What about children?
 

I personally love kids, and the thing I'm most looking forward to in life is having a child (several, if truth be told).

I tend to be surrounded by people who love children as well; my best friend, for example, is in nursing school and hopes to work in pediatrics once she graduates.

That being said, these forums contain considerably different demographics from what I'm used to... So what do you guys think about kids? Do you want them? Are you indifferent? Do you have a particular child in your life that you pal around with? I'm penpals with an 8-year-old girl from my home town, and I frequently babysit two 3 1/2-year-old twin girls.

I don't think I'd fare well in a relationship much less having one with a kid. I'm too irritable.

I have a lot of younger cousins that always gang up on me whenever I show up. Usually I'm pretty passive about it or I'll play along. However, this one day I was trying to watch a movie and they kept trying to pull me down. I ended up throwing one of the boys, who is probably about 5 or 6, on the couch. I had one hand around the back of this neck and the other around his waist so he didn't completely collide with it. Even after that, the little bastard still persisted... trying to intimidate me with his little spit wads.

I'm assuming they act that way because they're grouped together. If I were to get one of them alone, they'd probably be more manageable.

I don't know... Kids are too impressionable and I shudder to think of the people they would become if one where to end up in my care (which is very unlikely).

Just remembered this and how scared it makes me: Link

I really, really do not want kids. Maybe it has something to do with being an only child (I have friends from families with 3+ kids and they usually want a brood of their own), but I really don't like kids until they reach about age 10. Even then, I don't particularly like little girls; when I was a little girl, my interests were more in line with the boys, so I don't understand young girls and their dolls/makeup/drama etc. Maybe it's because I never, ever babysat (and when I did a few years ago for my viola teacher's 3-year old daughter, it really made me not want kids).

I also feel that there's enough people on this planet without me throwing my genes into the fray; if I ever had a kid, it would more than likely be through adoption. Disneyland has not helped my attitude towards kids: there were so many double-wide strollers, nose-picking 4-year-olds and pregnant women padding around the place that it just disgusted me to no end with the whole child-bearing thing.

A pity, because I certainly have the hips for it.

I certainly hope that I will be able to have a family someday, and I have always wanted to be a father. Indeed, it has always been one of my fondest dreams. I would be lying if I said I am not little jealous when I see the families at my church interacting together. I wish my family could have been like that. I know that if I have a family of my own I will make every effort to be a good father and perhaps my family will be a happy, smiling family too.

As for children in particular, I don't have any problems with them. They don't seem nearly as obnoxious to me as a lot of people have seem to make them out to be. And even if they are, it's only natural, especially if they have crappy parents. Chances are, you acted just like that when you were a child. Children also seem to like me, for some reason. I will never forget the first time I met my three-year-old cousin, Josh. The moment he saw me, he began following me around, imitating everything that I did. If I left the room, he would said "Where's Blaise, where's Blaise?". The cutest thing though, was when I sat down on the couch and crossed my legs (my right ankle was on my left leg) and he sat down next to me and tried to do it too! All this before I ever even spoke to him.

I don't ever want kids. To me, it's the greatest responsibility there is and I wouldn't trust myself to raise a child properly. Every little thing a parent does affects their child(ren) in some way, and I'd be scared to death of screwing them up for life.

I want kids for a multitude of reasons but PiccoloNamek and Starslight named the main two:

1. I want to be the father for my children that my father never was for me. I dream of having a large family and many children and granchildren and breaking the curse that my bastard of a father left us boys with. =\ i'm very VERY proud of my big brother whom I was separated from for well over 20 years for already achieving this.

2. I dont want any child I have to come out as screwed up emotionally as I am when it comes to myself and my brothers and sisters. We are all eighteen different kinds of fucked up yet, through small amounts of trial and error, we are doing OK. I'm the only child of my father left with no children and when i finally am ready to have them i will be the best father that I can be, bar none.

i guess thats partially why I have begun to dote on my brothers kids so much. I love them a lot and they're really the closest thing to a stable family I've ever seen before which is a bit sad. =\

I'm not definitely sure, but I'm leaning towards no for several reasons.

Kids obviously don't turn out to be perfectly the way you would like them to. I'd love my kid to be a more outgoing version of me with everything else being the same, but my kid could end up liking rap music or sports and stuff like that. It'd be less neat if I couldn't relate to them with the things that they liked to do.

When I look at how much of my parents' money I've unwittingly wasted (I never asked for money from them in my life too), I see that I'm a gigantic lifelong expense. Glasses every year, school every year, birthdays, holidays, trips, eating out, entertainment, etc.

