bugging me
Oct. 21st, 2004 12:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fleaA friend of a friend happened to link to a post about flu shots on a "childfree" group-lj-thingy a few days ago, and me curious and bored went and browsed for a while.
Hoo-eee, that's a lot of hatin' going on. And I totally don't get it.
Now, I can completely understand people not wanting to have children, and not liking societal pressure to have children. I was deeply ambivalent about having children before I had one, and selfish parts of me are still deeply ambivalent about it (despite the cleverness and cuteness and good smelliness that are Casper). I can also sympathize with people who do not like to be around children or their parents - children can be trying, and parents can be boring on the subject of their children - doting makes ya boring, and also, when you have a little kid, you tend to have not so much free time for the outside hobbies and stuff.
But why the hating? I mean, there were posts and posts about the horribleness of children and parents, some of them quite violent. If you don't like children THAT much, it is pretty easy to avoid them. I very rarely spent time with children or went to public places where they were abundant before I had one. If you are invited to a baby shower of a cow-orker and detest baby showers, say "I'm so sorry, I have another commitment." You don't even need to send a present (Miss Manners says so!). Tellingly, many of the posters were revealed, by details in their posts, to be college students. Making them only slightly older than, well, children.
Hoo-eee, that's a lot of hatin' going on. And I totally don't get it.
Now, I can completely understand people not wanting to have children, and not liking societal pressure to have children. I was deeply ambivalent about having children before I had one, and selfish parts of me are still deeply ambivalent about it (despite the cleverness and cuteness and good smelliness that are Casper). I can also sympathize with people who do not like to be around children or their parents - children can be trying, and parents can be boring on the subject of their children - doting makes ya boring, and also, when you have a little kid, you tend to have not so much free time for the outside hobbies and stuff.
But why the hating? I mean, there were posts and posts about the horribleness of children and parents, some of them quite violent. If you don't like children THAT much, it is pretty easy to avoid them. I very rarely spent time with children or went to public places where they were abundant before I had one. If you are invited to a baby shower of a cow-orker and detest baby showers, say "I'm so sorry, I have another commitment." You don't even need to send a present (Miss Manners says so!). Tellingly, many of the posters were revealed, by details in their posts, to be college students. Making them only slightly older than, well, children.
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no subject
Date: 2004-10-21 05:09 pm (UTC)Tellingly, many of the posters were revealed, by details in their posts, to be college students. Making them only slightly older than, well, children.
You have a bunch of immature young adults still in a situation where they still are under the impression that they are the most important people in the entire world, and anything the that upsets that world view annoys the everloving piss out of them.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-22 01:14 pm (UTC)I think it boils down to immature jealousy. It takes a while to sink in (usually AFTER college and after you've been trying to make it in the real world) to realize that you're not the center of the universe. And maybe seeing parents focus on their children makes these kids realize that they no longer have that.
I understand not *liking* children because, let's face it--they are loud, messy and inconvenient. That being said, child *hating* is stupid--because, as you said, it's EASY to avoid kids--having them and being around them.