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

[BirdPlanet]

Increasingly I've heard people saying some variation of the statement 'I don't like children'. I don't see why this is in any way acceptable. You wouldn't say that you 'don't like' any other category of person. If I said I didn't like the elderly or middle-aged women as a group, I'd get slapped down, yet somehow people think it's okay to talk about children as if they aren't human beings. Is it because they can't speak or advocate for themselves? Children aren't some kind of homogeneous entity. They have personalities and different temperaments, just as adults do.

Inevitably people will say that it's used as a shorthand for disliking the behaviour of some children, but even so, that’s more of a reflection of poor parenting than anything else.

Sounds like a you problem.

No, we’re talking about people who say ‘O don’t like kids’, none of the caveats you’ve invented - you can’t just make up they don’t mean xyz ones, the OP is literally referring to the generalisation of ‘I don’t like kids’.

So I’m asking that poster who keeps saying it’s an opinion to dislike a particular societal group where the line is? How do you police which groups are acceptable to vocalise your disdain for and which aren’t? Because they’re saying that it’s okay to publicly share your hatred for one particular vulnerable group, so which groups are we allowed to dislike vocally and which aren’t and who gets to decide where the line is?

It's fine not to like them but each and every one of us was a child once, so to me it's a really silly thing to say out loud.

Children are the future.

today belongs to me and I don’t want sticky fingered toddlers, precocious tweens or obnoxious teenagers in my orbit thanks

Devoid of empathy? As I say, for the best

I’ll take a punt not many people fancy being in your orbit. Adults and kids alike

I reckon the backdrop of the OP’s thread is that she’s just overheard someone say that they don’t like children, pointedly referring to her children.

@Rumbley you do that, do it twice if you want

That’s what I assumed too.

Sweet Jesus

You have a child

did you at least like your own child @ohyesido

I don’t normally tell people that I don’t like kids unless they’re bothering me about not having them but this afternoon I’d have happily told the parents of the 8 or 9 year old boy who trampled all over my front garden and plants, that I don’t like children or shit parents.(They didn’t say a word to him) My tolerance for children grows thinner by the day thanks to parents and children like that.

I don’t care much for badly behaved adults either but I see a lot of them in my life.

@Rumbleywhat’s it to you? I liked my own child fine, I like his child my grandson too. Do I need to specify that to you or can something go without saying?

Phew! (Even if you describe your own child as “even more self-serving than me”!)

@Rumbleythanks bestie

Unfortunately I read your thread where you say you “care about no one” (sad given you have a child and grandchild) and manipulate people and “pretend“ to be a good person, to but actually “everything I do is calculated to benefit me”…. So… sob😥… i doubt i really am.

@Rumbley here, have the last word. My gift to you

Thank you

You've obviously never been to a gathering of childless women...

What’s that supposed to mean? You think childless women (note childless not childfree, not that the distinction should matter either way) stand around bitching about pregnant women? Or have I misunderstood you?

I don’t enjoy being around kids no matter how well behaved they are. I get bored around them.

I feel the same about old people.

Yes, I think that childless women occasionally make less than flattering remarks about pregnant women as a group, when in a "safe space". Garfunkel and Oats even have a song about it.

I also think that women sometimes make less than complimentary remarks about men, younger people sometimes make less than complimentary remarks about middle-aged people, older people sometimes make derogatory remarks about young people, etc.

It might not be particularly laudable, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

Maybe she just doesn’t like childless women.

That’s the impression I’m getting 😆. I’ve never stood around complaining about pregnant women nor have my childless friends. Not sure why that group has been pulled into it!