any tips for talking to kids, especially females?
I have to visit some long lost family but I want to avoid it being awkard
Any tips for talking to kids, especially females?
Parker Davis
James Brown
Nice try, soggy pedophile. Eat shit
Jaxson Allen
fuck off nigger. I dont want to be there anymore than they do but I'd be asshole if I didnt show up.
I don't really talk to people in general so how am I expected to converse with a 10 year old I have nothing in common with beyond a few genes
Nathan Evans
Why do you absolutely need to interact with a child for more than a few minutes? Im sure theyre not going to require you to have a 2 hour long philosophical conversation with her, weetard.
Benjamin Hall
They better not expect more than 2 mins of interaction. Problem is I cant even do more than 30 seconds. I'm socially retarded. Maybe I can just go to a movie with them and call that "bonding"
Jason Morales
>nothing in common with them
yes you do. You were 10 once, weren't you? I have a 7 year old brother and I'm kinda shocked at how easy it is to relate to him and talk about the things he likes. I still remember how I thought at his age, and I just talk about how much I used to love the things he loves now and why. It turns out when you're genuine like that kids like it. I guess I always did have a really strong imagination so maybe that helps...
In any case, good luck user. You gunna do fine.
Cooper Sullivan
How old are we talking? If they're pretty young you can get away with just humouring them. Imagine you had to talk to someone with down syndrome and you won't be too far off. You can often just repeat or rephrase what they've said back to them in the form of a question. Otherwise just ask basic pointless questions related to what they've just said, kids like talking about themselves just as much as adults do.
>they talk about the antics of a friend of theirs
That's neat, do they always do that kind of thing?
>they talk about fortnite
Cool, is fortnite your favourite game?
>they show you a drawing they did
Oh wow that's such a good drawing. Well done.
>they talk about some other hobby
Sounds like a lot of fun. [insert inane question about an aspect of that hobby]
If they're closer to teenage you're in trouble. You'll have to be a lot more interesting and less obviously patronising.
Jeremiah Lopez
>yes you do. You were 10 once, weren't you
Yeah, but I wasn't a 10 year old female, there are a lot of differnces between girls and boys user
John Smith
>If they're closer to teenage you're in trouble. You'll have to be a lot more interesting and less obviously patronising.
They are between 10-13 so I think i'm screwed. I am by far the least interesting person I know and cannot hold a convo even if my life depended on it
Sebastian Barnes
no, I'm not sure that I believe that. They're just people, user. I think it's near impossible for someone's situation to be relatable to your own in some sense.
>relatable isn't a word
what the fuggg?
Matthew Harris
>patronizing
Ha! I've been talking to my aforementioned lil bro as though he were my age ever since he was born. Don't be interesting, just be interested. Ask pointed questions.
Ryder Morales
My point is that they are WAY younger than me and of the other gender so I'm very limited in how I can relate to them. I'm also not a very talkative person so I won't want to speak to them all the time and I don't want that to come across as me being a dick. What tricks are there to be able to talk to anyone
Grayson Bell
rip, you're screwed. Kids that age arbitrarily decide if they like you based on so much shit outside of your control. At that point it's better to just make sure the parents don't think you did any thing wrong and show you at least tried to get along with the kids.
I've got several sisters and they would decide they didn't like a cousin that visited simply because earlier that day they got upset about something and the cousin visited while they were still in a bitchy mood. And of course they refuse to consider that their emotions played a part in that view.
Ethan Peterson
Kids are simple minded bring them gifts and youll be good on their books. My nephews ane nieces love, its going to break their hearts when I inevitably kill myself.
Sorry kidos. Im actually not as strong as I make myself look in front of you three. Ill make it look like an accident
Elijah Flores
I should point out that I do have a brother completely unrelated to these girls who, like you, I have known since he was born and can talk to easily since we have similar hobbies.
ughhh this isn't looking good
These are teenagers that I know little about what can I buy them? Plus 'm severly in debt so that's a no.
Yikes, whats so wrong with you that you're gonna off yourself?
Liam Campbell
I've fucked up my wording rather dramatically, lmao. I meant to imply that it's impossible for someone's situation not to be relatable am I spelling it wrong? what the fuggg??to your own. I often find conversations running away from me as I ask more and more pointed questions. It's sometimes too easy just to let people talk endlessly. Just listen, consider context and what they might be thinking about etc..., and ask. If they start asking about you it's time to panic though lmaoo. Just kidding, but it does take some skill to be good at redirecting
Adam Carter
>Ay what you learn in school?
>You like that class?
>I used to love that class!
>Cool!
>Awesome!
>Great!
