Do you like children or you don't seem to have the patience for them?

I adore children. They can be a bit of an annoyance, but I like them. I just hate really rude children that don’t respect their elders.

I don’t have any children, but I love em.

I like them,but I don’t have them :)

I like them when they belong to someone else, and I can go home when I’ve had enough.

I like my own kids, most of the time anyway! I like kids in general, until about the middle school age. Then a lot of them become much less likeable. Some of the girls my daughter goes to school with just make me cringe. Her friends are great, but there’s nothing like an 11 year old who looks down on people for having the wrong clothes or hair.

For several years I worked with little kids, mainly toddlers. Some of them I adored, most of them I at least enjoyed, and a few I could never work up any kind of attachment for. Kids are like bigger people, with just as much of a range of personalities and behavior. Sometimes you can see how the parents contribute to unsavory qualities, and sometimes the kids just seemed to be born that way. I knew a little girl who was in my infant room as a small baby, and as much as I hate to say it she was difficult to bond with. Later on she was in my daughter’s preschool class, and she was just as hard to like. I say that meaning only that it was hard for me to like them. Those few kids I had a hard time bonding with always had another teacher in the room that warmed up to them much better. So, they weren’t spending all day with a teacher that secretly found them annoying.

babies are adorable. elementary kids get brains. You can see their intelligence spinning.
Jr high is all hormones. high school kids are attitude.

I like giving them back. and watching them grow from across the street.

I feel the same way as @syz most of the time. I like watching them when they belong to someone else and knowing that I can get away from them when they become too annoying is a relief. However, I still really feel like I want children in the future, 2 at the most. How my parents could have 4 children all relatively close in age is beyond understand to me. :P

I love children, and I love interacting with them. It is fascinating to me how they are little individuals right from the start with definitive personalities.

I love babies and toddlers. I don’t like children, but then I start to like them again when they turn 16ish. That gap in the middle I could do without.

I don’t have the patience for children. I like them as long as they don’t expect me to entertain them and their antics. I hate having to entertain people. Babies are cool; they’re cute and adorable. Crying babies are annoying. Even as Baby Liz, crying babies and children perplexed and annoyed me (or so I’m told).
I won’t be having kids…

I’m not really a children person, and i don’t care much for other peoples babies and i rarely think they’re cute. Sometimes i think it would be fun to have one, to see how my kids would look like and which of my traits they’ll have, and to see what kind of people they’ll turn out to be, and in the beginning it’d be kind of fun to make them all cute and buy them stuff. But i doubt i’ll ever have a child of my own, i’ve never seriously wanted one.

I love my kids…I adore them and having your own kids gives you a whole different perspective of what really is going on in their noggins! Patience is a virtue that kids will truly test the limits of.

I like my kids. Other people’s kids—not so much.

I don’t like babies. I like kids maybe four or five on up. When they have started thinking and being curious in a useful way. I have a 14 year old, and she is quite delightful. We have, so far, experienced none of the horrible teen war stories people like to hint at (but never actually mention details).

I like my kids because I am free to interact with them in any way I see fit. I don’t like other people’s kids because I do not feel that freedom. I never know what their parents will want.

Being patient with my kids has never been difficult for me, except when I was sick. They say that it’s easier for older parents.

Just as with adults, it depends on the child. Like some, others not so much.

I really like kids and adore having them around. I do wish to be around deliberate misbehavior that is rude or dangerous or lacks respect. Teaching them the skills is fine and I will happily do that however if they want complete self-centeredness as a way of life they are not invited into mine.

Children have always been a part of my life ever since I was young. I remember as a child being so perplexed about adults who didn’t like children. I mean, we have all been children at some point. Children are individuals, some you like and some you just don’t really care for. But children, overall, I think are spectacular beings.

Surprise. Surprise. No. I have no patience for children. Until a certain age, all a child’s entire existence is about immediately satisfying their needs. They are like bad-behaved pets. Entertaining them is so draining and can get very boring. They are cute for about an hour and then the novelty wears off. As soon as children reach the age where they begin to reason and become interesting, the hormones kick-in and they become lunatics.

I am generally indifferent to children of any age, but get them around me for more than a few minutes and that indifference moves quickly to distaste and outright hatred.

I’m surprised at these answers! I thought Fluther would be very kid-friendly.
I’ve worked at a day camp for 5 summers and have been babysitting just about as long. Yeah, some kids are straight up brats, but overall? I adore them. It’s so easy to make them happy; I love making kids laugh. They really look up to me and it’s a good feeling. They’re so innocent and carefree… good people to be around. And they really do say the darndest things…

@le_inferno Why would you be surprised? This is a question/answer site. There are people of all types on here. Now me, I’m the youngest of 9, have a gazillion nephews and nieces, and have no interest in children. Just as you are free to like them, we are free to not. Babies are poop machines with a siren on the other end. As they get older, they are annoying little things that have to be watched constantly to keep safe, then they get into the defiant, argumentative stage. After that, they become more rebellious, then they leave home.

Not my idea of fun.

I like them, but I couldn’t live with one or work with them. I just can’t get over their incompetence. We wouldn’t stand for someone acting like a child in the workplace, so it is hard for me to deal with someone that can not listen to basic instructions.

@Keysha I’m aware that there are all types of people here, but a majority of them are married with kids, so I assumed the responses would be more in favor of children. I’m not challenging anyone’s opinion, so I’m not sure why you’re getting defensive.
Though, you did totally oversimplify human existence in your last post.

I love children, and I have been involved with them most of my life, from younger cousins, church nursery school attendant, foster care provder and many volunteer projects, plus I had two sons, and I current have five grandchildren.

@le_inferno There are many people here who appreciate kids, and many who do not. Have you not seen some of the past questions about kids acting up in public? ;)

I think most stages of childhood are fascinating. If all babies did was poop and cry, they wouldn’t be so sweet. Yes, they do that, but having that little person be so dependent on you and seeing how that baby grows and responds to love and care is an amazing experience. Toddlers are a challenge, and three year olds (forget the terrible twos, the threes are worse) can drive a person crazy but the explosion of language, creativity, and imagination at that age is just incredible. At that age, kids are interested in just about everything and spending time with them lets you experience again the wonder of seeing the world for the first time. As they grow and learn more, develop their own ideas and opinions, and start to navigate challenges on their own, it can be very rewarding for a parent.

Yes, there are plenty of brats and plenty of parents who, to put it nicely, have priorities that may confuse the rest of us. But in general I think kids can be wonderful. A little kid straight out of the bathtub in cozy pajamas, cuddled up next to you to read a book, a little hand patting your cheek, a little head resting on your shoulder, or a hand that automatically reaches up to hold yours when you walk together…it makes the sleepless nights, spit up, and inevitable temper tantrums worth it. And if you have a sick sense of humor like me, even the temper tantrums can be very funny as long as they aren’t in public. I have to try very hard not to laugh when my youngest gets upset and cries, “Fine! I’ll never eat again and just die for the rest of my life!”

I meant to say, as part of that long-winded answer above, that I don’t think there’s anything wrong with not being fond of children!

I like them enough that I had two. But my lord, they drive me crazy. My patience is completely gone sometimes, and I just want to lock myself in a closet and pretend I’m not here.

I like the kids in my family and my friends’ kids. I don’t like kids en mass—I could never have been a school teacher.