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These threads make me sick. People complaining that kids scream in public, throw tantrums, misbehave, etc...guess what people, that’s part of the deal. STEP UP AND BE A HUMAN BEING!!! I simply cannot fathom not being a father. My wife and two children are my reasons for being.

It is hard work raising children. But for all the tantrums, screaming, crying, toilet-training mishaps, etc. there are moments of utter joy. The first time your child says the entire alphabet. When they repeated climb on your lap with book after book, being enthralled as you read them stories...the laughter, the hugs, their first steps...the list goes on and on.

I’m sorry, but people that don’t like children disgust me. people that look down on other people who have kids disgust me. What if their parenst had felt the same way?! Wake up. The kid crying in the supermarket is annoying? Give me a break.

I left my family for 15 months ( a wonderful diversion in the Iraqi desert). This was the single hardest thing I’ve ever done. Harder than every combat mission I flew as a UH-60 pilot. No matter what happened to me in the desert, thinking about my wife taking care of my sons alone was torture. She stepped up to the plate in a big way. People always thank me for my service, say their proud of me, etc. I always say thank my wife. If our country didn’t have women like her we would be screwed.

As a final note to this screed, I will add that I’m not a religous person at all. I don’t go to church, have no interest in it. I will not raise my children with a particular religous dogma as part of their lives. The joys of a close-nit family life are all the religon I need. The feelings come naturally. The joys come naturally.

If one is born without the need for these joys, then I consider them to be deformed.

rant/off

Thanks for your post.

Do you people (not strider) who hate screaming kids in parking lots, stores, etc. realize that not all of them are brats being raised by loser permissive liberals?

Do you know that just maybe that child has autism and simply cannot yet control his temper, and his parents do not wish to drug his brain just so you don’t fuss? That maybe they try not to take him places but every once in a while cannot afford a sitter and really need groceries? That maybe they sat in the car for 15 minutes going over what to expect with him, but he still happened to lose his temper?

Oh, and if the child is between 2 and 5 years old, a tantrum every once in a while is developmentally appropriate, especially if the child is tired or coming down with a bug (which will only show itself the following day)? As a matter of fact, a toddler who NEVER stamps her foot in public, trying to assert her little will, most likely is in some way developmentally disabled. One of our little guys was quite slow to develop at first and I was secretly pleased by his first little tantrum (which I knew how to handle).

Please remember some of these things, childless people. It’s NOT always bad parenting. The example of the first child was all from personal experience, and countless people chose to come up to me and my screaming child to tell me that he was the worst-behaved child they’d ever met. As if that would cure his neurological disorder.

I had always figured I would have kids one day - I mean, it’s just what you do when you grow up, right? Well, here I am at 40, never married, and it just never happened. At this point in my life I just can’t see starting down that road - I’m too set in my ways, and given my family history I’d just as soon not have children and not live long enough to see them graduate high school.

Am I to be criticized for this? I support my mother, I pay taxes hand over fist to pay for social programs for other people of all ages. Do I have a duty to produce children to pay for my or my parents’ generation in retirement? Personally, I’m planning to take care of myself, financially at least. I have nothing against children, particularly - I’ve enjoyed spending time with various friends’ children, even when they were wailing, pooping, puking babies. I envy my friends who have kids, actually, even though they sometimes envy me for my freedom and disposable income.