Do you have an age of children you dislike the most?

I think 14-17 is hard. The exam stresses, boyfriend/ girlfriend dramas, peer pressure of drugs, vape, sex, booze then add in ability to drive! Late nights waiting up to pick them up from parties. Give me a newborn or toddler any day!

Ha! Mine were not

I'd rather gouge my own eyes out with a wooden spoon than revisit the HELL that was my oldest Dd's teenage years (from 12 until, er, 21!!) She has, in the last year, after being put on some proper medication, morphed into somewhat of a normal and fairly pleasant person and we're getting along fairly well. She also no longer lives at home!!

Younger DD (14) is an absolute dream in comparison and her teen years so far have been a doddle.

I have a toddler and apparently I look quite young, people always keep saying 'she adorable but wait until shes a teen, thats when it will get hard'. I have a teen (16 currently) though and my teen is by far the easiest kid.

I think its more personality than anything. Individually they are all easy enough but they have their personality quirks and together they are the worst for clashing.

I find my middle kid is the most impossibly trying personally because if he is with either sibling he will just cause havoc (the other 2 can be together fine though) and he has no basic common sense so constantly makes mind blowingly odd (sometime dangerous) choices. Which essentially means we cannot do anything as a family without it becoming a massive chore ending in disaster and us swearing we will never do anything again. He also talks non stop even if hes alone in a room and the constant noise drives me up the wall... but he was by far the easiest baby of the 3.

However my husband finds our youngest the 'hardest' as she can be the cutest angel to ever exist or the stubbornest diva who will tantrum and not relent depending on whatever takes her fancy.

Nobody finds our teen hard work though. He is quiet, well behaved, hard working and keep out of the way and out of trouble (a stickler for rules and an 'old soul') but I found him the hardest baby though.

I love babies and toddlers, just so innocent and cute.
I have a 10 year old and the lip is unbelievable. At the age where they think they know everything and argue the toss. Wouldn't have him any other way though !

I found toddler stage the worst, more emotional and mentally draining,as you just can't reason with a toddler.
Now I have a teenager and some things like rudeness and having to ask over and over to do anything.
I found age 4-12 lovely

It changed with each dd.
Dd1 18 to 23
Dd2 6 to 11
Dd3 12 to 16
Hormones and reacting to other siblings seems to be in the mix.

But seriously, I think the most challenging times were when they first became mobile and second place was puberty.

When my kids went through puberty I did a LOT of apologising to my own mother!

You've never seen a smile till you've seen the smile of a grandmother watching 'karma' in action.

(Karma as in the common misuse of the word)

My son is only 8.5 so not much experience compared to others but for me 2.5-3.5 was very challenging, still didn't sleep and very difficult due to speech and language delay.

Currently going through a tricky time, aged 7.5 onwards, which a few have commented on. Emotionally hard with different emotions, not a little child but not mature enough either. Moans and whinges a lot, issues with friends at school starting.

😂

Was going to say similar. Birth to 30 about covers it 😁

16. They were both horrible, rude, ignorant, lazy and opinionated for about a year, but came out the other side reasonably civilised humans.

Hate the toddler years with a passion.

Newborn - 2. Everything above that was lovely, even the teen years.

The description of the 8 and 11 year old stages was what I meant on my post, only you described it better!

0-18. Which is why I'm childfree.

I haven't done the teenage years yet. They scare me a bit...

18 months. Totally dangerous to themselves. They seem determined to do all manner of dangerous things.

ive got to say newborn to 7 is a breeze for me, but ive currently got a 8 year old and a 10 year old,they can be abit of a nightmare and abit sassy tbh they also like to bicker like cat and dog!
ive a 13 year old brother who although sits in his room alot hes rude and likes to think he knows it all!
my 4&5 year old are so easy compared to the older children.

Eldest didn’t sleep for first 8 months that nearly broke me. She basically screamed all night. Nothing has been as bad as that so far.

She was a gorgeous but mean toddler who went went through a stage of rejecting me when she was about 2 that I found quite hard. Apart from that she has been a delight.

Dd2 is amazing easy a d gorgeous and apart from wild outfits in teen years has never given any trouble. She had a cruel time when she was 13 and betrayed by a best friend and kicked out of her friendship group. That was an awful time as we were so powerless. She would walk up the front path having held
the tears in all day and just sob when we opened the door. Bloody awful.

Mum of 2 boys and gran to a girl.

I was a bit bored with the baby/toddler stage, but thoroughly enjoyed my two from about the age of 8 until they left home😁

Granddaughter on the other hand, loved every single stage of her life, her upcoming teens may be interesting however......🤣

Toddler. The phase where you give food, and they throw said food, repeat ad finitum.

I dislike being around other people’s toddlers, I didn’t dislike
my own, obviously. I will go out of my way to avoid spending any length of time (any if I’m honest) in a restaurant with a toddler.

I am fine with toddlers when they’re doing what they do best….toddling! But when they’re confined to a seat…it’s my version of hell.

So far I've loved every single age and stage! But newborn was the hardest!! (I'd love newborn hug again though)

In order of how bad they were, least to worst:

8, went through a really bratty phase which is apparently quite common. Very demanding, attention seeking and stroppy. Sarcastic and rude. Lots of tantrums and tears.

11, making lots of very personal digs, inserting themselves into adult situations, like commenting on division of labour in the household, stirring up (or trying to stir up) arguments between adults, making up rumours. Luckily, that phase was short lived.

3.5, possibly the worst 6 months I've had with either kid to date, massive inconsolable tantrums over apparently nothing and just totally impossible to reason with.

My children are both really lovely, sweet-natured kids, completely different but both great company so these years stood out as just horrible.

I wouldn't say I actively dislike them, but I think babies are pretty dull. Of course when my own were tiny I loved them but I definitely wouldn't want to do it again now and I have no interest in other people's. I enjoyed every stage at the time really but looking back I would say I enjoyed the newborn stage least and teens most.

I don’t dislike it but parenting 16/17/18 year old is most stressful and my least favourite stage.

The stakes are so high. The consequences to making mistakes are so much bigger.

Exams. Learning to drive. Going out in the car or (even worse for me, in the car with friends driving). The inevitable experiments with alcohol (no drugs so far thankfully).

They’re very independent but have so much still to learn.