (most?) kids (including my own) can be annoying, demanding and noisy at least some of the time. But it's shocking how some people talk about kids.

I like other kids because I am not a completely self absorbed arse

No you like other kids because that's your personality. We don't all like the same things. Actually your comment illustrates that you almost certainly are the thing you say you are not because you cannot show empathy for other people's viewpoints.

I did stop at one, so I didn't inflict my anti-maternal feelings on more than one child.

[hadley1964]

Hi there
I have an 11 yr old son in yatton who attends court de wyck in claverham. Are there any yatton moms out there who would be able to take him to school 2 mornings a week for a small payment from me? PLease let me know if you can help.

[hazeyjane]

I'm with Pemba and Lighthouse, I generally find most kids interesting, or funny, or engaging in some way.

I think working with a real mosh mash of little children (some of whom have very difficult behaviours, very chaotic home lives, very different upbringings to my own children) you have to open your heart up. I so often hear people on here and in rl, writing children off as 'little shits' 'bullies' and 'brats' about children who are 3 or 4, and it makes me so sad.

[Pemba]

Well to be fair the behaviour you describe would be bloody annoying! I guess maybe I was just lucky in that none of my DCs friends or children I looked after would have behaved like that. Perhaps things have changed a lot over the last 10 years?

I still feel most children are inherently well-meaning though, if handled properly.

[KERALA1]

The flip side of your theory mf is that it is the parents of the annoying children that are the"self entitled arses" for not teaching them to think about how their actions might impact on other people. Because their children come first always and everyone else can fuck off.

Claws gives a perfect example. As did a mother we came across in France who looked on fondly whilst her child threw rather large stones at other swimmers. Or the wet mothers who allow their dc to speak to them like they are incompetent 19th century house maids - those kids then speak to other adults like that you know and those other adults can't help but dislike them for it.

[Motherfuckers]

I think it is very common now OP. People are very self-centered and only interested in themselves nowadays, so it follows that they are only interested in their own kids. I like other kids because I am not a completely self absorbed arse.

[TheClaws]

There was a kid behind me in a queue yesterday. The shop had a wooden floor, so she felt this was a FANTASTIC opportunity to practice non-existent tap-dancing skillz. Over and over and over and over. It didn't help that I had a migraine and the shop attendants were taking an age, but I had the greatest urge to reach my foot out and trip her up. It was overwhelming. Of course I didn't do it, but I did turn around and give the kid and Mum the evil eye. (She didn't stop though). So, no. I'm not a fan of other people's kids, but my own are just the best

[Sunshineonacloudyday]

My second child was always butting ib my conversations she might have driven you crazy.

[Pemba]

I agree with Iliveinalighthouse, sorry but I think you are YABU really. But yes, I suppose you can't help your feelings but it's certainly nothing to be proud of.

A bit disturbing to find that so many on here seem to feel the same way. Maybe I wouldn't have sent mine on so many play dates and sleepovers when they were younger, if I'd have known that.

Of course it would be a bit strange if you didn't love your own kids best, but I do find most kids interesting or cute, yes. I thought most people did, obviously not.