Are all small children arseholes?

My dad threatened to leave me and my sister in a lay by if we didn’t stop fighting.

We didn’t.

He pulled in, dumped us and drove….. To the end of the lay by.

That shut the pair of us right up

Not a recommendation by the way, I was very small.

We had a week at center parks this summer. We came home late to bed time one day and all I could hear were 30+ whiney small children being annoying at 7.30pm. it’s not just you.

Family holidays are the most over-rated events in life. Expensive, stressful, and a bad concept. Alcohol and a private villa+pool is about the only setup that is tolerable.

I stopped going on family holidays around the time they were teenagers. I stay at home.

Did anybody else read the thread title with a Why at the beginning?

Surely it’s all in the training?

*Wink*?

I know nothing about parenting other than I was a golden child…..apart from when for some reason I decided to stop eating when I was about 6, no idea why. My mom was not stressed at all, no sir

South Park is basically a documentary on what dicks kids are. I own two, six and ten, love them to bits but my god they can be hard work.

I haven’t read the whole thread but me, Mr Kip, me and Kipteen (no longer just Kip Jr) are in Greece and I feel the pain of those I have read.

It’s hot and we’re knackered and Kipteen refuses to eat as much as she needs which always leads to resting unhappy face.

I think we’re also working with Kipteen’s unrealistic expectations of what this trip would be like (staying in a villa with a pool within 5 minutes walk of all the quiet golden beaches, and blue seas, and boat trips to caves, and historical monuments in the big city, without it being so hot you fry in an instant or have me tell her to put more suncream on – cue eyeroll!)

However, it is mostly good and we’ve just had to manage our own expectations of not mountain biking or walking in the Alps because, regardless of whatever we tried, she’s just not really into that.

Could be worse, could be at home in the rain!

Why should they be any worse than at home.?

I’m past all that by the way thanks

Suspect it’s relatively normal,  just nobody talks about it, so is a bit despairing

there is a conspiracy of silence amongst parents which, by many things concerning parenting, is motivated by guilt and/or anxiety.

You think it’s bad now – wait until they hit secondary school……

Why should they be any worse than at home.?

They’re not, but work and school means I don’t spend all day with them.

@wbo I think you’re asking me,

Why should they be any worse than at home.?

I was more referring to the fact that we could be home in the rain, instead of enjoying glorious sunshine here.

In years to come you will look back on your holiday snaps and wish you were back there with your kids… all young, innocent, cheeky and beautiful.

It’s really a wonderful time for enjoy them, but not necessarily for relaxing…. which is probably what you might have thought you’d do on hols …. silly boy.

Be cool.

Enjoy.

@kip sounds like me 2yrs ago except with 3 teen princesses expecting the full Instagram experience of Greece.
the answer was to go back in May. Empty blue beaches 5mins walk from villa with pool, out on a boat seeing caves all day without frying. Etc. happy kids,  happy M&D

My dad threatened to leave me and my sister in a lay by if we didn’t stop fighting.  We didn’t.  He pulled in, dumped us and drove…..

I did that to my two when they ignored warnings to stop fighting in the car. It was only a mile or so for them to walk home, less distance than walking to school, but they still remember that incident now they are in their 30s

Currently in Italy with a 15 year old who wants us all to die, a 14 year old who desperately wants to please everyone and a 10 year old who’s not sure which camp he wants to be in yet. 2 days in and I’m already looking at flights home.

Kids are knobs, if I could get a refund, I would.  If karma is real, I’ve been an absolute c**t at some point.

I love them dearly of course, but being a parent is exhausting and it never gets easier, just different sh*t at different ages.  Enjoy 😉

I love them dearly of course

that wonderful oxytocin again

remind me why I never had kids 🙂

Kids are knobs, if I could get a refund, I would. If karma is real, I’ve been an absolute c**t at some point.

Yep, I’ve had similar thoughts 🙂 I just think not enough people are honest about the reality, so many parents only ever seem to talk about how wonderful it is and how lucky they are, best thing to ever happen to them etc. Bullshit.

Take them to the local pub. Get yourself a nice steak dinner and a couple of bottles of red and let them run amok amongst the other patrons, ruining their enjoyment, but leaving you and the missus in relative piece and quiet..

Job done..

Enjoy…

Get some anti depressants. I wish I had, I was an uptight prick due to work. Not saying you are.

But… at Christmas you get to all put on matching pyjamas and insta all your followers about how great your life is.

So its not all bad.

Imagine how disappointing a family holiday would be if you were young enough to soak up all the Instagram influencer posts and believe that’s what it was really like.

You were expecting sunsets and sundresses and perfect beaches and you got burning your legs on the seatbelt clip in the back of the hire car.

Now everyone will pay!

Bellisima!

@_tom_

 I just think not enough people are honest about the reality,

I’m pretty sure that there’s evidence that on average parents are slightly less happy than equivalent childless people, however their peaks and troughs are greater and they tend to retrospectively only recall the peaks.

Most confusing thread ever. But I’m very fortunate that my boy is me bestie and my riding/adventure mate.

I reckon you’ve created your own luck Weeksy .

Well played for investing the effort and time into pretty the most important undertaking anyone could engage in.

Sounds to me like its the adults acting like kids that are the issue.

I’m very fortunate that my boy is me bestie and my riding/adventure mate.

