[sray]

I was the youngest in a tiny family, and never had much exposure to children younger than myself. As such, I grew up not liking kids very much - I thought they were obnoxious, loud, selfish little creatures.

Then, about 10 years ago, I met my now-wife and got pulled into her gigantic family, complete with dozens of nieces and nephews. Not really knowing how to interact with young children, I just talked to them like adults - not dumbing down what I said, making jokes and references that there was no possibility they would understand - I found it kind of amusing to talk to a child like that.

But, the funny thing is, they really responded to being treated that way. And, it was fascinating to see how they reacted to my comments and questions. A lot of times I would say something I thought was totally over their heads, yet they would inevitably furrow their brows, and come up with some kind of response - often showing an amazing level of comprehension. It was really interesting to see how a child's thought process works, and how it changes as they grow.

As a perverse revenge against someone who didn't like kids, they all grew fond of me. I guess they liked being treated as people instead of dumb little kids.

Epilogue: I actually grew to like children... or the mostly-well-behaved ones, anyway.