Just be like that
Elijah Ramirez
Basically what I meant was, don't worry about it. You'll feel like an awkward mess at the time, but you'll get over it. And they'll barely remember it.
Jaxson Bennett
>be me, an social retard
>friends all have kids
>one friend's kids are particularly attached to me because we all played drunk nerf with them one day
>me and friend sitting on couch, drinking beers chatting while his critters (2 and 5) scurry about
>2 year old runs over and climbs on the back of the couch, does a superman leap and lands on my head
>grab her and stabilize so she doesn't fall and smack her face
>loosen grip after few seconds because i thought she was climbing down
>nope, kicks off the back of the couch really hard enough to jolt me forward
>try to catch
>tiny teeth smack into my knee, immediately pick her up to see if she's hurt
>look over to friend he's laughing his ass off, saw the whole thing
i'm super afraid of kids getting hurt around me and this incident made me stop hanging out with all my friends who have kids, even though she was okay, not even bruised, and my buddy wasn't even mad, the feel of her little face smacking into my knee like that haunts me to this day
i have panic attacks if i hear a crying kid
Luis Bennett
here's a succinct version of what I've been writing. It works. Since you probably hate people asking about yourself it can be hard to remember that that's not true for normal people.
Henry Torres
as expected from an obitofag MADARA WAS BETTER YOU STUPID NIGGER
Evan Peterson
you dont need to talk to them just say "sup" or some shit and ignore them unless they approach you or else youll look like a pedophile
David Sanders
>but it does take some skill to be good at redirecting
What is this and how can I get good
I'm cringing just imaginig myself saying that stuff
Gabriel Robinson
also
>based obitoposter
Xavier Ross
I actually understand completely, user. The responsibility behind how fragile they are is terrifying. I was babysitting my own brother a few weeks ago and I was still close to panicking the whole time.
I will say that because it's such a common feeling, you can bring it up with your friends if you want. It might help ease a lot of the fear you're feeling just to hear someone else say they've felt it too (they have). I mentioned it to my parents and it helped me quite a bit.
Alexander Perez
Talk about naruto or actually just watch naruto with your relatives.
Best character is Kakashi though.
William Perez
>kid says some stupid shit
>act like you're interested
also you can probably smile a little bit
Wyatt Miller
>tfw you were the smart kid everyone complimented
>tfw you're 30 now and there's a new batch of kids in the family who are smarter than you are now
Xavier Cruz
did not meant to reply to
Easton Perez
I talk to them like they're adults because that's what I liked when I was a kid.
When they ask you questions they may seem like a cute little pokemon but theres an adult in there trying to work the world out. They genuinely want to know the answer.
I worked in a museum ship once and I was training up another guide. An older woman. A little boy maybe 9 or 10 came up and asked her since she was in a T shirt what was under the floorboards. She bent over and said 'That's where we keep the pirates!' his mother was smiling but the kid was clearly upset.
I said 'Where I'm standing a water tank. Where you're standing the electricity manifold'.
He lit up and was very interested. He didn't know what an electricity manifold is. Frankly neither do I but he was glad to have an adult answer and he actually learned something.
Alot of the time people talk to children to display to adults how good they are with children and don't actually really interface with them. I back my theory up with pre 1960 childrens textbooks that are more informative than fucking Haynes manuals nowadays.
I like when adults think I'm autistic with kids and it tends to pay off especially when they're teenagers and they like you because you never patronised them.
Zachary Cruz
>redirecting
ever get annoyed when a politician seems to be answering an entirely different question by the end of their answer? That's what we're talking about here.
You can do things like first expand the scope of the question and then speak to whatever smaller part of that scope you want (mostly what politicians are doing). i.e. Will you raise taxes to pay for the (extremely specific and binding) "build roads n stuff" bill? I think that infrastructure is vital to our nations economy, and I will absolutely promise to work towards improving our roads. (That fuckin' snake got away again)
Another one is answering a question with a question (please don't do this, jesus christ)
For your purposes here though I think the best option is the Wilson Fisk defense. Answer personal questions with general anecdotes and observations. This one is by far my favorite, and it's actually quite fun. It can also come across as super casual and conversational. You're not deflecting you're just telling stories and sharing facts.
I spent way too much time on this, but I'm tired and I'm having fun I guess
Ryder Lopez
based. Someone else gets it. Kids aren't hard to talk to at all. Everyone else is just fucking weird about it. Just... talk to them like they're an adult, duh.
Justin Russell
so asking them for sex is ok then?
Isaac Howard
the obvious caveat is that you have to treat them like adults but remember that they're not. Yes, some topics are obviously off the table, but I just talk to the lil dude how I normally talk. I just remember to pause and explain words or concepts that I think he might not know, or he'll just interrupt and ask which is super cute anyway.