Teens might become hormonal, secretive, and irritant to interact with and I don't know if I could constantly be the type to keep my cool about that and hope for the best.

I want to do everything differently from my parents. I don't want to be overprotective, or do any of the other things that I hate having done to me. Unfortunately, I think I've accepted the adage that you will come to be like your parents in the future, whether you like it or not.


I guess most of the above arguments are negated by the unconditional love you will have for your children, but right now, I'm too young to be picturing that kind of love.

I love kids, hate babies, especially the inconsolable crying all the time ones. Does that make sense lol?

Everyone's family is dysfunctional in one way or another. That's because we're all human and none of us are perfect. If you hold yourself to an impossible standard, you're never going to be satisfied with anything you do, and that includes parenting.

However, having children has been the best thing in my life. I'm not saying it isn't challenging and sometimes heartbreaking, but I'd do it all over again if I had the choice.

I'd like kids. I don't know if I ever will get to have them but everytime I look at a baby I can't help smiling. I'd like to be able to pass on some of my knowledge and wisdom to a child that will see the future when I won't be able to, and hopefully somehow make it a better place.

It's a huge responsibility as others have said, but growing into a better person who can handle increased responsibility is no bad thing, even if you end up deciding not to have kids.

Funnily enough, when I was a teenager I also completely ruled out the prospect of having kids. I think that as you grow and age, your mind changes too, in physical ways that affect how you look at things.

I'd love to be a father someday, primarily because I'd like to outdo my father. That's the ego talking. :)

Of course, I'm in school and going to stay in school, and I'm not with a girlfriend, so logistically, producing a child and economically supporting a child are not likely.

Until last week, the youngest kid I got to hold was a 4 year old. I helped one of my best friends take care of her 2 month old nephew, since her underage brother and his wife forbid to leave the room. While I wanted to do more to take care of the kid, I didn't exactly feel excited by the idea of taking care of a baby.

I would love to have kids one day, either by finding some poor sap that wants to marry me or through a sperm bank. I want to wait for a long while, but the idea of having a couple of kids to take care of seems cool. They have such great imaginations and it would be really cool to see how they turn out. Granted, when they become teens I may have more trouble dealing with them, but for the most part I wouldn't mind having 2 kids. No odd numbers over 1 kid since odd number kids normally have at least one evil kid within the bunch (says the person raised in a family of 3 kids).

I'm okay with being near kids. It's just because of their delinquent state of being, I sometimes get annoyed by certain things they do or say. So, that would supposedly be my only downfall at having a child. Irresistable urge to slap him/her or gag'em for silence.

I'm the youngest in my immediate family, and the second youngest when compared to all my cousins from both sides. Regardless, I'm able to get along with children. I have yet to experience taking care of an infant though.

I'd like to raise my own children one day. My parents played a large role when I was growing up, and I’d like a chance at raising a person based on what I learned from them, and with my own changes to encompass the new generation. When I'm older, I probably couldn’t be alone since family has always surrounded me.

Working in retail makes me really glad that I don't have to deal with children, although honestly I'm amazed some of these kids act out the way they do. I never would have gotten away with behaving like that in public when I was a kid.

Although honestly as far as actually having kids, I'm kinda indifferent. I figure that should be up to whatever girl I end up with, she's the one who has to go through being pregnant. If she wants to have kids then I'll do the best I can to be a good father, if she doesn't want to have kids then oh well.

I'm not a huge fan of kids, really. OTHER peoples' kids. But I am a kid magnet. I don't get it. I am OPENLY LIKE 'UGH GOD CHILDREN' but they come running and want to hug me and be my friend. REALLY WEIRD SHIT. Maybe its because I talk to them like humans and not puppies.

But yea, I want a shitload. I know, I know. I hate kids. But like I said - other peoples' kids. They always seem so HORRIFICALLY misbehaved. I plan to run a tight fucking ship.

I used to say I wanted 6 of the bastards. I think I'd prefer more like 3 or 4, now. I doubt my birth canal could hold up against 6 small humans.

Really, though. I take parenting so seriously that I doubt I'd ever be mentally ready for a kid. OR financially prepared. They say that once you pop a kid out, you feel this LOVE that is so intense, it can't be compared to any other love in the world.

Thats a little terrifying. And I would hate to see what I would do to my kids.

Short answer: Yea, I want 'em. But no where in the near future.

