I hate having two kids

4 and 2 is awful - you're in the trenches but it gets better. 7 and 5 is beautiful (well.... in comparison). When everyone in the house was continent, didn't climb up on furniture and I could switch off the constantly fretting part of my mind and leave them play for 15-20 minutes without checking on them, life became so much better. Once everyone is over the age of 3.5, I was able to regain a sense of my own identity/spend time on my own even with them in the house with me. It won't be like this forever.

Even now and they are in their 30s lol. Luckily live hundreds of miles apart

Oh dear!

It will be fine. There be tougher days and easier days - being a mum isn't easy, but the joy they will bring you is immense. I think that's quite a good gap. I had DC3 when DC1 was 6.5 and DC2 4.5 and apart from DC3 sharing crisps with the baby the night he was born, and falling over onto their head in the Moses basket, nobody came to any harm! Don't let this thread worry you. If it was that bad, nobody would ever have any more than two! Best wishes!

Yours might've done Mine didn't...

And there was me thinking that you were 🙄

I think I mentioned that my children were adults now somewhere in the thread, might have, might not. Not going back to check. I think my posts made it clear enough that this was in the past and I don't have a current 2 year old.

Don't be ridiculous, working in a pre-school is nothing like having 2 children at home with you, unless you brought your work home.

Your posting style is very rude.

How was this age gap ? I’m pregnant with an almost 5 year old and this thread makes me worried things will be nightmarish with 2 kids. Hoping it’ll be ok !

Mine are 7 and 4 and they now entertain each other leaving me out of it. Onlys probably need more parental interaction especially during holidays

Trust me when your youngest hits 4 and your kids spend most their time playing with each other whilst your friends are having to keep their one occupied all the time you will be so glad you chose to have 2. There is 17 months between mine and I found it so hard on the early days, but I genuinely believe it is easier than having one when they get a little older. Hang on in there

It gets better and easier as they get older. I think all parents get pissed off at times and get depressed especially when there's so much going on. I used to feel the same sometimes that I'd only had one. Now they're older I actually wish I'd had another one. Try not to make how you feel turn into resentment.

Being a mum of young children is hard work.
It saddens me that so many people seem to like telling others they should 'try and enjoy it' and making them feel guilty for struggling. You're allowed to struggle and not need therapy. What mums fail to realise if that it's just a phase. It passes and it gets easier.

I'm not a mind reader. Bit strange that you think I should know the ages of your children now 🙄Again with the assuming that I've never been in the company of 2 children at the same time. I used to work in a pre-school so I've met plenty of 2 and 4 year olds having tantrums,crying, whinging etc. I was even in the same room as my DDs slighty older cousins at the same time and had to referee, imagine that. I know how hard they are. Where did I say different?

What are your psychology credentials? I work in mental health. Saying people need therapy, as a dig (and don’t deny it) is pathetic behaviour. The OP doesn’t automatically need CBT just because she is disliking this phase of child-rearing (unless there are other issues going on).

Having two young kids was horrendous for me. Juggling it all with a responsible career. And I had an involved and equal husband.

The teen years were a walk in the park in comparison.

Those early days were boring, unrewarding, relentless and tiring. Mine are at uni now. No nostalgia whatsoever! I love older kids.

I reckon we are all good at different parts of parenting. Baby days, nope. Toddler years? No thanks. Primary school era, ok. Teen and beyond? That was my time and I thrived!!

It will be better when the youngest is 4/5. Till then it’s shit but there is light at the end!

It gets better. I have 2 ones 15 currently at her bfs and the 10 year old is watching simpsons with me n the dog. They are great while I wfh life's expensive but they have each other it gets better x

My then 2 year old is now 26. I don't think that's difficult to understand. Bit late for your 'advice'!

If you have ever had to listen to a 2 year old whinge because their 4 year old sibling has been allowed to do something they're not, come back to me!

How so? What are you getting at here.

How little you know 😂😂😂

But hang on while I get in my time travel capsule and piss off back 24 years!!! 😄

Or in the car, "she's looking out my window"!!

You could try saying no to your 2 year old, just a thought. I think you'll find that poster asked to delete a comment to me because she mixed me up with someone else. I'm not saying that all kids should be out playing, some can't with busy roads etc. I only mentioned it because some people here seem to think only children don't socialise at all.

Oh here we go. The children out playing were not 'running the streets'. 😂They were supervised at all times by me or other parents. It worked brilliantly. Just because you didn't do it stop trying to make out that children out playing were 'running the streets' ffs. Get a life.

No need to be so snarky! It's horrible to criticise someone else's parenting with no basis.

This is where you fail to understand. With one child, you were happy to let her out at 4. Wouldn't have been for me, but whatever, you did it. If I let my 4 year old out, what was I supposed to then do with my 2 year old, who would of course want to go out too? I couldn't be in the street with the one and in the house with the other!! And when my then 2 year old was 4 I had a 3rd!

As soon as my two could talk, I told them to sort their arguments out themselves using only words. Preferably outside the room I was in. Tale telling- I’d just say that I wasn’t there so sort it themselves. They learned to deal with issues well and have grown up being very close. Two girls- that might help.

Don't worry. It does get better. They are still very young and are very much dependent on you for their entertainment and everything else. Before you know it they will be sleeping through the night,you can have your lie ins again and you can go out without it being planning a battle. When they're teenagers you'll be craving those times. I miss them and my two are 21 and 17. Keep strong and enjoy every moment you have with them. 'things can only get better'

I really struggled when my 2 were those ages and I always felt on the brink of not coping. But it does suddenly get easier, they start entertaining one another better and the older one is also really helpful. It WILL get better! It definitely will.