How old is your child, what phase are you currently loving and loathing?

[Zeetah]

Dd is 2.5

loving how sweet she is, lots of cuddles and “I love you”

loathing the tantrums. Big one every morning about leaving the house, even if we are going somewhere fun like park

DS is 2. Loving the cuddles and seeing his language grow. Hate the whinging, tantrums and fussiness around food!

DD is 4.5. She’s always been a much easier child! Love watching her mature, make friends, learn so much at school, seeing her confidence grow, while still thinking her mum is the bee’s knees! Not loving the answering back and the teenagery moments... I am worried about what she’ll be like as a teen!

Also 2.5 - absolutely loving him talking so much more fluently and starting to play imaginative games, not loving it when he goes whingy! I generally think it's been such a lovely age for us.

18 months
Loving his cute little voice and how he copies our sounds like coughing. Love his baby hair which will have to be cut soon as he has long curls.
Loathing that hes started to get so bossy!

7yo
Loving that he is so caring. If he knows I'm stressed over something he makes me coffee and knows that in the evening I switch to decaf.
Loathing that I have to ask him to do something 5 times before he listens.

Mine is 7 and I'm struggling a little bit. He seems to have become powered by Duracell recently and everything is done at a million miles an hour. Not much listening, lots of earnest discussion on whether Darth Vader or Voldemort is the best baddie of all time.

I enjoyed the baby stage and toddler stage, liked 4-6 a lot.

1. So much rage. Every 5 year old I know is so full of rage. I’m told by parents of olders that they’re fixed by six 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

Love that he’s so funny and into Strictly and enthusiastic and has his own interests and has his own relationships with different people. But my god, the rage.

My 3 year old is just utterly delicious. Out of the annoying 18mo-2.5year phase. Lush!

Overall have enjoyed it all and the lows aren’t that low at all really. Want to do it again, hopefully will!

I will add that DS5 tells me he loves me alllll the time and is amazing at saying sorry. DS3 comes and kisses me out of the blue all the time. God I love them!

8yo
Love that he is so into books, we talk about them together and he catches me up when I've missed bits. He is full of interesting facts and the best helper when I have morning sickness. Not loving the minecraft obsession phase or the
huge attitude he has!

5yo
Love how sweet & funny she is. Kisses my head better when I have a headache and she has got such a sense of humour suddenly and loves to make everyone laugh. Not loving her going back to the putting everything in her mouth phase!

17 & 19.

Still prone to strops at times. Getting out of the house for a set time is as challenging as trying to do it with a toddler. The constant need to eat at all hours of the day is baffling.

Love the conversations we can have about the world, & the jokes we can share. There have been some unbelievably tough bits about having teens but we are going through a good phase, & I will miss them when they go one day. But I know that they will need to go too, & that's ok.

Two daughters 23 and 26

They’ve moved out - I’m loving this phase🤣

Actually I really miss them, they are best friends and are living in a flat together. We three usually do a lot of outings together but covid has put a stop to that for a while

Enjoy your babies and toddlers it really is true that the time goes past so quickly. It really doesn’t seem so long ago that they were little and cute.

DD is 12.5 - loving seeing her growing up and being so funny and original. Harder is her huffing at just about everything her dad asks her to do or says to her (though TBF, I think that's mostly his fault)

DS is 9 - loving how affectionate he still is. Not loving obsessional going on about Minecraft and the fact he does kind of need to start being a little bit more mature now.

I have a teenager 😭 She currently says she hates me and wishes she had any other mum but me. Full of anger and rage.

But I know tomorrow will be better.

I have a 21 month old and an almost 5 year old.

Loving the 21 month old coming out with new words every day, his dance moves, affection and enthusiasm for life. Not loving the disturbed sleep (molars, colds from nursery), epic tantrums and snatching things off older sibling.

Loving the almost 5 year old's conversation, talking about his feelings all the time, watching him learn from school and mature emotionally - he's gotten really good at saying sorry recently and he's rarely VERY naughty, he had a time out two days ago and it was the first time in a long time. Not loving the complete not listening a lot of the time, the disdain he has for his younger sibling at the moment (he was obsessed with him a few weeks ago) and also my own worry about friendships and how he's getting on in school etc.

