I don't think that's true at all. Children are just as fastidious as the old, they simply fuss about different things.
They want a certain brand of trainers, or there's half a dozen foods they refuse to eat, or they hate certain colours, or their hair has got to be just so. Children can be so fussy over so many things that their parents despair.
In fact I have the impression kids are getting more fastidious by the day. They seem even more demanding and even keener to keep up with what their friends are doing and wearing and enthusing about. Or is that a mistaken impression?
Certainly when I was a kid I don't remember being especially demanding about anything at all. Most of the time I just did what my parents expected me to do. I ate what was put in front of me and I wore what my mother bought for me and I was polite and adaptable. My docility seems a bit pathetic by today's standards but I didn't find it abnormal at the time.
My personal fastidiousness is mainly centred on cleanliness and tidiness. I couldn't stand a house that was filthy dirty or full of clutter. Luckily Jenny is the same. A girlfriend and I once shared a flat with people who seemed oblivious to the increasing grubbiness and disorder and did nothing about it. After several exasperating weeks, we moved out.
Of course nobody likes to be described as fastidious. No, no, we just have our standards and we stick to them.
I'm not sure kids are all that different. I lived under peer pressure as a kid. I think perhaps the difference is the added pressure from the technology available. I think they are probably overwhelmed. I am orderly and a bit persnickety but age and pain have loosened me up.
ReplyDeleteSandra: Yes, social media throws so much material at kids that they must feel quite overloaded.
DeleteI had to look up alternate definitions of fastidious because I’ve only seen it used to describe someone who is very careful or clean. And that certainly doesn’t describe many children 🤣
ReplyDeleteBijoux: There are several different definitions of fastidious. I'm using the widest one to include any fussy or exacting behaviour.
DeleteEveryone is different in their likes and dislikes.
ReplyDeleteMary: True enough. And we're all finicky about something or other.
DeleteNick, whete comes your aversion concerning kids from ? If I remember well you and Jenny have no children. I'm not on the side of general judgments. There are tidy , maniac about cleaning or chaotic adults. Children can be very tidy or of course not. I agree with Mary Kirkland : everyone is different.
ReplyDeleteHannah
Hannah: I don't have any aversion to children. I was just commenting on how children can be as fussy as adults (and oldies). And yes, everyone is different, some people are fussy and some aren't.
DeleteI used to be fussy. Mom says as a toddler I would cry if something spilled on my dress until she changed my clothes. I wonder what happened to me that I've lost that fastidiousness in my old age? Not that I like wearing stained clothes but that I don't have to change them immediately.
ReplyDeleteLinda
Linda: Jenny won't wear anything with a stain on it. She has to remove the stain immediately.
DeleteI was the same as a toddler! But also grew out of it. Almost.
DeleteSx
Ms Scarlet: I bet like most people you have plenty of things you fuss about.
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