Hunter Bell
Don't patronize them. Get them talking about stuff they like, ask questions and engage with their interests.
Henry Thomas
This guy gets it but in ops case, the kids are 10-13 . When they get to early teens, they are always going to feel patronised.
Elijah Bennett
I hardly know how to speak to adults. When my nieces and nephews were little they were sort of interested in me and I'd talk to them about psychoanalysis and JRPGs. They realized I'm just a fucking weirdo and now as teenagers they completely avoid eye contact with me and ignore my existence, whispering and laughing to each other at their freak uncle.
Xavier Ross
>psychoanalysis
Most adults probably would not even be interested in that so why you thought it would be cool to talk to kids about it, is beyond me. Do bear in mind that most people out there are pretty dumb, and will raise dumb kids.
>teenagers laughing at freak uncle
Good. At least you do not have to entertain the little shits now. Kids are so sweet when they are young but when they hit 11, they can fuck off
William Allen
I am a freak for sure. I look at my family or people in the street and question if they have an Oedipus/Electra complex and how it manifests in their daily life. As my nieces and nephews matured, I would notice their personality traits slowly forming and attributing fixations, retentiveness/explosivity and all that. I'd talk to them about their dreams and what they symbolized and they just sort of gave me these looks like dogs do when you talk to them.
Then I'd switch subjects to video games because kids love games too, especially zoomers right? They do but not my games. I had to spend 8 hours with my nephews and I showed them my PS4 games which were all JRPGs like Final Fantasy XII and I showed them how much I had grinded in the game and my leveling methods. Of course they didn't care but fuck it I'll make these little shits listen anyway. All they do, after school, is play Fortnite and soccer or basketball.
The nieces are older now, 16 and 17, and they want nothing to do with me. Complete ignorance except occasionally I see them looking at me, whispering and giggling. JUST like girls did when I was in high school where they would make rumors about me being a rapist or serial killer just because I looked ugly.
Adam Smith
thanks if the conversation is about me I'll dodge questions and reinterpret them to suit the non-answer I plan to give
Joshua Barnes
Well, you sound interesting to me but then this website attracts people like us I guess. I espoused like to say that not all kids are like this but I really am not sure. I love my nephews a lot but as the oldest is growing up (currently 9) I can see his personality forming and he is turning into his mother who is a vapid cunt. Talking about a mother who spoils her kids with toys and gadgets so she does not have to watch them and then boasts about what a wonderful mother she is. Kids have a weird effect on me though. I can be myself around them and I feel like a kid again. Literally never played roblox in my life but my nephew started to play it, so I thought I would give it a try and I enjoy playing it with him a lot. Such a shit game but playing that with him, and taking an interest in it makes it fun. He is also interested in my hobbies. I am teaching him to play the harmonica at the moment and he always looks forward to playing it together. Trying to enjoy him as much as I can because I know in a couple years, he will change and that boy I know now, will not be there anymore
Easton Nguyen
Wow, autocorrect fucked that up. Espoused should be would
Nathan Brown
It's sad but true. My brothers are very well-adjusted, hard-working people and their wives are a gossips but decent at heart. It makes sense my nieces and nephews have grown up to be normal, socialized individuals who naturally look upon freaks like me in disgust. I'm glad you can try Roblox with your nephew, user. I played a few matches of Fortnite with my little nephew, 10, and he was pretty happy about that so maybe I'll try it again. It just hurts knowing I have to fake my personality and interests just to get along. That's why I'm a shut-in and can't get a job because I refuse to compromise my integrity. For family, it might be worth it though.
Brandon Robinson
>nieces and nephews look at me in disgust
This sounds exactly like my sister. She looks at me in disgust because of my hobbies and interests. One time she straight up called me an ugly cunt and I can tell she meant it although to be fair, I called her a shit useless mother. I give teenagers like that a pass because they judge people harshly anyway but i am sure not all are like this. With kids, I don't mind faking shit because seeing them happy is enough for me and kids can be quite inquisitive so they will ask questions about what you like/do. I literally got a call from my nephew 20 minutes ago and he asked me what I'm doing at work. I work the most boring office job ever and I was putting myself to sleep explaining to him what it is I do, but he listened for a whole two minutes and asked questions in between. Two minutes is a long time given what it was we were talking about. Does he think the job sounds interesting? Probably not, but he was interested in knowing what I do which counts for something. Definitely give fortnite with your nephew another go. Enjoy that person because it may not last
Nicholas Perez
you dont have much luck with young girls do you?
Evan Cooper
nope, but in this case it's 101% platonic. I'm just trying to avoid long periods of awkward silence