4 - He is so funny, has me in stitches. Is very caring and loving, loves cuddles and makes me melt when he tells his little brother how much he loves him. Amazing to see him starting to recognise words.
Not enjoying the whinging and answering back!

7 months - Such a little darling, has the sweetest smile all day long. Love it when he flaps his arms with excitement when he sees a bowl of food!
Not enjoying the 2-3 hourly wake ups at night for the last 3 weeks after sleeping through for months!

1 - loving watch him develop into a little person, trying to talk & generally being cute & sweet. Not enjoying the frustrated shrieks and throwing things.

5 - loving his enthusiasm for learning. If he’s into something, he wants to learn all about it & it’s so sweet. Not loving the constant talking & noise making. There is not quiet to be had.

15 - loving watching her grow and develop an interest in politics and the world in general. Teenagers can be so passionate. Hating the “I know everything and you’re all stupid” attitude. And the mess... the filthy mess...

DS 15. Currently loving the fact that he is about 6ft 2 and occasionally pats me on the arm and says I'll carry that and then treats me as though I am a little old lady. Loving the occasional joke or adult conversation.

Really not loving the teenage moods. The OMG! if you ask him to do something/interrupt an Xbox game. Not loving the fact that he is utterly switched off from school - despite this being his GCSE year - and refuses to do any work on the grounds that ^It's pointless. I've missed loads (did nothing in lockdown). And anyway they'll probably cancel exams and teachers hate me and will just fail me.

6... very funny at the moment, and very helpful and kind loves his mummy this week 😃

15... ha! The great things about teens is they go to shop for you, cleaned his room today and bought me a subway and made me a cup of tea 😀

When these two are together it's madness and they fight and annoy each other to distraction!

My daughter is 3. I love everything about it. Such a wonderful age. She’s so enthusiastic and excited about everything. She sleeps all night, she’s potty trained and eats well. I never want her to grow up!

Mine is 7 and it’s hell. Youngest is nearly 3 and that’s a lovely, comparatively easy age still. I miss those days.

DS 15. Love that he has a great sense of humour and we can have proper grown up conversations.

Not loving the pit of a room and his apparent inability to notice the existence of bins/laundry basket/coat hangers/coat hooks.

Mine is 50. I love that she comes into my living room to relate an amusing/ thought provoking tweet, or to talk through a work problem or to discuss a point of policy that the political party we both support, are discussing.

I hate that she has to do so much for me now because of my physical health ( whilst also be very grateful). And her and her partner's untidiness.

But on the whole, goodness knows what is do without them.

Enjoy your children's young years, as I did, and know that the joy of them doesn't have to go once they are grown

2 years 2 months

I'm loving that he's coming along with his language and we can actually have conversations. He's very empathetic and caring.

I don't love the toddler tantrums and the 5am starts to the day.

Three year old DS please god do they stop playing with their willy so much
Nine month DD not sleeping which to be honest is the worst phase full stop I can cope with all other things.

Dd 26 - love that we're friends and she chats to me online every day and asks advice about her dd. Hate that she lived far awzy.

Dd 12 - love watching her mature, find her sense of self, gain independence and that she's thoughtful and kind and hard working. Don't love the occasional moodiness, stubbornness and thinking she's always right.

Ds 11 - love that he still loves cuddles, he's very caring, can be relied on to make a brew, he has a wicked sense of humour and is a talented musician. Don't love the amount of time he wants to be online playing fortnite and such.

7, love his loving and kind nature, hating the fussy eating. Oh and refusal to wear a coat. In December. No coat. But it’s December..., put on a fecking coat!

17, love the feeling of relief that they have found the most perfect job for life, suits them 100%, hating the full on manly BO, it’s overpowering at times. Trying to delicately broach it without knocking him!! Dude, you bloody stink, get a shower, seems harsh

Mine is 14. 6 feet tall, desperate to be 6'1!

Loving that he's so independent and will get himself up, showered etc and off to school without me (I leave for work as he's getting in the shower). He took himself off for a haircut the day the barbers opened. Proudly showed me his hair when I got home! He's also taking school quite seriously and started asking me about A levels and apprenticeships last week.

Not loving that my husband and I are now 'too boring' to watch a film or tv programme with. He stays in his own room either on the Xbox or watching Netflix etc. We do have a promise of him spending Christmas Day watching films etc with us though