Taking sides: Children vs. (non-human) animals

no one claimed "a 5 yo is as good a conversationalist"

toddler on the roof

that scares the shit of me, what kind of monster would put their baby in a pool

Welllll arguably someone who knows their kid is going to be around water a lot and believes this will reduce their risk of accidental drowning or panicking in water situations?

sorry i meant unsupervised

i mean i guess the baby clearly knows what shes doing in that video but id be terrified of testing the "bradycardic response" on my kids

that scares the shit of me, what kind of monster would put their baby in a pool

― marcos, Friday, December 16, 2016 11:04 AM (thirty-two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

sorry i meant unsupervised

― marcos, Friday, December 16, 2016 11:34 AM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Are you implying there is a parent out there that might be having a kind of "did I leave my stove on?" style moment right now about whether they left their baby in the pool?

lol right, there's lots of "baby & me" type swimming classes out there where you hold your baby while in the water and first you just hold them and then you dab water on their face, and gradually get closer to submerging their face and etc etc with the idea being that they're more comfortable in the water during infancy than they will be later if they never try it.

i think you are willfully being a dumb asshole

no. the wilfully dumb and offensive people in this thread have been entirely parents, who took a low-level grouse and responded with aspersions on my normality and morality (not at all loaded towards a gay person, oh no) for daring to express a pretty commonplace annoyance. i don't give a shit whether you agree with my preference - plenty of people i actually like obviously don't, having had children - but this immediate shift into "well that makes you a BAD, STRANGE PERSON" is why this thread has gone on for several hundred answers more than it should have. parents are consistently the most offensive people towards those who haven't chosen their lifestyle and this has been no exception.

DONT TRY IT

otm

lol does lex know any gay parents genuinely curious

I mean I'm sure they are boring inconsiderate monsters like all other parents but the accusation of homophobia here is p weird

it is much less of a stretch than "annoyed by children" turning into "pro child abuse" upthread

WHY would anyone choose to have a child instead of a dog is national newspaper trollumnist material.

trying to think of what toddler lex must have been like. i'm guessing temper tantrums. he's still a lovable scamp though.

i am all for people not having kids. it's a wise choice. when i see these older people panic and decide at the last minute that they need kids i go.....bbbbbut you can go anywhere and do anything and you are old and why????

having a dog was too aggravating for me. they are the toddlers who never grow up. we had a lovely dog and we found her a better home. she was a big strong dog that could easily run 50 miles a day and we felt bad that we were never home. now she has an outdoor running life. never want another dog.

I like how you keep dialing back "hatred" to "annoyed" cool rhetorical move there bro

xp

(growing up we just let the dog out the door all day. that's more like it. can't do that anymore.)

yike this if ru rere rorn in re raties

recently i was remembering how there used to be poop EVERYWHERE. remember that? city sidewalks covered in poop. you would have to be kinda old to remember that. there was dog poop everywhere.

i don't think "i hated kids when i was one" referring to what i felt as a child is remotely inflammatory, but cool keep pretending it's just that one word that provoked your pile-on ouris

sorry this is not a safe space for you to vent about how much you dislike them

how ever do you endure it

also i hated children when i was a child, it's not a new development

this would imply that your feelings now are the same as they were when you were a monstrous irritant that couldn't hold a decent conversation

............. yesterday?

set up: punchline

no kidding ;)

baby on the rooftop I know, I know, it's serious

parents are consistently the most offensive people towards those who haven't chosen their lifestyle and this has been no exception.

Hmmmmmmmmmm.

tbh I agree that most parents (esp. new parents) are dull and/or annoying

i think it has been confirmed by science that most PEOPLE are pretty dull. i mean have you ever talked to one?

