Not so. I have nothing against children, and in general I'm very tolerant of them. After all, I was a child myself once upon a time. But I have an aversion to children who behave badly, just as I have an aversion to oldies who behave badly. If a child is being rude or demanding endless attention or throwing things, of course I don't like it and I'll want them to be better behaved.
There are four children in the house next door and I have no problem with them. They're very well-behaved and mostly don't bother us in any way. The only minor annoyance is from the oldest son, who regularly kicks footballs into our garden. We chuck them back and that's that.
Grown adults can be much more tiresome, making tedious complaints about parking or dog mess or litter or bin emptying. You can't say, oh they're just having fun, you know what children are like, because they aren't children. They're meant to be intelligent and interesting, not a lot of dreary whingers and moaners.
Children come up with all sorts of intriguing ideas and observations. They're full of life and bubbly curiosity. Why would I have an aversion to them?
I wouldn't buy a house if the garden next door had a trampoline in it. Just saying.
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Ms Scarlet: A trampoline would certainly suggest a lot of shrieking and screaming.
DeleteNick, oh I'm on the headline ! You said it all , you like well behaved children ! My comment for this post.
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Hannah: I guess you understand my attitude to children now!
DeleteI find most children to be more interesting than adults. They have not lost their zest for life!
ReplyDeleteBijoux: I agree. Adults can sometimes be excruciatingly boring and negative.
DeleteI agree that badly behaved adults, which there seems to be too many of, are much more irritating. I have no children in my life, which is probably too bad.
ReplyDeleteSandra: And bad behaviour by adults is worse because it can have very serious consequences (death, debt, sackings etc) whereas kids just get a ticking-off.
DeleteI mostly like children. I can only remember one bad experience. Sitting around a campfire the little girl next to me kept saying, "Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy" while mom ignored her. I finally warned the child that if she did not stop I would pounce. She did not stop. I picked up her with her chair and moved her away from Mommy. Her bothers eyes got big and one of them said, "She pounced!"
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Linda: The endless cry of mommy must have been infuriating! I like her exclamation "She pounced"!
DeleteI would have pounced on the mother. Why did she ignore her child? Why did Linda not ask the child if there was anything wrong she could help her with? Children don't cry without reason.
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Ursula: Was the child just playing up or did she genuinely need some help? Hard to say. But yes, it could have been the latter and her mother was neglecting her.
DeleteThe child, my niece, didn't need anything except attention. I didn't feel free to pounce on the mother but I wish I had done so. That was not the only time I thought the mother's behavior was inappropriate but did not say so. But, the child was mildly autistic so maybe I just didn't understand.
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Linda: Nowadays if you try to intervene in a worrying situation the parent is liable to shout at you to mind your own business.
DeleteI don't mind kids most times. Badly behaved kids are another story. I blame the parents for their bad parenting though.
ReplyDeleteMary: I agree. It's up to the parents to instill decent behaviour in their children.
DeleteI am with Mary. I think badly behaved children is a lack of boundaries established by the parents.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, they're lovely. I used to love babysitting my old neighbours son when he was young. He used to love playing games, and I enjoyed connecting with my own childhood a bit and watch cartoons with him and stuff. I always thought I'd make a good father.
Liam: I've only babysat once and I was hopeless at it. The young boy was impossibly boisterous and truculent and I had no idea how to get him to behave sensibly.
DeleteNick, I think it's not only a question of parental education. Children are independant beings , with already a mental structure and a personal character. So what we consider as well behaved is related to our adult vision and what society is asking for.
DeleteHannah
PS : i love all children, even the "bad" behaved.
Hannah: Yes, maybe we have a biased idea of good behaviour as it applies to kids, but I think it's still reasonable to expect children to at least act sensibly and politely.
DeleteI would suggest that there are not badly-behaved children, but rather badly-behaved parents who have not set boundaries or who tolerant a screaming or ill-behaved child and expect that others will as well. This scenario played out in a supermarket just this week and I was sorely tempted to tell the mother to take the child outside.
ReplyDeleteBeatrice: Exactly, some parents assume it's okay for children to scream and act up in public and everyone will be tolerant.
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