Nope. I don’t like kids from babyhood until they are over 18. Maybe over 20. I don’t see anything fun about anything about them - I just see irritating behaviours.
I can’t believe that no one has done this yet, so…
[W.C. Fields]“Yes, if they’re properly cooked!”[/W. C. Fields]
This is my take on them, too. When I was sans child, I couldn’t relate, so they made me vaguely uncomfortable. Now that I have one, I’m much more comfortable.
I like babies and toddlers - children at age 2 to 4 especially are a barrel of laughs and a source of amazement. I don’t like school children, especially teenagers - kids get snotty, like Autz said. Few well-behaving kids around, it seems, ones that don’t constantly challenge you and your authority or just plain bug you because they know you can’t do anything about it.
I work with them all the time in my line of work, and adore them. Yeah the more clever ones can be manipulative as hell, and the younger ones generally can’t sit still long enough to do their work consistently, but really they are a complete trip more than half the time. My boss values me because among other things the little buggers invariably bond strongly with me which gets them more engaged with their work. I don’t allow myself to get emotionally attached when they get all immature or obstreperous or whatever, so that doesn’t bug me much really.
Now, having said all that, get them all in a group and hive mind psychology can take over and then you can have a handful (I recall several female teachers in my childhood who ended up crying and ran out the room-not that I contributed to that much myself understand 
). But you have to anticipate that and adjust for it.
I love children. I spent a couple years teaching in an elementary school (ages 8-14) and I liked my small children the best. They were sometimes exhausting, but usually adorable and eager to learn. I love holding babies and smelling their heads and all. I can’t pass a baby without stopping to smile and make faces and him or her.
Love!
I doubt I’ll ever have my own, though. I have a horror of pregnancy (I blame my mom’s terrible pregnancy with my younger sister, who was born when I was five); I’d be interested in adopting, but I don’t really see myself ever living a settled enough life that an agency would place a child with me. I suppose I’ll have to settle for playing with other peoples’ children.
The two years I spent as a floating teacher’s aide in an elementary school were the happiest years of my life. I worked with kindergartners, 1st graders, and 4th graders who mostly came from significant poverty and some had frighteningly dysfunctional families, so there were behavioral/emotional problems and learning difficulties to deal with every day, but in general those kids were awesome. Incredibly funny, interesting, affectionate, wonderful kids. It was the only time in my life I actively looked forward to going to work in the morning.
That said, I was really happy I got to come home to a kid-free house. Working with them was exhausting, and (for many other reasons) I don’t want children of my own.
ETA: Or…basically what Kyla said. I took a break between paragraphs to read my journals from those two years.
Especially the cheeks.
Meh, kids are okay. I love my nephew, but can only handle him for a few hours, and I tend to get bored during that time and want to move onto more interesting adult activities.
What really bugs me about kids is that having them seems to turn many (but not all) previously normal people into tremendously dull parent-bots who want only to talk about their kid and how wonderful and precocious and smart they are. This is especially bad when the kid is a baby - lets face it, all babies do is eat, sleep, and poo in incredible quantities, and there are only so many stories about those things I want to hear.
Like Olivesmarch4th, I don’t think kids are some super special precious resource, and I don’t think they are a ‘miracle’ or that someone is deserving of respect just for squeezing one out. I’m reasonably sure I’ll never have kids, and it would be nice not to have to hear about how I simply ‘must’ have some, because it’s so wondrous, and gives your life meaning, and whatnot.
I’m ok with small silent children. Severing their vocal cords would improve most of them.
I hope so, I play with small children full time! I think I’ve always related well to preschool children because deep down, their interests are my interests. I love playing pretend, swinging on the swingset, blowing bubbles, and singing silly songs. Give me some play-doh or fingerpaint and I’m happy. I also love kids and the stage when their language is emerging and they come up with the most hilarious things to say. Preschool children are so genuine and full of wonder.
I like elementary school children less and teenagers least of all. Once a child has developed an attitude, my love affair is over.
I don’t have any use for children and don’t want to be bothered by them. I began relating to my nephews in their teens; now that they are 21+, I adore them. We can drink and go to concerts together (and their friends are cute).
I’m not fond of children. I don’t have very good patience for them. Perhaps it depends on the parents though. I have a friend who has two young children and they are both good kids and pleasant to be around.
But in general, no.
No, I’m not really all that keen on them, overall.
I’m strange in that I like babies and infants more than older kids.
Mostly, can’t stand their parents - because if I noticed someone else’s kid, it’d likely be because it was screaming for a toy, or being wheeled down the street in a triple-wide stroller, or acting stupidly in restaurant or something.
Can’t say I hate kids but I hate the ones that I notice. I always got my kid out of places when he was being annoying, because if he was annoying me he was annoying everybody. Running in restaurants? Oh hell no. My kid HAS a behavioral disorder but you’d never see him do that, at least longer than it took me to catch him, haul him outside and get him away from others. I’m not entitled, just because I’m a parent, to suck the quiet enjoyment out of everybody else’s life. I chose to have him, therefore I get to cope with his less…serene…moments, but nobody else should have to unless they are being paid to do that (Sitters and teachers, for example, and even then they shouldn’t have to put up with brattiness, and won’t have to if they let me know about it.) Now if you want to glare at me just because I had a kid, you can crawl away and d…er…have something very bad happen to the generic you. If my kid is being reasonably well behaved in public, then just cope with him, he’s allowed to breathe air, speak in a normal tone of voice about whatever he’d like, eat in public, and so on. If that bothers you, well tough.
And don’t get me started on the Hum Vee sized strollers - an umbrella stroller and a bag will do unless you have more than one. Hate being run into and over and having to manuver around them. The incredible sense of entitlement that goes with them makes me want to go right off.
In fact, I get that you’re going to have that first fit of whining or the first time taking off running or whatever, what irritates me to tears at the PARENTS is that it goes on for longer than it takes to take the child out of there.
Also, if it’s not my kid or a kid in my close circle of friends and family, I’m truly, utterly uninterested in them. Was like that before I had one, remain that way now. My son’s friends are welcome to come over, but I really can’t stand them.
And if you must have the stroller from hell, would you kindly move at pace, realise you’re in everybody’s way, and stop acting like an entitled jerk? Yeah thanks.
I like kids - even middle schoolers & teenagers. Sure, they can be obstreperous, as someone posted (excellent choice of word!). Yes, they can be noisy (sometimes I think I’m going to burst a blood vessel in the middle of class). That said, I enjoy them, on the whole. They crack me up, certainly, and they can be quite sweet.
ETA: I agree with the posters who say that much of the time, kids’re obnoxious because exhibiting such behavior has netted positive results for them. That argument only holds water until a certain age - let’s say until high school - but I believe it’s so.
I like kids from when they can talk halfway decently up until school has crushed them in to societal expectations. I also like to be able to give them back to their owners when we’re done talking.
I didn’t like kids. Now I have one. I like him, and have generally become much more tolerant of others’ kids. I now make faces at babies on the bus.
I am finding the current age (13 months) a little tiresome- old enough to walk really fast, coordinated enough to get into everything, young enough to have no sense of danger, self-control, or language.
I am looking forward to reliably having him understand words.