I've been meaning to

I'd reconsider

and there's so many of them! always in my way when I'm trying to walk down the street

don't they realize I have dogshit I have to lovingly scoop up

Just toss it in the pool with the babies.

babies come complete with pool shit

I sympathize with lex's revive post. I'm a gay man, bachelor by choice and design, beloved by my nieces and godson. Not one person I know has insisted I love their children or hasn't been quick to notice my discomfort and move the kids away and say, "OK, leave Alfred alone," sometimes firmly (an exception: a parent who'd rather have a drink and adult conversation while his boys pour gasoline on old women, and everyone thinks he's an asshole). Because, yeah, I'm not a natural around children. I resent sometimes having to do things on their terms: sometimes I don't want to play in the room; often all I want is a drink and adult conversation.

Unless your circle consists of single women and gay men, it's hard to imagine a scenario where I never interact with children. IIf I'm going too commune with the straight world, I have to accept the fact of children. A silver lining: some of them will turn out gay!

the difference between you and lex is you're a gentleman

<i>I think a simple statement of "I don't enjoy the company of children" is understandable and reasonable</i>

yeah I still don't get what's so offensive about this

while his boys pour gasoline on old women

hold up for a sec

genuine q alfred- what about that is different for you as a gay man as opposed to a straight man without kids (or a parent but eg around other peoples kids)

while his boys pour gasoline on old women
hold up for a sec

― nomar, Friday, December 16, 2016

these boys are savages imo

genuine q alfred- what about that is different for you as a gay man as opposed to a straight man without kids (or a parent but eg around other peoples kids)

― loudmouth darraghmac ween (darraghmac),

The societal expectation still exists that I don't want nor would I have any use for children. It's possible I haven't scrutinized my own antipathy, i.e. pried it apart from the queerness

I sympathize too, as someone who is straight & married and not going to have kids. I have nothing against kids (and anti-kid rhetoric is not a good look), and being around friends' kids is interesting even though I'm not very good at it, but I just don't think I have the mental fortitude to engage with children on their level for longer than a few minutes. It's exhausting!

xp fair enough imo

As someone whose only kid is pushing 30*, I kinda sympathize with lex too. My daughter's determination not to have kids is an ongoing relief to me. It's not the kind of thing I share without prompting. (I'm pretending this thread is a prompt.)

*jesus christ, remember when I asked ilx for university recommendations for her?

my world and community is lousy with gay parents. god bless them. i go to lots of people's houses where there are kids and i ignore all of them. i have never had anyone try to get me to interact with their kids. god bless them. i know a lot of really cool people though.

taking "my world of young ppl" to ever more ridiculous levels

recently i was remembering how there used to be poop EVERYWHERE. remember that? city sidewalks covered in poop. you would have to be kinda old to remember that. there was dog poop everywhere.

― scott seward, Friday, December 16, 2016 12:10 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

visit Chicago after the snow melts if you wish to be transported back in time

there was a whole wild tangent that ∞ was getting into about expression and communication and ideas that bears no resemblance to my experience of what individual humans - kids or adults - can share with us if we're receptive to them, or about what interactions and relationships really are about, or about any experience I recognise about being one being in a world full of beings tbh

― Rock Wokeman (Noodle Vague), Friday, December 16, 2016 1:56 AM (eight hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

fair enough

but this is more of a what type of people do you like (to hang out with) -- everyone gets enjoyment out of or is fulfilled by different things

you get along with some little dudes better than others, and the same applies when interacting with adults; kind of silly to say "in my opinion" or "for me", but imo

i grew up with babies/children til i was 17 and the type of friendships i wanted has changed throughout my entire life, but i never had the urge to hang out with children til recently (but very sparingly). i have friends that love kids and they tell me why, and i would not want to hang out with those kids based on those reasons

and this is an important distinction and a reason why i say i'm cool with hanging out with kids now. i was just explaining where they're at mentally and emotionally. it doesn't mean i think they are inferior or would not humour them. if i learn something new about ~life~ or about myself due to interacting with kids, it's because of my own introspection, but i am almost certain our opinions diverge here

a couple clarifications are probably needed there but i'll leave it at that unless someone brings it up