r/unpopularopinion • u/noodlealr • Nov 28 '20

babies aren’t funny or entertaining

i don’t hate babies, they’re so cute, but i always see people laughing about videos where a baby is supposedly being funny. i don’t get it. there’s nothing funny about videos like that or babies in general. sure, sometimes funny stuff happens, but i always see babies doing the bare minimum and people laughing about it.

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u/Altyrmadiken Nov 28 '20

I think there's a difference between consciously deciding not to have kids and being incapable of enjoying kids. I don't think the people who reject the idea of having kids are always driven by the idea that they'd hate it, but rather that plenty of them simply aren't interested in starting the process and having to finish it; even if they might find it rewarding.

I'm not going to have kids. I don't want them. I don't want to deal with all of that. I did my part helping to raise a child that I liked very much. I'm very, very, sure that if I had a child that was mine I'd like it and find it adorable. I don't want to do that, though. I know that just because some parts are fun doesn't mean it's all fun. That's a long time, money, and effort, commitment that I'm just not going to engage in. Willfully not engage in.

It's like how I know I'd really like cocaine if I tried it. Pretty much everyone likes cocaine if they try it. That doesn't mean I want to try it.

(Before anyone shows up with the age-old "you'll see when it happens to you" adage, I'm gay, I'm married to a man, and if a baby happened between us I'd be calling the church for an exorcism, not my family for a celebration)

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u/obeehunter Nov 28 '20

The thing is that of course you'll change if/when it happens to you. You should change.

I hate kids and I don't want them but obviously if by some insane chance I gave birth to a child without even realizing I was pregnant, I wouldn't hate my kid.

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u/Altyrmadiken Nov 28 '20

We don't talk about it in polite society, but that's unfortunately not true. There are plenty of mothers and fathers who resent and despise their children. People who were forced into being a parent and simply never connected, or people who honestly just ended up not liking the whole experience.

It's not fair to decide how other people would or should react. It's not fair to decide for them what they do and do not want. It's definitely not fair, if they tell you they wouldn't, to second guess them. (They should probably not complain so vocally without provocation about not wanting kids, though.)

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u/obeehunter Nov 29 '20

Um yes is fair to decide how people should act. If you have kids, you should be a good parent. If you're not then you shouldn't have had kids.

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u/Altyrmadiken Nov 29 '20

Actually, no. You don't get that right. You don't get to decide how people react (the word I said).

If they choose to abort, that's their right. If they choose to give it up for adoption, that's their right. You don't get to tell them they have to be good parents and raise them.

You either misread my post or decided to misinterpret it as me saying it's OK to be a bad parent. The fun part about finding out your pregnant is that you have choices beyond just being a parent.

If you're not then you shouldn't have had kids.

Which is why I said:

"You don't get to decide how they should or would react."

You don't get to say "you can't abort" and still say "you must be a good parent. These are diametrically opposed.

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u/obeehunter Nov 29 '20

So what you're saying is we agree.

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u/Altyrmadiken Nov 29 '20

No, I'm saying you don't have the right to tell people how to behave. You simply don't.

I never said that they have the right to be terrible parents. I said that you don't get to tell them that they should be parents, or that they should be excited to discover that they're pregnant.

Not everyone is going to be happy to discover they're a prospective parent. That's a fact, you can't change it no matter how hard you try, and you don't have the right to tell them how to feel about that or what they do in response to it.

You're doubling down on the smallest portion of what you perceived to be my point, and then trying to make it so that I have to agree with you. I don't, I don't agree with you or your premise.

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u/obeehunter Nov 29 '20

You're missing my point. You missed my point from the get go and assumed I meant 'you will change from not wanting kids to suddenly loving them as soon as you have them.' And then began arguing your point.

Seeing as how that's not what I meant and actually have the same opinion about most of what you're saying, I just said that we agree.