To believe that on balance, 3 year olds are easier to handle than 2 year olds?

[GogoGobo]

I feel like I am in the eye of the storm with my 2.3 DS. So Aibu to believe 3 Year olds are waaaaay easier??

Dd1 was fine at 2, I was quite smug. 3 was the mother of all nightmares! Sorry! Dd2 is almost 2 and I want to press pause she is brilliant just now!

cece I just thought you were getting across your strength of feeling
soloman my DH and I are both slightly stunned by today.....ME DO IT WAAAAAH

The placid 2 year olds become monstrous 3 year olds and the monstrous 2 year olds become placid 3 year olds.

10 year olds are lovely aren't they, mostly. That lovely age year 6 or so, the last year in primary sob sob before they go up to secondary school.

What about five year olds? They are difficult too.

DD1 was way easier by about 3 and 4 months. Before that, from the moment she learn to crawl she had fiddled, climbed and bolted off into the distance. Yes, she could climb on the dinning table and vaporize towards the swimming pool entrance before she could walk.

I don't know if having DD2 helped, but it became possible to go places with out her on reins. Perhaps she realized I couldn't chase her, perhaps she grew up a bit.

She still refused to play with toys and fiddled and climbed things she shouldn't, but she was 12 years old before you took your eyes off her in houses with delicate things. She's 15 and DD2 still moans she picks up everything in the shops.

I should add she has never broken anything, she is actually really careful, she's just nerve wracking.

suede you`ve described it perfectly! My little drunk is 16 months old and is lovely but exhausting.

Im hoping that when hes three I`ll be able to use my vegetable rack again instead of keeping them on top of the fridge, and no longer find carrots in my handbag

2 & 3 yr olds are def a piece of cake to teenagers, but you don't realise it until it's way too late.

Agreed. My 13 year old ds is a nightmare. Give me himself ten years younger, anyday. The stress, the worry, the angst oh dearie me.

I have four ds13, dd10, dd2 aged 5 and little dd3 aged 2.

I am a walking bag of nerves.

YANBU 3yr olds are a walk in la park compared to 2yo's. All ages are better that 1.5 to 3 yo's

I found that all my children were a lot easier in the September just before they were 5!

Thankfully my 2 had their terrible twos at about 9 months to 3 years. Now at just over 3 and 7 they are lovely. esp the 7yo. Cute and fun

3 is better than 2. 4 is infinitely worse than 2. DD1 was awful at 6, DD2 was awful at 9. They are now 10 and 12, I feel as if I am in the eye of the storm with the other bit (puberty) still to come.

I do find that as they get older, they have lovely bits even when they are foul, because they are so much more verbal. DD1 intersperses moments of teenage girl bitchiness with moments of amazing selfless maturity. Best just to take the rough with the smooth, I think.

YANBU

two to three is my least favourite age because they're likely still in nappies and need carrying or pushing at least some of the time and are heavy wee tinkers not feather light little babies so it's very physical parenting. The toddling where you have to keep an eye all the time, and they're popping everything in their mouths requiring constant carpet watching... I lived on my nerves for those months.

By three they're able to do that bit more by themselves, and are much easier to understand and it was the stage where I felt I really started to KNOW my children instead of merely meeting their needs.

Arghhhh it seems I may bu to think its all plain sailing from 3. Mind you, the teens sound like 2 but in bigger bodies .

smethwick that's very true for me, I am finding this very physical at the moment

6 is ds's worst age so far (and also his current age... )

We missed the terrible 2's, we had the fucking awful 3's instead.....

2.5-3 years were the worst years so far with ds1 and dd. It was exhausting. I still have it all to come with ds2 who is 1

OP, there is some very interesting research going on into the teenage brain - using MRI and such - which suggests that brain changes in teenagers are very like those happening at 2. All the bits of the brain which are about understanding boundaries stop functioning, so effectively you need to treat your teens as if they were 2-year-olds - but adjust your use of language, obviously - because all their circuits around inhibitions and social conventions are being re-wired. It's fascinating stuff and I intend to follow it in order to support my own almost teenage daughter. There are benefits to doing relatively low-paid work supoprting mental health research.

I have a 6 year old and 2 year old.

The 2 year old is a proper stereotypical 2 year old ie tantrum prone, entirely unreasonable, fiercely independent, won't hold hands, won't sit in a buggy, is never ever still, breaks things, draws on walls, wakes for no reason etc etc etc.

The 6 year old is so, so, so, much harder work.

Hmm, no. Never had major problems with dd aged 2 or 3 or 4. 5 years came a whole new level of tantrums ime. I get strops, tantrums (lying on the floor screaming), get told I don't love her anymore, and more tantrums almost everyday. Strops are an everyday occurrence for sure. I can't wait for her teen years(!)

My DS was a dream at 3 compared with his 2yo self. I now have a 16 mo who has hit terrible 2s already. She's a nightmare. I am praying that she has got it all over and done with by her second birthday. Or I am handing her back.

My 22mo is usually lovely. He's very verbal although he does have the occasional tantrum. Is this going to get much worse over the next 2 years? Should I just stop reading MN threads about toddlers?

ascorpio that sounds fascinating and hopefully there will be a finely tuned coping technique sorted by the time my DS is 14!

YABU

DS wasn't too bad at 2, then turned into a monstrous, stroppy ball of energy that wouldn't shut up just before 3

He's just turned 4 and is far far easier, and fun again

jolly

In fact for EVERYONE