Your Spot in Family Life

[Taratron]

I freely admit that I am not a 'kid person.'  Not that I hate kids, but when I see them, it's usually in a bad light at my zoo work, IE, telling them to stop poking the cats with a stick, not hitting the aquarium glass, not feeding the monkeys, etc.  Being a babysitter, in other words, to a good lot of kids who don't want supervision.

That aside, I was thinking today of that, and how I look at kids somewhat based from my status in my own family.  I'm the firstborn of two, my brother is two years younger than me, and for several years now has been out of the house.  Meaning that it's myself, my mom, and my stepdad at home.  My stepsister from his side, and my stepbrothers from my dad's, I rarely speak to.  So the idea of the 'baby in the family' means nothing, pretty much....but I wonder.  Do I have a low tolerance for kids acting out because I didn't as a kid, or because I haven't been exposed to it in a 'positive' light, IE, younger sibs doing it, my own kids (which I don't have) doing the same?

My best friend is the oldest of five kids; she's in her early twenties, and her youngest sib is eight years old.  Following down from her is a sister, a brother, another sister, and then Nick, the eight year old.  And Sam, my friend, is one of the most patient people I've ever met....part of me wonders if that is because even now she plays babysitter, negotiater, and the like to four other sibs.  

Or am I just looking to justify the fact that I hate misbehaving kids?

[androidred0100]

its prolly a little bit of both. my little bro has got to be one of the annoying ppl alive, but because i deal w/ him every day of my life, i can handle alot of stress, be it at school, work, or pretty much anywhere. granted he prolly thinks the same of me cause in all honesty i do torment him when he's not tormenting me (i am the king of short jokes, no offence to anyone here who is short, but i cant help flinging them off at my brother. :twisted: )

on the other hand, i come from a very patient, understanding family linne. my entire family is full of saints, so i guess it rubs off after a while.

then again im also not much of a kid person either. whenever i see my 5 year old cousin, i either run annd hide or ductape his hands and feet together, slap a piece over his mouth and toss him in the closet :twisted:



yeah, i know, im a horable person,but do i look like i care? :wink:  :twisted:

[Konflict]

I'm not too bad with kids. I'm only 17 and I've done a fair amount of community service over at a nursery and a primary school, so I have a little bit of experience. In my family, I'm the youngest with only one elder brother. He's 19 at the moment, and we get along fine - play games and watch anime all the time mainly. I also have a few baby cousins now, and because of that I don't find kids annoying.

[Arsenal 121]

I hope to have children one of these days (God forbid). However, I don't feel I should have them while I'm enlisted. A child should have a father who's there for them, not in a far away place where any number of things can go wrong and the child keeps wondering 'When's daddy coming home?'. I should show more commitment to them in daily life. Just my opinion.

[Shmi]

you know, it probably depends. there are a lot of nasty kids out there.

Whenever i'm at work, it amazes me what parents let their kids get away with these days. when I was a little kid, if I did something really wrong, I got promptly smacked across the face, and that taught me a lesson: obey your parents.

of course, in this day and age i suppose spanking or smacking your kids upside the head is innapropriate, but come on. I see kids today that have no manners whatsoever, get everything they want, get away with anything, and their parents expect them to just grow out of it. No. if you're raised like that, you're probably going to end up like that too.

bah.

[Môe]

I kill children.

[rouge_x-wing]

I don't like little kids... They make too much noise and too many messes. They're okay if you're not responsible for them though, as long as they're quiet. I doubt I'll ever be patient enough to have kids.

I hope to have children one of these days (God forbid). However, I don't feel I should have them while I'm enlisted. A child should have a father who's there for them, not in a far away place where any number of things can go wrong and the child keeps wondering 'When's daddy coming home?'. I should show more commitment to them in daily life. Just my opinion.

My dad enlisted in the army when I was around three. He's gone for long stretches of time, like he's currently in Iraq, but we get along really well. It's helped me learn to deal with problems my mom can't help with, like the computers. I think it really helped that I was old enough to understand what was going on when he joined. If you have kids while your in though, they might not understand for a while. So that's probably a good choice to wait.

[Inu65]

Well, if you think about it, if your having kids all of a sudden while your in the army or whatever, I dont think thats a good sign... Think about it... Things like that have happened, there is a book of letters that POW's had got when in Germany in WWII and one of them is 2 years after he had been in the war and his wife had said, good news, we are having a child, and then there was the other letter to someone who was from their wife, now follow me on this one, and was signed, Love Mom... his wife got married to his father... how horrible is that??? But to be on topic, I hate my family, even though my family is the koolest sometimes, I still hate them, I dont interact with them a lot, I amusually on my computer in my room, secluded...

