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

[Rollonbedtime7pm]

Oh God, yanbu! I love mine, my friends' (mostly!) and nephews and neices but stranger's ones? No way!

I always find myself near one that needs their own mum (can't get up a climbing frame, lost a crappy toy, need their nose wiping) and they latch on to me and expect me to sort them out! I was helping my DD up a bouncy castle slide and a whole bloody queue formed asking me to lift them up! I just told them to get their own mum and scarpered!

And whenever I've had a baby too it makes you the bloody pied piper for interfering little girls - I know, the baby is cute and everything but please don't wedge a dummy she doesn't want into her mouth and poke her in the eyes!

[ShebaShimmyShake]

I like kids.

[honknghaddock]

Other children generally don't bother me but I know ds gets upset by other children being nearby particularly crying or shrieky younger children. Whenever there are children being noisy or running about I am anxious that ds will get distressed and start being aggressive.

[MrsBobDylan]

I like kids, my own and for the most part, other people's.

I am often told I'm very calm but I have had to work at that because one of my kids has a disability which is made so much worse if I'm uptight and jump on every single behaviour when we're out.

I know it draws looks when he's making repetitive noises of distress or he's hit the floor distraught because the Mr whippy ice cream is yellow, not white as it was shown on the side of the ice cream van. But I just work hard at sorting out the 'problem' so it impacts as little as possible on those around us.

And yes, I have mastered that special 'faraway' look.

[IrenetheQuaint]

My friends' children (don't have any of my own) are all lovely. Random children shrieking and running around the train/tourist attractions, less so.

[NeverEverAnythingEver]

I like the children of my friends - I guess I've seen them grow up and got to know them a bit and actually they are rather nice.

Random children - well, I like them as much as I might like a random grown-up...

[blowmybarnacles]

I never used to like kids, had two myself, still didn't really like them (apart from my own) and then became a childminder (I know) and still not too keen as perhaps I ought to have been then came to realise you have to get to know them just as little people. I love some of the things they say. I prefer the older ones ( look after a toddler who just says why all the time atm which is driving me insane). They all seem to like me too.

[mummytime]

Interrupting: I had two DC who were perfect non interrupting (unless urgent) children. Then I had DC3 who just never got the idea, she does have issues with social communication.
So sorry I know she's annoying and I seem like a lax parent - but it's just the way it is (and I have tried).

[BalloonSlayer]

I have a job at the moment where we have a sort of quiet room.

I sit nearest to it.

Frequently someone else has to go in and ask the people in there to keep the noise down, as it has been complete uprorar.

They come out and I have to apologise and confess I didn't even notice. 16 years of parenting means I just tune it out.

[Cliffdiver]

My friend sent me this the other day

[SpecialAgentFreyPie]

I've always been a very child friendly person But I don't really like babies. In fact I really don't like babies. I have no idea why. Of course my babies were cherubic and perfect and everyone else should have loved them like I did wink] I am constantly getting toothy, drooling babies shoved at me and whilst I'd never ever show it, I cringe inside. Outwardly, I smile and snuggle and coo, or rock the babe on my knee if it's a bit older.

Once they're about 2 and up, I could cheerfully be Sue Radford but actually take care of my DC I love kids. Always have. I thought having babies would change my attitude towards babies. It didn't All that changed was I was now a mummy and my babies were perfect in every way.

Trots off to RTFT

[Puppymouse]

Very uncomfortable around any other children except my own. Totally understandable.

[purplevase4]

YANBU at all. I like my own and that's it.

When I was about 16 weeks pregnant I was at a castle in the north-east and there were hordes of kids there, all screaming and shouting and demanding ice creams etc. I remember thinking what on earth have I done - kids are so demanding! Fortunately when mine came along I liked him and didn't mind (much) that he was demanding.

But I'd rather not have to deal with other peoples' kids. And I'm sure they feel the same about mine especially his teachers

As for annual leave in the school holidays - if you're childfree, and not married to a teacher why on earth would you do it? But each to their own.

[5moreminutes]

I generally prefer other people's kids to other (adult) people :o

Don't like all kids but find them much, much easier to tolerate / tune out than adults.

