That is an opinion, not a fact. Freedom of association and to be happy can include not interacting with children you choose not to, and optimizing for happiness is important (versus a social contract requiring otherwise). No one will optimize for your own happiness besides you.
I have kids, but fully respect people who don’t care for or want to avoid time and interaction with kids. I respect their boundaries, that is what I advocate for here.
I’ve had over a decade of therapy, so I’m fairly confident in my position on the topic.
it is one thing to ask someone who doesn't want to deal with kids for help taking care of them, but quite another to expect them to tolerate kids and behave in a manner that gives the kids space they need. (like not smoking near kids, etc)
in a city i can't choose my neighbors, but some neighbors don't like kids and will complain if they are to noisy because they are playing soccer in the yard, to the point that they force the building management to disallow it, which then takes a lawsuit from the parents to remove that rule because such a rule is in fact illegal since kids playing is natural had has to be tolerated.
if someone feels that kids playing infringes their boundaries then they do need an attitude adjustment.
Agreed. Kids need the space to develop as you mentioned, and it’s somewhat trivial to determine where to live to avoid children using granular census and school availability data if desired.
it’s somewhat trivial to determine where to live to avoid children
given the discussions of how much more housing most cities need, i actually think this is not trivial at all. not wanting to live near children pretty much comes down to not living near people.
> I have kids, but fully respect people who don’t care for or want to avoid time and interaction with kids
How would this sound:
"I fully respect people who want to avoid time and interaction with black people"
Why is okay to say "I hate kids", we would not think kindly of someone who says "I hate Women/Jews/etc.".
Kids were exploited, historically, just like any other minority - we used to send them into the coal mines and many didn't come back.
Even today, we discriminate against young people all the time. A 17 year old is not allowed to vote, but come 18 and they may be forced into the army and sent to fight a war, without ever having a say in the matter.
They are the last minority that we world does not respect, and has no plan to respect as the world is becoming more geniatric (look at the age of congress) whils moving into a climate calamity.
And I am not writing this as a young person, not any more.
I have kids, but fully respect people who don’t care for or want to avoid time and interaction with kids. I respect their boundaries, that is what I advocate for here.
I’ve had over a decade of therapy, so I’m fairly confident in my position on the topic.