I was actually starting to consider adoption in a few years with my fiance. We're still not sure about it, but there is time to think about it =j

With a thread title like this, I'm surprised Sir VG hasn't shown up yet. At least now I know what to do if I need to lay out some bait.

But then, the thread will eventually need to be moved to The Sewers! The only safe place to talk about Sir VG related topics!

As for my preference to kids, as I said before, I'm not one to adore them for long periods of time. But, sometimes I go berserk, or something of the sort, and start to be pals with kids I encounter often. I'd show them things I know that could be considerably cool and we'd just hang out. But that's on rare occasions with kids I really like.

I've never understood the fascination and predetermination of saying I want X kids, minimum. Why not have one, and see from there? What drives the desire to have X number without even knowing the experience of having one?

That said, I'd like to adopt at least one child.

I really can't stand kids in big groups... I shudder to picture the swarms at Disneyland, as well...

I would never, ever be a teacher... I think I might kill them all!

I'm really nervous to ask what that means...

ME. FRIGGIN. TOO. I really have trouble coping with other people's kids sometimes because I'm thinking "no, no, you're doing it all wrong; look how they're turning out!" Like the twin girls I watch? They watch an average of 3+ movies a day. We're talking full-length movies. I do NOT approve... Any tv before the age of 3, in fact, can put a child at risk for developmental delays, and they have lived their entire lives in front of the tube. Wow, rant.

But yes, I also run a tight ship. Those kids of mine best behave or they're gonna get a whoopin'!

Stranger things have happened...

Babies definitely take some getting used to... I'm not fully comfortable with them yet, to be sure. They're pretty nervewracking; I prefer ages 2 and up...

There is always that danger... and yeah, I guess that when you come down to it, EVERY child "messes up" their kid in some way. I'm sure my parents have had some negative affects on me... in fact, I could possibly name a few. But you know, you actually sound like you might be a pretty good parents, because you've realized that it's the greatest responsibility there is, and you wouldn't be nonchalant and careless about raising children, as is so common nowadays. Probably not trusting yourself to raise a child is one of the signs that you may be capable. Does that make sense?

Me too... whenever I see a family together... or hear of another one of my friends getting married... or see my cousin's baby boy... it just makes me all the more impatient to get on with my life and start a family of my own. Most people want sex without the drag of pregnancy... I want pregnancy without the drag of sex. I mean, geez, it's gonna take a long time to find someone I want to marry, be with them a while, get engaged and married, live alone a couple of years... it'll be a while, and I'm not known for my patience.

I used to do my studies in an orphanage. Some of the kids were good while some were out of control. It kinda gets hard if you're unable to control them and if they're always up for play. But there are definitely some good times and nice sentiments here and there.

I don't believe in immaculate conception. :p

That is what discipline is for. That is something I will never tolerate from my children is disrespect and bad behavior in public.

I want to be a father some day. If it were financially feasible right now, I'd be a proud father. However it isn't just yet so I wait as I want to be able to take very good care of my children, and spend the time with them that they need and deserve.

I like kids sure, but i am not suggesting that it would be advise to have more than one at the same time, i mean, unless they were twins but even still it isn't that hard to handle unless you raise them that way. I know kids who are rotten to the core (almost killed one once) but it doesn't mean all kids are bad. Then again, i don't have a choice in the matter since i am not the one giving birth :eyebrow:

Quoted for the undisputed truth.

I absolutely despise other people's children. When I worked at Rhino Video Games last year, It seemed like every parent with demon-posessed little antichrists would come in and let the little bastards run around and knock things over while they looked for that "gotta have it" copy of Madden 2003. Sure, every once in a while one would shout across the store, albeit with their back turned and focused on the back of a game box, to their hellspawn "Hey! Stop running around!" But they don't listen. They never listen.

If I am to have a kid, (I say "kid" because after the first one I'm getting a vasectomy so it never happens again.) I'll make sure (s)he is well-behaved and doesn't act a fool in public. No child of mine is gonna run around stores wreaking havoc and tell me "No" when I tell them to do something.

To be honest, I wouldn't mind having children with my girl. She's the perfect vessel for my child, really, I can't want anything else. Did I mention she is fucking A D O R A B L E?

I have no problem with kids at all. But I have zero tolerance for the spoiled rotten ones. I hate it when I see a kid throw a tantrum in public over something so minor. The stupid kid makes the patent look incompetent.

yeah... and it's really annoying too seeing those stupid parents give in to those disgusting kids too! I tend to avoid hanging around with most kids and babies cos' I just feel awkward around them.... but some kids are really angelic ... so i guess it depends on which child i'm with...

