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yeah. hi. i'm alo, i'm in high school, and i'm in my late teens. i'm an only child, and if you count my extended family, then i'm pretty much the youngest cousin. if any of you say, "oh but you're practically a kid yourself!" then well yes i am one, but this kind of thing is relative, and the "kids" i'm referring to in my title are like, say, ≤11-ish i think? yeah not that much younger than me in the grand scheme of things - but it's all relative, and to me, they seem very young.
i thought of making this thread right after yesterday, where i was at a gathering. there were only 4 minors - me, two boys about a year or two younger than me - i'm good friends with one, and acquaintances with another, and a 6th grader. i was tired, i'd just gotten back from a model united nations (spoiler alert: this flop won nothing), and i just really wanted to chat with my friend about my friend and her new ~very special~ friend (if you want to know: he is so very totally into her lmao, she sees it but isn't that into him yet, and wants to take things slow. you know, typical high school gossip). but. the. kid.
now look. here's the thing. i don't hate kids. i think they're cute (this kid is, certainly), and i want to be able to talk to them, interact with them, idk exert some kind of positive influence on their lives i guess?? like no i don't want to lecture them on the importance of getting good grades, making their parents proud, and whatnot, i am in absolutely no position to do so. but just... to be nice with kids hand have decent interactions with them? idk? but in actual situations (like this one), i'm hopeless
the kid just drained all of our energies tbh, he kept asking us questions. for example: "dO yOu HaVe a CrUsH???" like please, my guy, i don't. even if i did, you wouldn't know them, so what would you do with that information? "math is so hard we're doing bodmas in school!!" yeah and wait till you get to trigonometry, friend. i lost it when he started singing all the dirty songs he knew, saying all the dirty words he knew, and giggling away like it was the funniest thing on the planet (which at his age i guess it is).
i know i was being condescending, and i hate being condescending, cause i hated it when older kids were condescending to me when i was little. i know i was being a d*ck. but idk i just couldn't, you know, not be drained by him and think "was i like this when i was in 6th?". i found it hard to get to his level (not "lower" myself, i don't really think i'm on a "higher" level just cause i'm older, we're just in very different stages in life i guess).
so, i ask for your advice: how do i interact with kids without being a d*ck? any and all tips are very much welcome, especially from those v good with kids, or maybe even parents themselves1
i thought of making this thread right after yesterday, where i was at a gathering. there were only 4 minors - me, two boys about a year or two younger than me - i'm good friends with one, and acquaintances with another, and a 6th grader. i was tired, i'd just gotten back from a model united nations (spoiler alert: this flop won nothing), and i just really wanted to chat with my friend about my friend and her new ~very special~ friend (if you want to know: he is so very totally into her lmao, she sees it but isn't that into him yet, and wants to take things slow. you know, typical high school gossip). but. the. kid.
now look. here's the thing. i don't hate kids. i think they're cute (this kid is, certainly), and i want to be able to talk to them, interact with them, idk exert some kind of positive influence on their lives i guess?? like no i don't want to lecture them on the importance of getting good grades, making their parents proud, and whatnot, i am in absolutely no position to do so. but just... to be nice with kids hand have decent interactions with them? idk? but in actual situations (like this one), i'm hopeless
the kid just drained all of our energies tbh, he kept asking us questions. for example: "dO yOu HaVe a CrUsH???" like please, my guy, i don't. even if i did, you wouldn't know them, so what would you do with that information? "math is so hard we're doing bodmas in school!!" yeah and wait till you get to trigonometry, friend. i lost it when he started singing all the dirty songs he knew, saying all the dirty words he knew, and giggling away like it was the funniest thing on the planet (which at his age i guess it is).
i know i was being condescending, and i hate being condescending, cause i hated it when older kids were condescending to me when i was little. i know i was being a d*ck. but idk i just couldn't, you know, not be drained by him and think "was i like this when i was in 6th?". i found it hard to get to his level (not "lower" myself, i don't really think i'm on a "higher" level just cause i'm older, we're just in very different stages in life i guess).
so, i ask for your advice: how do i interact with kids without being a d*ck? any and all tips are very much welcome, especially from those v good with kids, or maybe even parents themselves1
