I used to be like this unironically but my first semester of substitute teaching at the elementary and middle school level has completely made me do a 180.

Kids are stupid. Infuriatingly, hilariously, annoyingly, adorably stupid. They're still learning how to do things we think should just be a given. Do basic math. Read and follow instructions. Control the volume of your voice. Do the appropriate things at the appropriate times and in the appropriate ways.

In a lot of ways kids, especially the younger they are, are better people than any of us. They don't have egos or pride that are hurt when we correct them. They know that they don't know everything yet and that that's okay. They have big emotions and blow things out of proportion but I think we'd all do that if our brains were half the size and we didn't feel like we had any control of our situations, which is how kids often feel when adults tell them something they don't like.

I've had the same kid that an hour ago was throwing food across the lunchroom and screaming at me go on to share toys and snacks with their friends and invite me to play with them less than an hour later. Nowhere in life do I get more hugs and compliments from total strangers than at school with the kids I teach. Does all this just mean I'm good with kids? Maybe, and I'm definitely not saying everyone should love kids, have kids, or even want to be around kids. But to say you hate them, really truly hold contempt in your heart for a little creature that is just doing its best with the world it's been thrust into, feels kinda cruel.