I've been wondering lately why some people (many, actually), decide to have children. I understand that the experience of being out in public with a toddler, child, kid, whatever, can be stressful at times for everyone involved, but I frequently see people in all kinds of places (restaurants, parks, the mall, the doctor's office, etc.) admonishing their children, rolling their eyes at their children, or just generally looking like they wished their children would disappear.
Now I don't expect everyone to be all sunshine and lollipops about kids all the time (in fact I'd probably find that even more nauseating), but no one seems to even remotely like their children.
A lot of the time it's because the kids aren't listening, or doing what they're told, or they're behaving in an overly rambunctious manner that just seems to exhaust and exasperate the parents. I get that. I mean, an infant is very tiring so I can't even imagine trying to keep up with the energy of a toddler or older child but (and here's the thing) who says we have to keep up? We're the parents right? Since when did we hand the keys to society over to the children and just assume/hope they would behave exactly how we think they should?
People love babies universally (at least that's how it seems to be), but every time someone coos and fusses over Emmett I can't help thinking "Enjoy it while it lasts kid, because soon nobody is going to like you, maybe not even your parents". It's even worse when older kids are around. The baby gets all of the attention and often the other kids get negative comments made about/toward them (eg. "You used to be cute like this, Look what this baby can do, etc."). At best the older kids (even if they're just a little bit older) get ignored.
In these situations I try to make a point of interacting with the other kids that are around, asking them questions about themselves so they feel involved and not like an outcast, but I see this so much that it still really bothers me.
It seems people have kids sometimes for the novelty, or just to make the acquisition (like buying a puppy), and I wish that weren't the case. To me it's clear that if your kid is nothing but a thorn in your side then you've got no one to blame but yourself. Just like if your dog keeps peeing on your floor, because who's in charge around here anyway?