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If a family was walking their young child and their dog, I could ID the dog, but NOT the child. And I'm not kidding.
My friend was like that. She was an only child herself, and really did not care for children much. Her childhood best friend who had a baby. She tried to be nice and hold her friend's baby, but when it farted while she was holding her, she went into a panic and started holding her out and saying, "Somebody please take the baby!" A month or two later, she went to a barbecue where her best friend was again present, only this time, another woman was holding best friend's baby, and my friend said to the woman, to be polite, "Oh your baby is cute. What is her name?" At which point best friend leapt up, completely insulted, and said, "That's 'Susie!' M friend said she couldn't tell--they all looked alike to her.
One time she was invited as a date to a baby's christening. They had the baby in one of those box seats and it was sleeping on the floor next to the parents' table, and my friend went to the bar to get a beer for herself and her boyfriend. She didn't see the baby in the seat and ended up tripping over the baby and spilling beer all over it. She couldn't understand why the parent got so upset instead of just cleaning up the baby. I laughed long and hard over that one.
Eventually she did marry and have two kids of her own, and loved them, and they've both nearly survived to adulthood now!
If anyone ever has an answer to that, let us know. It is a pet peeve of mine when the news, or anywhere for that matter, makes it more tragic that a child died than an adult. One of those stories where 4 people and a CHILD were killed or something. All 5 people were just as human, and mattered just as much. Maybe the child was younger, but all human life is precious no matter the age.
*climbs off pet peeve soapbox*
Thank Goodness I am not alone.
It is one of the thing which drives me wild about the way we seem to value life in a completely different way.
Whether reading the news or listening to people talk about accidents, house fires, murders etc... It is as though being 8 is somehow more precious than being 27, 49 or 83. I find it really offensive and it really irks me. If one is being completely logical, unemotional and detached then surely the person who has the most experience and has or can be of most benefit to humankind is the most precious. A brain surgeon dying should be more value than a baby. Our value as human beings should mostly be based on our own emotional attachments ( ie to those we love, those of worth to us personally) and what they bring to the table communally. Age should have nothing to do with it.
At the end of the day generally speaking, life is life whether that of an Elderly person or that of a newborn. Any unexpected deaths should upset us equally or not at all .
Why on earth should an accident involving a busload of kids be more upsetting than a busload of middle age dentists ?
That reminded me. I had a friend whose child was a demon seed. He was a little monster, spoiled and obnoxious and manipulative. I went to the beach with her and her son one day, and when he saw all the games and stuff on the boardwalk he broke away and went running over to look at everything. She stood there gazing after him and said, "This age is SUCH a precious time." I wanted to scream, "PRECIOUS?? PRECIOUS??? How could you POSSIBLY use that word in relation to that--that--THING?" But, I didn't.
Eventually, she caught on. A few years later when the Twilight Zone marathon was running during a holiday weekend, the episode about Billy, the evil little boy who can read people's bad thoughts about him and then "wishes" them into being buried in the cornfield came on, and she said she couldn't watch it because it reminded her of her son. LOL. "Precious."
I was an au pair in Chappaqua, NY state and looked after what must be Satan's most cherished Daughter and your post had me laughing out loud !
"Precious" indeed ! Abigail the demon seed was the most unloveable, spoilt, nasty, horrifically selfish little jerk and despite golden locks and deep blue eyes she should have been the tour guide to the Underworld.
I had never until then genuinely disliked ( heck hated would be a more honest word for it) a child before but she made it so easy.
She will now be in her early thirties and godness knows how much havock she has wrecked upon the earth already. A truly horrendous experience. When I left I actually told her and her mother exactly what I thought of the precious little Darling and how good that felt !! I don't believe in God but I could well believe in Satan if she was anything to go by.....
When I left I actually told her and her mother exactly what I thought of the precious little Darling and how good that felt !! I don't believe in God but I could well believe in Satan if she was anything to go by.....
I gotta ask!!!! How did her mother respond? and what exactly did you say???? And bravo for you!
I gotta ask!!!! How did her mother respond? and what exactly did you say???? And bravo for you!
They took me to the Airport and as I was leaving I told the Mother that though she herself was lovely her Daughter was the most spoilt unpleasant little Brat I ever had the displeasure to meet, that she was overindulged,mollycoddled and treated like a little Buddha and had no chance of ever becoming a civilised well brought up decent human being unless she ( the Mother) took immediate action and instilled some serious discipline and started to take the power back from little Miss Demon.
I also told Abigail that she better shape up or she would one day find out that some people in the real world will not treat her like a little Princess and that her beyond abysmal behaviour was offensive and innacceptable. I pointed out that I had grown up with servants back at home and that my Father would have had my guts for garter if I had ever behaved like this to anyone, staff or visitors ( never mind behaving like that to my Father which would have been unthinkable).
It was a very long tirade which I did not expect to be able to finish as I expected to be interrupted and shouted at but both for some reasons were speechless and looked at me slighlty ashamed I think. I spent the whole journey on the plane feeling soooooooooooooooo good that I had had my say.
I just could not believe that a child could be so unpleasant and so incredibly over-indulged. She really was awful and I shudder to think what terrible things she went on to impose on other au pairs.... I believe in strong discipline and it worked for me as she soon learnt she could not treat me like dirt for very long ( tears and tantrums really do not work with me) but I think I was only the latest in a long line of au pairs who presumable had all left due to nervous breakdowns.
Oddly enough Her Mother told me once that I seemed to be her favourite despite treating the little Madam with the contempt she deserved.
Her Mother was actually a very sweet woman but very weak , her partner was not around much and she just gave in to her daughter's demands and let herself be bossed around by a child which to me was horrendous. The only reason I stayed was because the discipline worked when I was around and I felt sorry for the Mother.
I was grossly exploited ( the conditions for au pairs are nothing short of economic slavery - I didn't do it for the money ) but I learnt fluent English within 3 months though ! And not a word of slang which was a minor miracle !!!
So when people tell me how "precious" their little Darlings are I start to think they probably are anything but...
Puppies/dogs are not annoying, yet babies and kids are.
Yeah, puppies and dogs never let it rip on your carpet, destroy your furniture, bark for no reason, trip you up when you're walking down the street, annoy the hell out of you when you're waiting in line, etc...
Should have known that this thread would just become a soapbox for people who dislike children to snivel triumphantly to eachother about how they don't understand how people could possibly love other, smaller people.
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I find it really offensive and it really irks me. If one is being completely logical, unemotional and detached then surely the person who has the most experience and has or can be of most benefit to humankind is the most precious. A brain surgeon dying should be more value than a baby. Our value as human beings should mostly be based on our own emotional attachments ( ie to those we love, those of worth to us personally) and what they bring to the table communally. Age should have nothing to do with it. 
I don't believe in God but I could well believe in Satan if she was anything to go by.....
