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

Toddlers. Love having teens

Yep yep I agree with this! 8-10 for me, just can’t be bothered with it. It’s a weird inbetweeny stage between little kid and big kid, they think they’re too old and cool for toys and stuff but they’re not actually old enough for the stuff they want to do so they just mope about whinging about screens and going out. Annoying and boring. Also heralded the start of a lot of friendship dramas and general bullshit, for DD at least. She’s 12 now and largely through the drama with her head currently screwed on straight so I’m hoping that bodes well for the teen years!

They’ve been little arseholes at different ages for me.
my eldest, wonderful baby, excellent toddler and a dream of a teenager.

6-7 he was lucky I didn’t send him to live with wolves, they may have been the only ones to control him.

the others aren’t old enough to have a definitive arsehole age yet, I’ll update after teen years.

Newborn, 8-10, 13-15

11-13 was the hardest emotionally, just post COVID lockdowns - she had COVID twice - once really badly and took months to recover a bit like glandular fever. Struggled with the transition to high school, became very reliant on me emotionally, seemed to regress in terms of confidence and independence, autism diagnosis at 13. Year 9 was better. Year 10 has been a breeze she's back to her independent self, enjoying new found freedoms - shopping in the city with friends etc, learnt to manage her time and energy levels effectively so autism generally under control and rarely melts/shuts down now as knows when feeling overwhelmed and nips the triggers in the bud.

What I miss is the big toddler hugs around the neck and when you pick them up and they melt into you.

Honestly I disliked every age for one reason or another, but also liked all the ages for other reasons. Motherhood was and still is tough for me even after 28 years, but I’m not maternal and am an extreme introvert so that had a lot to do with it too.

About 13-15 was the worse - the back chat and rudeness - ... I found the baby/toddler years very easy but I was lucky to have an exceptionally good natured baby ... nearly 10 years on from those difficult years and fortunately mostly forgotten!

I was a play worker and youth worker for 20yrs , I just gave up last year( I'm a practicing retiree) both gave me joy for different reasons

Palomino, I echo you. Baby to two was absolutely shite and I hated EVERY second of it. We eventually adopted our second child, no way was I doing that again!!!!

Baby & Toddler the best!!

Middle years seems to flash by, I couldn’t tell you what a 7,8,9,10 yr old does or is like as I genuinely can’t really recall.

Currently in the throws of teen years, which definitely has its ups and downs! But I do love how I am seeing DD grow up, she is genuinely very funny!

I don't have my own children but I'm finding my niece very hard going at the moment - chippy, cheeky, argumentative and very attention seeking. She's a young eleven and has been this way for about 18 months.

I would definitely take a newborn over a teenager!

Teenagers have made me question my sanity. give me a newborn any day!

Toddler years and teens from 13/14-
hopefully just 16 but not out of the woods yet.

Liked the newborn and baby stage up until toddlerdom.

Roughly about 6 months to 25 years 😅

I found the baby stage brutal. Loved toddler to about 6 years old. Late primary bit tricky, when friendship issues can cause upset. Teen girl years hell. 20s and up delightful!!!!

15-17 is mine. Love the adult DC and love the little ones but those end of teen years were grim. Anxiety was constant, always dramas and tears.

Loved baby stage then gone down hill. I am not a good mother unfortunately

Baby and toddlerish stage .

Early primary years were bonkers,noisy and exhausting but fun.(one my ears stopped ringing from the incessant chatter)

9-11 ok but some very frustrating moments around friendships,interests etc.

11 to now (13), favourite stage so far , but who knows what the future will bring?

I wasn't keen on the age round 6.
I.loved from 9 to adulthood including the teens.
Teenage years were my favourite.

Newborn to 2 yr old was hell on earth for me. ‘Terrible 2’ weren’t terrible at all for us and once communication, walking etc happened started getting easier and easier. My DH wanted another kid; I told him if I can birth a 5 yr old I’m all for it but since that’s not an option, I’m done at one as can’t imaging going through the first 2 yrs all over again.

Agree with you there. I’m on 9 and 11 and it’s not great. Too young to be left alone and unsupervised in any way but no longer interested in toys and generally hard to entertain. They see all adult things and want them (phones, YouTube etc) but aren’t able again to be unsupervised and don’t understand the things they see and want and pester for are inappropriate and too expensive. Generally quite an annoying age.

Maybe 9. They’re all teeth and ears and not cute any more 😆. Too old to be innocent and too young to be interesting. (Disclaimer. I loved my children even when they were 9).

Loved every stage until 13 - 15 and then it's been lovely again ever since.

Babies and young children are easy.