I’m working on that with my son 🙂 he’s been loving coming to the bike park with me recently and says it’s better than playing Minecraft, which is high praise indeed! Just bought him a new bike as his old one was lethal with the caliper brakes that may as well not be there. Hoping he doesn’t get bored of it but he’s already been getting a bit of air on the jumps and gets back up for another go if he crashes, so I’m feeling good about it at the minute!

Well, I’m saddened by some of the posts on here.

I’m loving the honesty from people. Family is hard work and anyone that claims different is the sort that also claims you get the same workout on an eBike. They’re just lying to one person, themselves.

Caveat – I have an eBike for commuting so I’m allowed to talk shit truthfully about them.

Family is hard work and anyone that claims different

That’s a completely different thing though. My boy is a massive complication in our family, the time, money and effort is immense. However that doesn’t.ean he’s an arsehole.

Yes it’s hard work of course, but in a very very good way.

For all the people who’s kids are arseholes, who brought them up and gave them values?

^ indeed.

Well, the last 2 days have been better, including seeing bears and wolves at Wildlife Ireland today – highly recommended if in the donegal area.

They are still intermittent aresholes, like me, but offloading here helped, thanks (mostly).

I still think there is a cult of silence about children, trying have kids etc etc. But Venting safely here was good.

All kids are arseholes at times though. Anybody that thinks their own are different are naive at best. Mine are lovely and well mannered but can still be WGBE’s under certain circumstances. They’re people with less control over their emotions than (some) adults, so of course they’ll be arseholes sometimes. If yours aren’t I’ve got some magic beans to sell you!

Ive never seen my kids from a financial or time perspective though. Always found that odd but each to their own.

We only had one kid and I can’t think of a single time where I regretted being a parent. Summer holidays where spent exploring round Europe by car with a mix of culture and mountains. Climbing, biking, via ferratas etc. While as an adult he is not really that fussed about the outdoors, he is massively into history so all that trawling through ancient towns, churches and castles has not been a wasted experience. it needs to be said that he was always a very patient and sweet natured child, holidays might otherwise have been a more fractuous experience,

We (G and I) are glad to hear you’re in a better place. Im not really qualified to commentas I’ve only got one, but you should imagine my parents with 4 of us!

Cheers @pyranha – I cannot imagine you being anything other than a delight to parent.

Must make that call we discussed previously,  once I’m back from trip and the animals are being schooled.

I was, obviously, it was all the others’ fault.

The one thing that always gives solace, is that they will always be better behaved when around at the Pattersons. I have never ever regretted being a parent. They seem to have turned out alright and they seem to still like me!

And for my best punishment, Son1 had wound us up all day, so I said on the journey home that if he behaved he would be allowed to attend his friend’s birthday party that evening. And if he did not, well he would not be going. After an hour of generally poor behaviour, we got home collected the gift. I marched him to the door of his friend, who lived on a lovely farm. Son1 gave the gift at the door and then had to explain to his friend’s mother why he could not stay. Let’s just say some of the parents were awestruck.

My mother said you never stop worrying about your children. She was right.

Well today I witnessed a mum having to drag her 8 year old boy screaming from the skate park, swearing at her all the way.  He then proceeded to get on top of her car and jump up and down until he eventually got off and she drove off, only to come back 5 minutes later where he then started laughing

im turned to my boys and said if they ever did that they would be getting the hardest clip round the ear of their lives.  They agreed it would be well deserved.

that kid was most definitely an arsehole.  He’d spat water over my kids earlier so I’d already had a word with him, which to be fair he seemed to actually respond to and not do it again.  I felt so sorry for the mum, I very nearly went over to see if I could help, which of course would have been a very stupid thing to have done.

whatever you think about your kids it could be worse,

Going on holiday with small children with organised activities and packing loads into the day generally means hard work and the total opposite of a restful week for the parents who actually need the break.

When my two were wee, the only holiday genuinely enjoyable for everyone was all inclusive somewhere sunny next to a beach.  They were generally happy knocking around the pool with other kids, and the evening buffet always has a fine range of beige food for kids, as well as fish/ steak/ salad for adults.

Myself and the wife would generally get in a solo walk or run at some point most days.

Also, watered down booze trickle fed all day is helpful!

This is a very depressing thread. What have you all done to produce such spoilt, demanding princelings? My kids are fine. We have a laugh, argue sometimes, chat nonsense to each other and do what the adults decide with a little negotiation. It’s not a democracy, it’s a benign dictatorship. Some of the behaviour and parental attitudes listed above do not seem normal or healthy to me, for the parent or the child. Maybe it’s because I’m a Gen X parent rather than a Millennial. Raising my kids has been the most rewarding, inspiring, fun thing I’ve ever done. Apart from facilitating the dogs’ every need, obvs. Relax and enjoy it, it’ll be over in a blink of a dirty eye and you’ll spend your remaining years wistfully looking back and reminding them of embarrassing things they did.

Is it me or do most of the problems above seem to be with boys? I wonder if it’s because there’s an unconscious bias to let boys assert themselves more with the boundary problems that come from that. I have girls and don’t recognise some of the issues above, though they come with their own special needs. Mostly stemming from being smarter and quicker than me, despite me being nominally in charge.

To add, I always remember my sister telling me that if she’d just had 2 kids, she’d think that their good behaviour was all down to her excellent parenting skills, but she had a third & learnt that sometimes it’s just the luck of the draw.