Is not wanting to be around children a sin?

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Gabia

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Hello! I am new here, but already have a question which causes a lot of anxiety to me. I am very introverted person, and do not like it know how to communicate with children. For example, today, I had to spend some time with our neighbors granddaughter, who is about 5 years old. At first I was being friendly, tough not very talkative, which is who I am around most people. But soon I just wanted to be left alone. She wasn’t annoying or anything, I just wanted to be left alone. When she and her grandparents left, I felt relieved but also guilty, because I wasn’t very patient and even told her, tough kindly, that I would like to be alone. When I prayed l, I said to God that I regret my impatience, but I know that I couldn’t just go ahead and offer to babysit her just to try to repent for my impatience, because I really do not like being with children. My main question is -does it mean that my apology to God was insincere and that I mortally sinned? Thant you!
Gabia.
 
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No sin at all. I know plenty of people would feel exactly the same as you did in your situation.
 
Being around children can be an acquired taste - depending on your stage in life. You’re not used to being around five-year olds. I can relate. When my children were young, I did in-home daycare. It was hard work, but my children enjoyed other playmates and the income helped. Now, I have nightmares that people are dropping their kids off! I don’t have grandchildren and having little kids around can cause stress. As others have stated, it is not a sin. If it’s a skill you’d like to acquire, small exposures could help.
 
Welcome!

I would think that not wanting to be around children is not a sin…and if it is…then I am a great sinner! I simply don’t like to be around children as well…I never had children and I sort of detached myself from them…It is a sore spot in my heart and just don’t want to be around them. I feel I have a preference and others should respect my wishes. When I was younger, being around children had an emotional impact because I wanted a child so desperately! I still hurt… :cry:
 
No sin.

It’s hard for an introvert to make small talk.

For me, it’s harder for me to make small talk with children. Especially children I don’t know. I have an easier time if they’re family.

I prefer to talk to teenagers and adults. Even when I was a child myself, I preferred the company of teenagers and adults.
 
No sin at all! However I wouldn’t mention it at your next nanny interview.
 
As long as they aren’t your own children, or your little siblings whom you have to live in the same house with and who are part of your family, it’s not a sin. It’s simply a preference.

When you do have to be around children, such as at church, then try to bear it with good grace and offer up any annoyance you might feel.
 
When I was young, I didn’t like to be around kids younger than myself. I have no idea why…perhaps being an only child was part of it? I had a ton of cousins, though and enjoyed those my age and older and was annoyed with those younger than myself.

I grew out of it. Somewhere around 20 it changed and I started to really enjoy their little brains.🤣. Nothing really happened to create the change…it just was part of my maturing process, I guess.
 
Sometimes I don’t want to be around kids (and I actually like kids). Not a sin. That said, be careful how you handle that with children.
 
I don’t think it’s a sin. For me, it all depends on the child; or it would probably be better to say, depends on the parent.
 
Gabia said:
When I prayed l, I said to God that I regret my impatience, but I know that I couldn’t just go ahead and offer to babysit her just to try to repent for my impatience, because I really do not like being with children. My main question is -does it mean that my apology to God was insincere and that I mortally sinned?
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Your actual question seems to be:

I felt I committed a sin

I apologized to God for that

However, because I do not feel that I could make the particular reparation of offering to babysit,…

…I fear I may have sinned mortally by offering an insincere apology to God.
First, it is not at all a sin to kindly tell someone you do not want to talk.

Usually we have some way of stopping a conversation with an adult, but children do not always pick up on social cues the way adults do and we just have to say something clearly. Either way, there is no sin involved in either act.

And yes, we might feel impatient in a social situation we do not know how to get out of, and if that is sinful, then we just have to tell God we are sorry and then say a prayer for those involved.

I am not sure that simply having a feeling of impatience falls to the level of being a sin.

Second, while we do need to make reparation for the times when we actually do sin, it generally does not have to be bigger than the sin was, nor as specific as the one you came up with.

And third, lack of intention to change is what makes an apology insincere, not an inability to perform some specific and unrelated act.
 
Thank you all for your answers! I really have a problem to tell apart a sin from just simply irritation , though I do know the “ingredients” which are required for sin to be committed, but I also tend to worry a lot about everything and my emotions usually wins against my mind. Also, when I try to say that something isn’t a sin I immediately think that it is the devil talking. But I am gonna try to worry a little less.
 
Some children, unfortunately, can be disrespectful little brats. When I was babysitting in my teens, the parents would remind their kids of the rules, mainly that I was in charge and they were to obey me. Then they would leave, and as soon as they left, the kids would deliberately act up, ignored everything I said, refused to go to bed when their parents said they should, started doing all the things their parents told them not to, and dared me to do anything about it. Moreover, they refused to be entertained.

Since I wasn’t given permission to discipline them, all I could do as write down everything that went on and report it to the parents when they returned. The main problem was, the kids simply wouldn’t mind me. They talked back, they argued, “I can” when I reminded them that their parents said they couldn’t, and so forth.

If kids are well behaved, it’s a lot easier to be around them and try to entertain them, but when all they do is use the absence of their parents as an opportunity to act up continually, then being around them can be very unpleasant and frustrating.

I can see how some people don’t like kids.

I had a Great-Grand Uncle who was a bachelor, and children embarrassed him. He was crotchety, and often didn’t feel well. I don’t blame him a bit for not taking a shine to any of us. That’s just how he was. He never married or had kids of his own, so found encounters with kids to be awkward.
 
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I did babysitting in my teens and the kids were wonderful.

They only acted up, when the parents returned home.

While the parents were gone, they behaved just fine.
 
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