hardest ages?

[dakotablue]

So I know for DS1 18m to about 2 years it was like a little demon child moved in.

Are there other general ages that are very difficult? We are thinking about the spacing for our third (I was thinking longer than shorter, but I got to wear my new nephew today :O)

So What are/ were the hardest ages (and please don't say all of them :giggle)

Thanks

PS...the 3 under 3 thread has be worried even though DS1 would be over 3....:shifty

[Marzipan]

With dd 3 and 8 so far have been the hardest. With ds, 4 was by far the worst. With dd2, she's an angel and everything she does is adorable. :shifty My kids are all 2+years apart and that has worked well for us.

[Codi]

The notorious ages around here (and by here I mean GCM) are 3 and 6. But each age has a period of disequilibrium. :hug

[MiriamRose]

DS went through a rough patch around 16-19 months. But, we also had a lot of transition going on around that time.

He is 28 months now, and I think started the 2.5 disequilibrium maybe 4-6 weeks ago. I am having a much harder time handling this stage than the 1.5...maybe because I'm pg, maybe because he really was such an angel child until recently. He is still an overall very laid-back, delightful toddler and it's all normal 2yo stuff...just the hitting and biting and testing of boundaries really frays my nerves, esp since he saves most of it for when I am alone with him. I can't wait to get on the other side of this phase to some smoother sailing for a little while.

[3boysforme]

For ds1 it was 4, ds2 its been 4 and so far 5, ds3......all of them :duck

[believer]

My dad used to say that with me the most difficult age was 16. W/ my oldest dd - it was probably late 17/early 18. :shrug3 She was tough at 3 also. In fact, she was just the most difficult of the 3 so far.

[Aisling]

Half ages, in general, are tough.

After that, it really depends on the child/parent. :heart Also, what triggers me might not even phase you. :shrug

3, 4 and 6 were tough for dd1.

15m, 2 and 4.5 have been tough for dd2.

3 has been tough for dd3.


Three's been a really busy age that's full of big feelings, experimenting with word power, and highly sensory-charged. I have to stay on top of my 3yos all. the. time. :giggle :phew That said, they're also remarkably delightful and verbal and imaginative. :heart

Really, try as we might have to time everything "just right", things really tend to happen the way they will, and you're bound to have your hellish age combos even with docile, perfectly timed kids. :giggle The best laid plans of mice and men....<chuckle>

[Elora]

ds1 - 4
only age that's been hard for me

BEYOND obnoxious

[Little Forest]

3-3 1/2 is the toughest from my experience if I had to pinpoint it.
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[Firebird Rising]

Six is killing me...
Put together with a very verbal articulate almost four year old and I'm :banghead most days.

[Barefoot Bookworm]

Yes, 3 until 3.5 STINKS in my house. I've done it twice now and oh holy banana, it's not fun. My DD2 turns 3 in December and I'm not looking forward to it.

[Niphredil]

I struggle with two. Which is contrary to a lot of people's experiences here... Just goes to show how much different kids and different parents strengths, weaknesses and triggers play into it.

Two, for us thus far, is a lot of sensory need, experimenting with words and power, and loooots of huge shrieky feelings.

[Amber]

For me 3-3.5 was the hardest. And when I had a 1.5yo and a 3.5yo at the same time...well I think I completely shut down and went into survival mode for a few months. It was hard.

[SamRose]

With my very verbal and less adventurous kids, 1yo was easy. But with my verbally average but physically advanced kids, young one is exhausting.
With my sweet & compliant first born son, 2y & 3y were easy. With my daughters, not so much. :no OH, the drama. :P~

From my experience w/ kids in general over the years, working with them in numerous capacities, I'd say generally speaking, at least for me, 3yo might be the toughest age. Many 3's are articulate enough to make it sound like they are totally rational beings who you should be able to reason with, but that is very rarely the case. :lol

[MarynMunchkins]

Honestly, the age I dislike the most is baby. :shifty I think under 18 months is the worst of all, and it has been for all my kids. I'm not a baby person. :no

[MomtoJGJ]

I hate 3. 3.5 is awful.

I think a lot of it has to do with what triggers you though. I LOVE 18mo-2.5 :) So far with all 4 of mine that's awesome. Julianna at 3, the ONLY trouble she had was that she would NOT go to the bathroom if she needed to and she got MEAN. Once we figured that out, we were good... same pattern with Evie too. So I"m guessing that might have been there with Jayden and Grace and I just didn't notice it.

I had Julianna (#3) when Jayden was 3.5... it was simply survival. I don't remember it as being overly hard, but I look at now and see that when I have this baby, Evie will be 3.5.

But to answer your question more thoroughly from my children.

3 is awful
4 is whiny/demanding
5 is whiny/emotional
6 is awful
going on 9 really sucks :shifty

But overall my oldest has by far been my most difficult at every age... that has a lot to do with her being my first time through parenting each of these stages (I can see how to handle things differently with my younger ones), her temperment/personality/issues, and the fact that she is dh made over :shifty which should mean that I get along with her very well, but the things that annoy me about dh annoy me double with her.

