Children are not for everyone. Not every person has the patience or desire to have children of their own, which is perfectly fine. However, there is no reason to be mean to children or treat them like dirt because you don’t want to be a parent.
Children are the only truly innocent people among us. They have just entered the world and they have a full, clean slate in front of them. As they learn to walk and talk, they become their own person and develop a personality, all their own. With this personality, a child may begin to do things that tend to annoy others— especially college students working on three hours of sleep (ask a million questions, make stupid jokes, do something “easy” wrong, etc.).
I have friends that in these situations roll their eyes or mutter under their breath about how much they hate children. Kids aren’t dumb. Many children see this subtle hostility and back off. They start ignoring the questions in their head, following the crowd and keeping their mouths shut. Now, for those of you who hate kids, this is a blessing. Or so it seems.
These kids are the future. We always hear about how the current high schoolers and college students are the future. But, when we get old, who comes after us? The current young ones who just want to know what your favorite color is.
Don’t we want our future leaders to be asking questions? Don’t we want them to question the problems they see in this world? Don’t we want them to come up with problem-solving strategies to ensure the future is secure? Don’t we want them questioning what comes along their path and learning the difference between right and wrong? Don’t we want them to consider others in their decision making, to make our future brighter than our past?
They’re never going to do any of these things if people continue to shut them out just because they’re young and naive. They are going to get the impression that questions are stupid, that they should not be asked. They get the idea that their thoughts are meant to be kept in, no matter how important they may seem to them.
Even if you don’t care about the current kids creating a better future, please remember they are human beings. There’s a common belief in our society that because children “don’t understand,” there is no need to apologize to them when we are wrong or explain ourselves to them. However, they are human beings. They are learning what is wrong or right and we should be teaching them these lessons through communication. People complain about the current generation constantly, (how they don’t know how to solve their own problems, they’re anti-social, etc.) but we’re not working on changing the behavior that caused these issues. Teach kids how to speak to others by speaking to them.
You don’t have to want kids. You don’t even have to like kids. But you have to respect kids. They are human beings with thoughts and feelings, just like you and me. They’re learning to maneuver through this crazy world. The last thing they need is to be discouraged because you couldn’t take a minute to answer why the sky is blue.