Almost all my life I’ve absolutely despised children. Pretty much from the moment I stopped being a child I’ve hated being around children.
It doesn’t even matter what the child is doing. Whether they’re laughing and having fun or screaming and throwing a tantrum. The sound of a child being loud activates an almost primal rage that I can barely contain.
I’ve had to leave social gatherings/restaurants/grocery stores all because if I’d stayed I’d have made a complete ass of myself by screaming at a child just for existing.
It’s even worse with infants which makes me feel horrible because I know they can’t help it. I know the kids don’t know any better and it’s our job as adults to get them through childhood, but my blood boils when they get loud or demand attention.
Has anyone else dealt with something like this? Is there anything I can do to stop from getting so angry?
The sound of a child being loud activates an almost primal rage that I can barely contain.
Yeah, that’s actually a thing for some people to various degrees.
It’s called misophonia
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24460-misophonia
I had it for high pitched sounds as well, went on Beta Blockers for migraines and it fixed this as well.
The noises are triggering your adrenal response and your body is screaming at you that the noise has to stop and it doesn’t matter what it takes. Beta blockers block adrenaline, so now noises that used to set me on edge are just normal noises to me.
I think one of the current hypothesis is that it might be close to a sound that would attract predators, but sometimes wires get crossed and you have the reaction to a random noise.
Most commonly it’s people hating the sound of others chewing.
I don’t hate children but children under age 6-8 creep me out. I get a flight response when I am put into a situation where I have to be around a toddler or baby. I have always thought it was an uncanny valley thing though. As soon as they can make complete coherent sentences though, it’s awesome. It’s incredible to watch them learn, absorb, and have them experience new things.
Welcome to Lemmy. Welcome to autism.
You might be a witch 🧙
Therapy. It’s clear this is causing you problems in your life. And that’s exactly what therapy is for.
See a shrink you have at minimum anger management problems being triggered here. Anxiety and perhaps some form of neurological disorder if you’re sensitive to loud noises in general but it’s worth finding out to manage it.
I just want to commend you on asking for help, and based on your post and replies, it sounds like you can at least offload the belief that you hate children, because it doesn’t seem that way, only that you’re very triggered by the noise, which I can totally relate to. It happens for me with kids and barking dogs, and I have to manage the sound with music and earbuds. Sound sensitivity and being stressed by it is very real for a number of conditions or conditioned mentalities, so I wouldn’t be so hard on yourself about it when it’s clear you’re empathetic and don’t want to feel that way, but seeking therapy with someone familiar with such reactions is probably a good idea. Though ultimately personal noise management may still be a big part of the solution.
Sounds like misophonia.
The word I was thinking of was “psychopath”…
This could be incorrect, but a psychopath generally wouldn’t ask for advice about it because they wouldn’t see anything wrong with it.
That’s a good point, hadn’t considered that.
No judgement, just curious: I know it’s more rare, but do you get the same visceral reaction to grown people throwing immature temper tantrums as well? Or is it limited to just the very young?
I just want to understand if this is more of a distaste for immaturity or if it’s only the immaturity of the immature that’s giving you that feeling.
I’m no fan of kids, but I don’t get this kind of rage myself. I can dismiss myself from the situation long before I struggle with these kinds of feelings.
I know the kids don’t know any better and it’s our job as adults to get them through childhood, but my blood boils when they get loud or demand attention.
It sounds like you still expect them to know better, to be better than the sociopathic children they are.
lucky you, hated those fuckers even when I was one.
Whether they’re laughing and having fun or screaming and throwing a tantrum. The sound of a child being loud activates an almost primal rage that I can barely contain.
This is actually a neurological thing. It has a name and everything (though I can’t recall what the name is). A lot of people on the spectrum have it. You may want to talk to a therapist about it, if this isn’t merely hyperbole.
I would echo the recommendation for counseling. However, is this a larger issue or unique to children? Do you find yourself getting disproportionately angry at other sources of annoyances? Answering that question might help you know whether there is a larger need to address.
Goosfraba. seriously though I don’t think there can be anything you do but remove yourself from the area unless they are your children. Its sorta funny but I was a way quite kid but I generally get kids. Its like dogs wanting to play. They just want to play. cyring and its like a dog wimpering. somethings wrong. Granted I have no kids and I don’t go out of my way to wrangle other folks but it never really bothers me.
Have you tried plugging your ears or using noise cancelling headphones?
Or unplugging their ears and plugging them back in?