And what really really sucks is that this fall I'll have a 9.5, 6, 3.5, and newborn with an almost 8 year old thrown in there.

[Allison]

For me, it depended on the child. I think personality plays into it a lot.

My oldest was difficult from 4-7 months and again at 2.5. By the time he was three, he was pretty easy and has been since.

My middle (Asperger's) was a fairly difficult baby, had rough years at 4 and 6.

My youngest was the easiest baby EVAR, became difficult at 2 and hasn't stopped yet. He is exhausting.

I'll say this again . . . 7 is magic. I would like another baby. I won't consider even getting pregnant until my youngest is 7. Afa spacing is concerned, if I could go back, instead of rushing to have them all two-ish years apart, I would have had two, two years apart, waited until my youngest was 7 and had two more, two years apart.

Edited to add: I agree with what Mary says, except it's the opposite for me. I love babies until they turn two and then I'd gladly ship them to toddler boarding school until they are at least 5. :giggle My youngest would still be there. lol He has certainly made up for being such an easy baby.

[Earthmummy07]

3. Definately Three :shiver

Two was tricky, definately. It was harder than anything I'd experienced before. But two was also cute, snuggly and funny.

Three was just HARD. Hide under the duvet and cry because I didn't want to get up and deal with him hard :bag

4 is fun, but sooooo dramatic. Everything is the end of the world. And he's crazy strong now :sigh

[greengirl19]

0-9 months
a few months around 2 (that may have been food related)
we're in a awesomely wonderful stage here at 2.6
I'm expecting 3-3.5 to be rough from what I've heard.

[SamRose]

It just goes to show how much our personalities color our perspective, cuz baby stage is so easy to me. Feed, change, sleep, hold; they're very benign creatures (mine anyway). Even my high maintenace baby was easier than my current 3yo. (tho she has been the hardest in many ways).

[SubarbanHippie]

We went through a pretty rough patch with DS when he was between 4 and 5. He screamed about everything. Now that he's going on 10, we're dealing with hormonal issues, so it's like a whole new phase with all new challenges.

[Stacy]

Three was DD1's first year by far. It was horrible. I'm heading into six w/ her and three now w/ my littlest. God help us all. :shifty

[MercyInDisguise]

It's so individual! Everybody was telling me nightmare stories about having 2 y/o's, and this has been my favorite age so far. :heart Granted, we're only 2 months into it, so that could change! :giggle For me *so far* (not that I'm far into this parenting journey at all!), I agree with Mary that the baby stage is not my favorite. It's strange, because I love babies, but the fighting sleep, crying for no understandable reason... it stressed me out. Possibly I will be less stressed next time around because I will understand that it's normal (which I didn't understand with C), so we'll see I guess.

[Waterlogged]

There are so many factors - child temperament, parent temperament, family stress, family supports, etc etc. I despised the baby phase, and generally have enjoyed the last 1.5 years of parenting (with its ups and downs). DH is the opposite. He's having a hard time with the constant chatter of 3yo dd. :shrug

[JessicaTX]

Young 3, young 9 and 16. And 13, for the sass, apparently my brain falls out of my head at midnight preceding a 13th birthday.

[Daria_Aleksandrovna]

I was bored out of my mind when DS1 was 0-18m - work was nice escape from childcare. Now he's 3 and I really like him.

But now surprisingly, I'm really enjoying every second of DS2 babyhood and dreading return to work. May it continue...

[treehugginmama]

So far for:
DS1 2.5, 10 and 14
DS2 2.5, almost 10
DS3 2.5, right now at 8 but he's working through some stuff.
DD 3 up. LOL I think she's just a typical girl and I'm getting use to that.
DS4 2 but now at 2.5 he's easier. He's just very loud and very busy, but he needs to be to keep up with his older siblings.

[MomtoJGJ]

I change my mind... 9 is so far very very awful... so far it is my new least favorite age.

[ThePottersDaughter]

With DS1, when he hit 3.5 he all of the sudden tired into a child with NO impulse control. I was like every behavioral thing he had learned in the first 3 years went out the window. It was better by about 4. Now that he's 5.5 I can tell he's heading into the "6 year old" disequilibrium that I read about on here. Just becoming a little extra sensory-seeking and a little sassy (the sass has been able
To be helped by very consistent discipline in that area. I'm afraid the only thing that helps the high energy impulsiveness/sensory seeking is to keep his mind and body constantly engaged in the right activities which whist can't happen 100% of the time).

DS2 hit a really rough patch at 2.5 but we had a family tragity during that time so it's hard to tell of that was a disequilibrium thing or if it was purely the processing through the trauma that his little brain had to go through. Now at just over 3, I can see that he is headed into the 3.5 disequilibrium.

[kwisie]

So far, 6 and 12.5-13. :shiver