What did you find harder? Parenting a toddler, or parenting a teen?

[Toooldhmm]

Just that really!

Not sure what the teen years will be like. But the twos and threes (while lovely) have been one big emotional rollercoaster! Lack of sleep, lots of tantrums, and so on

Twice I have come home to a flat full of black smoke and DS - who has been doing cooking lessons at school since he was tiny - trying to salvage a blackened pan.

You do worry more for teens because they have the ability to cock up their exams, school etc as they have realised that they don’t have to do what you say all the time (and toy can’t pick them up and put them in their room)

I don't think it is comparable - it's just different. Every stage of parenting has its challenges (and rewards). I had x4 kids under 5. That was physically utterly exhausting. I now have teenagers. Emotionally a lot of work. The challenge is not the same.

My advice is try end enjoy the stage you are at but don't beat yourself up if you are finding things tough. Being a good parent is tough. That never changes.

Hands down teens are harder.

I had 3 under 15 months and was a SAHP. All my friends feel the same. Don’t think we have exceptionally difficult teens.

I agree with RedSky

I have a toddler DS
I have a teen DD

I am physically and mentally and emotionally drained

However a toddler is still learning and whilst a teenager is still learning, they should know better.

Teen years are a lot harder in my experience.

DD was a dream toddler but the last 4 years have been a massive rollercoaster and i'd like to get off. I'm hoping that when the stress of A levels/school are over she'll turn a corner.

DS is mid teens and is going for being the silent and occasionally moody type. I'm hoping he's not going to be as bad or i'll be completely grey by the time they're both in their twenties!

Teenagers are harder imho.

Toddlerhood harder so far, my teens are 14 and 17.
Will never forget those long long days of toddlerhood. We had no help and the only time I got a break was when I was at work. Emotionally and physically draining, and dare I say boring at times. So far, my teens are good fun.

Toddler was harder for me.

Toddler, teens are so much easier.

I found very little difference, but you can't pick up a teen and put them in their cot.

kids are toddlers for a tiny bit of time, and are more-or-lessly endearing along with it.

teenage is like the ice age, it goes on and on... and they are distinctly less endearing.

Toddler. It was quite boring and I'm not very patient. The older years are great. DS is fantastic company.

Toddlers as there is no let up. There’s a whole world to explore and they need you exploring with them. It’s delightful but constant.

Teen years were lovely. You can reason, they are genuinely good fun. They can be considerate and helpful and are the fruition of all the earlier hard work.

I really hated most of parenting toddlers, abs so far it’s been great with teens. But I won’t speak too soon.

So far toddlers were harder for me - but my eldest is 14 so I'm aware it could get worse!

Teens is harder by an absolute mile!! It's enough to drive the sanest person insane. I work with toddlers now and could have a million of those compared to my one teen (and one Pre teen)

Toddlers are exhausting and need constant supervision, but teenagers have problems that are impossible for a parent to fix (eg mental health issues, struggles with schoolwork, relationships) which can be much harder to cope with.

Teens, hands down. As they say, bigger kids, bigger problems...

You can generally easily placate a toddler. You can’t magic away depression, self harming, eating disorders, drug use, friendship issues, exam stress etc (I haven’t dealt with all of these but some)

Pretty similar really. Both ages seem to want to harm themselves in ridiculous ways. Both ages are incapable of behaving reasonably when they hear the word no. Both ages prone to massive tantrums. Both take a ridiculous amount of time to do anything they don't want to do. Both age groups are incapable of sleeping at night and waking in the day. Both seem to create more mess than any one human should be able to.

Apart from that teens have a better sense of humour, more interesting friends, listen to better music and can wip their own bums.

I loved parenting teens. Toddlers not so much.

Apart

wipe

Gosh teen 100%,

toddler years were hard, the sleep deprivation, the tantrums.

But if your teens are difficult its a different ball game entirely, depression, self-harming, suicidal ideas, drugs, running away, violence, law breaking, to name a few considerations

Apologies to be a total downer, and lots don't have any of these problems.

x-posted with several others

Another one who really struggled with the relentlessness of toddlers here. Mine slept badly/in different patterns and were just utterly exhausting. And you also had to cope with their friends, and all of those playdates. And the politics of the playground.

I've really enjoyed the teen years. They kids are good company. And if they have a bad day or things go wrong there is a reason for it. And they sleep!

Teen is still easy at 14, fingers crossed stays as he is. Haven’t hit any hard stuff yet though

Toddler no naps takes more interaction and doing stuff

Coping with the toddler years are just training for managing the teenage years. Be aware that the values you instil in small children are the ones that carry them through their teenage years. I speak as the mother of one child who was unbelievably vile from 14-17 but who has eventually returned, mostly, to the values he learned as a much younger child.