I'd always rather have the house full of kids - my own and other people's - than adults, because you can just chuck food and drink towards the kids (or get your own kid to do it) and don't have to tidy up and host kids :o You can also make kids obey your house rules (no eating upstairs, no shoes in the house, or whatever) and tell them off if they break them/ send them home if they get too raucous where you have to dance around being much more polite with adults :o

Not always desperately keen on other people, but kids are the best of the bunch in that sense :o

Other parents may sometimes be among the worst of course...

[KatieHopkinsAteMyHamster99]

Went for a day out with friends yesterday. Their kids were all screamy and brattish. Mine was as well I suppose but she has the redeeming feature of being the cutest little girl in the world..

[AmaDablam]

I wouldn't say I dislike other people's kids ae such ( though some I do) but I'm really not a baby person, and never feel the need ask for cuddles with a friend or relative's newborn and if one is forced upon me, tend to hand it back at the first opportunity! Fortunately it came very naturally to want to cuddle and kiss dd when she was tiny, just as it does now at age 3, because she is mine and I love her to bits, but I've just never got it with other people's. I hate the whole "pass the baby" thing anyway, and it used to make me feel really uncomfortable when people other than close relatives wanted to cuddle dd just for the sake of it.

[FlaptheWings]

I love my own kids (mostly), but I actually really despise a lot of the kids that live around here. I know that's an awful thing to say about children, but they are just so forward. They will just march up and demand where you are going, what you are doing etc. When we moved house a couple of years ago (within the same area) DP was carrying some stuff outside, and one of the worst of the kids started questioning him as to whether he was moving out and if we had split up!

I am a naturally quiet and reserved person, and I was very shy as a child. My brain just can't compute the way that children speak to adults now, and to other children when adults are there.

[ComedyWing]

Lest we all get too carried away by a rare sense of Mn togetherness on this freakily unanimous thread, let's not forget that every single one of the other parents agreeing with the OP about the ghastliness of Other People's Children on this thread is, by definition the parent of said awful Other People's Children.

[HerdsOfWilderbeest]

I like kids. I don't like the parent-child dynamic mostly.
I hate whinging and kids behaving like savages while pathetic mummy stands by saying "oh Johnny that's not very kind" etc

[Hoppinggreen]

I'm not keen on children as a general rule - by that I don't mean I'm some nasty child hater but I dont like them just because they are children if you see what I mean?
I think my own are great ( obviously) and some others that I have got to know I really like on their own merit not because of their age and there are some I really don't like but again that's not age related.
I suppose I just like or don't like PEOPLE based on their personality and how we gel and them being children or adults is irrelevant.

[amusedbush]

I don't have or like any kids

I briefly volunteered at Rainbows and Brownies and it was the worst evening of my week. Why are you screaming? Why are you doing gymnastics when you've been asked to stand still? Why can't you sit in a bloody circle? Stop touching that. Get out of the cupboard. Stop grassing up your friend for cheating at a game, you're FOUR. ARGH.

Kids are so annoying.

[NeverEverAnythingEver]

amused What ever possessed you to volunteer??

[NeverEverAnythingEver]

Actually right now I don't like my kids very much. Hence hiding on here...

[pictish]

I'm rather indifferent to OPC unless the kid is a notable horror (rare), but I do find myself inwardly gnashing my teeth at other parents.

In particular:

Those who cannot hold a conversation without cutting it off every three minutes so we can listen to their child interrupt and talk meaningless bollocks which we are supposed to be charmed and delighted by. Those parents who won't say, "Off you go and play xxxx, I am talking to (other adult) just now."

Those who glibly and fondly use the terms 'spirited', 'boisterous' and 'rough and tumble' to describe what is essentially their kid thumping lumps out of yours.

Those who simply cannot bear to see their child upset so will try to engineer every scenario to suit their demands, whether it be wanting another child's toy or where to eat for lunch. When children are used to being put on a pedestal this way they turn into obnoxious little gits through no fault of their own but the feebleness of their parents.

I spent a weekend camping with one such father and son combo after which we never spoke again. The lad wanted every possession our son had, whether it was his chair, his torch, his Star Wars water bottle and our son, who was younger than the other kid, was repeatedly requested to hand them over.
The stupid man was most put out when I eventually told him to get a fucking grip and leave our son's stuff alone.

In all of those scenarios the kids display some pretty unappealing behaviour but to my mind it's the parents that cause it, not the kids.