Does anyone enjoy having teenagers? Prefer it to having little kids?

[Fishandchipsatthebeach]

All I hear is negativity and how it gets harder once they are teens.

I’m a mum to a 5 year old.

Does anyone actually prefer having teens to little kids?!

I'm loving the teen years! In fact for me every year has been better than the previous one (they are now 16 and 13).

Nothing more enjoyable than long conversations with my teens about life, the universe and everything. And they help with the cooking, the housework and they take care of the animals.

Teenage years are when the relationship really becomes a two way street.

As a mum of teen boys I absolutely love it my boys are brilliant I do miss them been little for about 5 minutes then I remember how tiring it was 😂

I have 5 teens . I ADORE them !!! Found the baby / small child years so hard.

Teens are such good fun. We can do so much together - mutually enjoyable things like skiing, theme parks - even drinking the odd cocktail with the older two !!

No comparison - I love parenting teens as it's so easy .

Lord, I love having teens. They're funny, smart, sassy, they can cook, drive, load the dishwasher and they're so much fun to be around! We laugh all the time.

So nice to see others agree ! I feel like an oddity in work as they all find teens so hard.
I think it's just fair enough as they all had babies that slept .....😀!

Good God, no. I found the teenage years a mixture of very tedious and very worrying. I did a lot of saying "Oh FFS" into my pillow so that they couldn't hear me, after yet another ridiculous tantrum about something so minor that it barely warranted a mention. Plus you never, ever get an unbroken night's sleep with teenagers.
Toddlers are brilliant - funny, bright, interested in absolutely everything, have no preconceptions about life, never judge in anything other than a randomly toddlerish way. It was my favourite stage.

@IsobelNecessary my teens have yet to give me a single broken nights sleep - what am I missing??

My DD only started sleeping through when she was 6. Now if she wakes up she doesn't need me to sort her out! I'm a terrible sleeper though and everything and nothing wakes me up (but not my teens - the cats are more likely to wake me than them!)

My teenagers are 18 (DD) and almost 16(DS). They are fab! We laugh a lot and still enjoy doing things together. They both study well and help out at home. Family holidays (generally camping in UK) may be different, with DD just joining us for the weekend and DH and I sometimes going off on our own but I certainly feel blessed. I get coffee and cocktails made for me. Life is a lot easier than with little ones. I might be lucky, but DH and I have enjoyed each stage of their childhood.

I so much prefer living and parenting a 13 year old than a 5 year old.

I find it much easier to connect and chat and do things we both enjoy. I really wasn't a fan of toys car, make believe play and the high octane energy filled hours of every day.. Luckily his Nana was brilliant at all that!

Teens are hell. Really awful in our house at the moment. Could easily just up and leave.

Mental health, dating worries, cost of living meaning they will be at home longer than any of us thought.

I love teens. I used to teach secondary age kids for almost 25 years both GCSE and A level so 14 upwards. Now I'm a Foster Carer and care for a 17 year old with learning disabilities and he's a great kid. I love seeing them go from really needing you still at about 12 to becoming more independent and coming out as young adults.

I love them as teens! The scheduling and mum taxi is wearing a little thing, but the chats are awesome and sitting on that sofa and watching more interesting shows on tv is great!

Not to mention them helping get the grocery shopping inside 😬.

I have a teen, a five year old and a toddler and the five year old is by far the best company… make the most of it!! 😂

Yeah me too. Single parent to two teens. They are mostly pretty nice and one is good company but can also be unbelievably selfish, lazy, and in my case the cause of huge worry with their mental health and EBSA issues. I loved the primary years when I could sweep them up for a day out and didn't get protests or refusals. Yes it was physically more relentless but mentally much easier.

Me. It is harder some days because teens start having real grown up problems but I love love love being a parent of teens, babies not so much.

Yes !! Every single thing I ask them to do is met with no. I actually dread asking them to do anything now. Walk the dog, clear up after dinner, being down the billions of vessels from their rooms. Not big things, but they hardly ever do them. Everything is a big ordeal. Everything is on their terms. I can't seem to enjoy them at all. I'm not sure where I've gone wrong really.

i love my teens, they have great conversations, watch better TV and movies, keep me up to date with how young people see and live in the world and make me laugh.

Ours are 21 and 16 and it's much better than when they were little. Far more enjoyable now, than it was then.

I'd run a mile if I had to go back to that now.

Pre school years are lovely but can be hard work. Primary years are the golden age.

I am enjoying my teens but it’s hard as so lovely having fun with them but then having to parent spoils the vibe but has to be done. They would quite happily have me as their maid if I let them which is depressing so I have to keep on with “unload dishwasher pick up your towels”etc.

I’ve enjoyed every age/stage really. My kids are teens now and are lovely. They’ve never gone through the nightmare teen stage that some go through and are just really nice to be around.

I've loved all the stages and love teens (my kids now range from 12-29) but also miss cute toddlers when I see photos or see videos as near their cute voices. Teens are much more like equal people though and much less hard work but fun and great company. I do find boy teens more hard work than girl teens though.

I much prefer parenting teenagers. We have so much fun compared with dreary farms and soft play.

I was always told it would get harder but never that it would be more fun.

I love that they can actually do stuff and be helpful around the house. They have their own interests but can fit in around my hobbies too.

Yy to the fridge magnet!!! DS (19) has been on FOUR holidays this summer, only one of which was with us. I noticed last night there’s a new fridge magnet 😀