[kospowinc]

Whenever i'm at work, it amazes me what parents let their kids get away with these days. when I was a little kid, if I did something really wrong, I got promptly smacked across the face, and that taught me a lesson: obey your parents.

of course, in this day and age i suppose spanking or smacking your kids upside the head is innapropriate, but come on. I see kids today that have no manners whatsoever, get everything they want, get away with anything, and their parents expect them to just grow out of it. No. if you're raised like that, you're probably going to end up like that too.

bah.

yeah, i've got two sisters that are at least 10 years younger than i am and they act like total shits.  they get whatever they want and mouth off all the time.  when i was a kid people were worried that i was too introverted because i never said anything.  i was smacked/spanked and my sisters have never had a finger laid on them.  coincidence?   and when i bring it up with my parents they always say, "we never hit you."  i don't know why my brother (2 years younger than me) and i both remember getting hit and similar occasions with details and my parents just don't recall any of it.  i don't care that i was hit as a kid.  i'm not a spoiled piece of shit like most of the people i run into today.  getting smacked teaches you not to do what you did again or you'll get hit again.  talking doesn't do shit for kids.

[Arsenal 121]

/snip

My mom was toted about from North to South while my grandfather was in the Army. From Panama to Chicago...

NOTE: She was born in the Panama Canal Zone. The uncle was born in Fort Sheridan, outside of Highland Park, Illinois. He hates the fact that he's a Yankee. To understand, my grandparents are Texan. So am I.

[Taratron]

/snip

My mom was toted about from North to South while my grandfather was in the Army. From Panama to Chicago...

NOTE: She was born in the Panama Canal Zone. The uncle was born in Fort Sheridan, outside of Highland Park, Illinois. He hates the fact that he's a Yankee. To understand, my grandparents are Texan. So am I.

Not to degrade your uncle, but this oddly reminds me of an episode of King of the Hill, where Hank found out he was born not in Texas, but in New York City.  Aghast is this proud 'Texan' turned New Yorka...till he finds a note on the Alamo denoting the fact that a proud New Yorka fought there.

[Arsenal 121]

I was probably in Boot Camp when that one aired.

[Eeve3]

Whenever i'm at work, it amazes me what parents let their kids get away with these days. when I was a little kid, if I did something really wrong, I got promptly smacked across the face, and that taught me a lesson: obey your parents.

of course, in this day and age i suppose spanking or smacking your kids upside the head is innapropriate, but come on. I see kids today that have no manners whatsoever, get everything they want, get away with anything, and their parents expect them to just grow out of it. No. if you're raised like that, you're probably going to end up like that too.

Tch. You're not kidding.

Mind you, there was this one time, I was in a shopping centre in the nearest city, and while my mam and me were eating our sandwiches, there was a family (I think there was 3) there. The little girl was just climbing about the bronze otters in the centre, and when the family were leaving, the father was really harsh! She hadn't done ANYTHING wrong, she was just playing by herself. :| Poor little kid.

I know what you mean though, and it applies in schools as well--one of my friends gets/got bullied a lot because she was different and the teachers just didn't bother with the bullies--rather, just told my friend to take her piercings out! Yeah, so three lip piercings is against school dress code but WHO CARES? Geez, people are threatening to beat her up, they're ganging up on her (our?) group on the playground, and the teachers just turn a blind eye!

Kids get away with anything these days. It's disgraceful.

[yalborap]

I hope to have children one of these days (God forbid). However, I don't feel I should have them while I'm enlisted. A child should have a father who's there for them, not in a far away place where any number of things can go wrong and the child keeps wondering 'When's daddy coming home?'. I should show more commitment to them in daily life. Just my opinion.

Arsenal, I'd definately agree with you.


On the other hand, look at me. It was basically just my mom there for me for pretty much all my childhood I remember(Yes, I know I'm only thirteen and hence still a child. I'm talking about what's ALREADY HAPPENED.), and I turned out...You know what, forget I said anything. You're absolutely right.

[Konflict]

Discipline is something that simply isn't taught in the kids today. As Shmi already said, when we were kids, we were smacked when we did anything wrong. That simply makes us a better person. A parent should have the right to hit their child, but not brutally beat him down.

A kid learns from experience - it's a part of growing up and living through life. If he doesn't learn from mistakes early on, it's inevitable that he'll make the same mistakes when he grows up.