I'm studying to become a primary school teacher.

I love kids and I look forward to becoming a father.

Now that's what I'm talking about!

Any grade in particular that you're interested in?

And what girl wouldn't be turned on by somebody talking like an alien rapist intent on crossbreeding with her species.

THE VESSEL IS ESCAPING.

I can stand some kids but others just annoy the hell out of me. I can stand them once they hit about 9 or 10. When they're younger than that they just tend to annoy me so much. I've got this little cousin who always wants me to play with her whenever she comes round and i'm just not good with kids in general. That's probably why i don't like them. I never know what to do with them if they ask me to play with them or something. They're also a bit too 'in your face' with me. I prefer to be left alone.

Maybe my opinion on them will change as i get older, but currently, i'm not even considering kids in the future.

I am definitely not mature enough for kids. Aside from that I don't know what to do with them...typically they scare me like non other. I don't think I will live long enough to get kids anyway.

This made me laugh a lot. And think... yeah, I'm not sure how hot I'd be on being called a "vessel."

Planning on dying REALLY early? And why/how?

I figure I could die relatively early, which puts a bit of a damper on the whole having kids thing... I wouldn't want them to be teenagers and mom-less.

I have a son and that's all I want. When people ask me if I'll have anymore, I say "NEVAR!!!". Of course, nobody believes me, but I'm dead serious. My son is no problem at all and all my family says he acts like me and not his father (thank goodness!). Besides, why have another one when I've already got a good child? :)

But seriously, I really don't want anymore children. People keep trying to convince me that I'll change my mind. They keep telling me what if the next guy I marry wants children. I will make it plain and clear in the beginning. NO MORE CHILDREN! I'm going to get "fixed" as soon as I can find a doctor to do it. That's how serious I am.

Probably around the fourth or fifth grade. I figure tehse ones aren't old enough to give you lip but are old enough to not be dribbling all over the place.

But my degree will qualify me to teach from grades 1 through 7 so who even knows.

When it comes to kids, I am adoptiong. There is no way that I am going to carry one when there are things about my gene pool that I do not want passed down... plus the way I look at it is why should I make a child when there are already children in the world with no homes or families?

I am in my twenties and I really do not want a kid now. There are things in life I want to do first before I have to give up my freedom to raise a kid. Knowing me I will begin the adoption process for a little girl from China in my mid or late 30's and married.

I have to say, I really really don't want kids just due to the fact that there's such high overhead involved and also not to mention, though I don't like to admit it, I'm a selfish bastard-- meaning I don't want to have to devote time and resources to developing a new human being and raising them the right way, which goes into a whole other argument..

so the short and shallow answer is no because I'm a selfish prick.

I definitely approve of that! When I was younger, I said I would adopt just because I was so terrified of the birthing process. Now that I'm older... I'm STILL terrified of the birthing process. But regardless, I've decided I want some of my own kids, because... I dunno, just something about creating a human being with someone you love and grow old with. Something about seeing you in another person. It's like you, but better--or at least has the potential to be better. I guess it's kind of selfish, if you think about it.

Though, as you said, there are things in my gene pool I'm not anxious to have passed on.

I'd like to be a father someday. Someday being after I've graduated from college, have a decent job and I am married. I want to make sure I can provide for them and I'm not gonna knock some chick up I'm not married to just because I want a kid. It wouldn't be fair to the kid since he probably wouldn't have a mother.

I don't know how many I'd like to have or what their gender will be; it doesn't matter to me and it'll probably depend on what my future wife wants. The only objection I have is for her to not to continuously get pregnant. I think there should be at least three years between each kid. It really annoys me when I see the mother in a conservative, religious-freak family pregnant, holding a baby, with her 2, 3 and 4 year olds tagging along.

When it comes to raising the kids...I never see any balance in any of the parents I know. They either let their kids run wild, do whatever they want with very little discipline or they are overly harsh on them and let them do next to nothing. I don't want to spoil my children or turn them into whipping boys, but give them a decent balance...

In all honesty, I think the biggest obstacle for me is trusting my future wife with my future kids. Despite all of the Lifetime-esque stereotypes against men, I can honestly say that every single problematic parent I know is the woman. But hopefully I'll trust my future wife enough that I won't worry and even more hopefully she won't be a total bitch to my kids when I'm not around.

Yeah, that would be another reason I would rather adopt, I have been present for the birth of my neice and trust me.... it is not pretty.