I think we all had the misconception that stupid kids were the only ones in existence. I mean, if you see some anonymous kid throwing a tantrum, and another anonymous kid bawling, of course you’re gonna think stupid little kids are the only kind there are.
You’re like a dog with a bone.
Also, you might be the only person to think that all kids are stupid. I certainly didn’t.
I had no idea anyone thought this.
Pretty much all kids bawl and have tantrums, regardless of whether they are smart or stupid.
I doubt you are going to find anyone to agree with you.
Well, at least this OP had a bit more substance.
No, I never thought all kids were stupid.
They’re children. They don’t have the brain development, knowledge and experience of adults. No, they’re not necessarily stupid.
Tantrums are a normal developmental stage. Adults may display stupidity in their reaction to them, but kids are not stupid in having them in the first place. Sames goes for crying, basically; it’s not an indicator of stupidity at all.
I never felt that way because few of the children I’ve been around have ever behaved like you describe. Everyone has a bad moment now and then; even me. But the kind of thing you seem to describing is just foreign to me personal experience.
Well, what she describes is seeing “some anonymous kid [presumably meaning: a kid she doesn’t know] throwing a tantrum” and “another anonymous kid bawling”. We’ve all seen such things now and then, haven’t we? I’d consider both those sights unremarkable.
Where I depart from the OP is in her apparent assumption that, because she has seen these things, therefor all kids do these things pretty much all the time. No, they don’t. Most of the kids you see in public places, most of the time, are not crying or throwing tantrums. You can pretty much take it for granted that most of them do or have done these things on occasion, but that’s not the same thing at all.
I never had such a misconception, but then, I remember things from when I was shorter than most people.
Maybe our OP was a stupid child, or maybe they don’t remember a time before they reached The Age of Stupid? (early teens)
Judging by her posts on stuffed animals, I think she is still a child?
I posted this in one of the closed threads, so I’ll just repost this here.
[QUOTE=cochrane]
Kids are inexperienced in life and have not yet gained an extensive education. But they are smart and do learn as they grow up. Very few of them are actually stupid.
[/QUOTE]
The misconception that morons were the only little kids that existed.
Most people are going to see kids on more than two occasions. They’re going to see kids on hundreds of occasions, acting both good and bad.
Yes, we understand what you’re saying. We’re saying most people never had that misconception.
Surely the misconception is that a child who weeps/has a tantrum must be a moron? Every child weeps or has a tantrum on occasion; this does not mean they are moronic.
Were you not around other children when you were a child? How could such a misconception begin in the first place?
I dunno, kids are pretty stupid, relative to adults. It’s not their fault, but they are pretty slow on the uptake. I have a biologist friend who compared his toddler to an ill-trained house pet with opposable thumbs. The kid routinely got into the trash and everything. Pretending to hold kids to adult standards has a comedic effect. They can’t even walk right!
I’m actually really excited to have children, but they have their moments of true awfulness on a level I’m pretty sure I can’t even fathom yet. But like people in general, they are probably mostly great.
I’ve never had what I would call a rosy view of children, even when I was a child. I always wanted to hang out with the adults instead of my peers. And for much of my adult life, my heart sank a little whenever I went somewhere to have fun, and there were children. Loud and unpredictable is not a great combination for me. So I sort of get where the OP is coming from.
Obviously my views are shifting and I have tried to relate to children more as I’ve become more fully entrenched in adulthood myself. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with how fun they can be when I have an open mind. One thing that’s cool about kids is they welcome my silliness. Not every adult is down for my brand of weird, but kids dig it. When I was helping my little cousin tie her shoes, I pointed out that shoes have tongues and slurped her with the shoe tongues. She thought it was great and we don’t have to get into the fact that’s something I’d do in the presence of just adults. And I make finger-antennae when I’m feeling ‘‘sluggish.’’ Could be a lot of fun with kids.
[QUOTE=Bad News Baboon]
Judging by her posts on stuffed animals, I think she is still a child?
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I’m not familiar with these posts, but I have lots of stuffed animals (mostly sea creatures) and a security blanket, but I’m an adult in every meaningful sense of the word. And my husband plays with action figures. Ahem, I mean ‘‘collects.’’ He recently set up a bunch of action figures in his office at work and he can totally get away with it because he’s a child psychologist.
Yep, another vote for ‘don’t think I ever held that notion’.
So I guess the weird thing here is why the OP thinks everyone did share that perception. How did you arrive at that idea?
To provide the tiniest modicum of highly qualified support for the OP, my experience is that many people (particularly IME young single adults) find little kids a trial and can be quite unforgiving of unruly or upset kids in public.
Their views tend to change if/when they have more to do with children in a sympathetic situation. In particular, when one’s brothers/sisters/friends start having children - and even more so if/when you have your own children - you discover it ain’t easy and that even children of your own family can be quite the handful.