To be pssed off with Mothers Of Teenagers telling me how great it is having toddlers

[morningpaper]

Today:

: Oh you're so lucky to have two girls, they are best at this age.
(while cleaning up bits of pasty from the floor):
: I've got teenagers, and I only hear from them once a day!
: (crawling under pram to retrieve ripped up tissue) Sounds perfect
: (Going all serious and slightly affronted) No really, you don't know how lucky you are.

AAAAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGGGGGGGGGH

this kind of thing REALLY REALLY annoys me

[Wisteria]

Ok - for a wedding.....

Black boob tube
White mini skirt- with zig zag hem
Black strappy high heeled shoes with diamante front straps

The worse bit is, it was my dps sister who took her (supervising??) who is also the bride FFS so I can't even spit my dummy out and say 'you're not wearing that'!

I can just imagine all the muttering grannies 'I wouldn't et my daughter go round looking like that..... oooh doesn't she look cheap....... AAAAAGHHH!!'

[saggermakersknockturnalley]

grebbiest? Is that a derviative of greebo?

lol

My teens are fab. Lovin' the lie-ins.

[mumblechum]

lol at strawberry.

Wisteria, she prob thought she looke dthe dogs bollocks. I remember wearing similar stuff at about 15. If you can't get away with it then, when can you?

[Wisteria]

Oh she can get away with it, she has a figure to die for! The problem is she's 13 but this outfit makes her look 18 and it's bloody scary......

[tuppy]

Well toddlers are tough no question - I'm just now starting to be able to leave the room without mine attached to my leg. And I won't miss the tantrums...
...I also have a teenager and a 12yo (and an 8yo) so still in the thick of it really. Yes you can have a wee without your teen following you, and yes they lie in - but that's bloody annoying when it's Monday morning and they're late for school. And I'm hoping none of mine EVER want a motorbike.

I remember my midwife telling me just after the birth of ds2 and I was worrying about 21m old ds1 going downstairs on his own if I was feeling slow while holding the baby, that as they get older, you just swap one set of worries and stresses for another !

Very true I think.

[fleacircus]

I love teenagers, they're awkward, surly, fabulous, hilarious - teaching secondary is one of the things that made me want children of my own (4mths pregnant with #1 now so feel free to shoot me down for knowing nothing). I don't expect it to be easy, but I think maybe when people start wanting babies the fact that they're going to grow up occcasionally gets overlooked!

While I'm at it, surely it's not worth being competitive over who has the hardest time?

[pyjamaqueen]

My kids are neither toddlers nor teenagers, they're in between. I can see that there's good and bad about both age groups. I don't think there's a time when being a mum becomes less stressful, but the things you have to do for them are different.

[juuule]

I have teens and toddlers. They are all difficult at times and they are all wonderful at times.

[Wisteria]

Fleacircus - they are wonderful - when they're somebody else's but when yours get there, the surliness becomes intensely irritating and you worry about them all the time!

[Malfoynomore]

lol strawberry....like your thinking

I wonder, if those people that say it, maybe had relatively easygoing toddlers, and get the tough Teens then....if so, maybe tehre is some fairness, and because I haad 3 challenging Teenagers all mine will be lovely Teens (please, please, please...say it's so....lol)

Must admit, I do work wiht Teenagers with challenging behaviour, and they can be very extreme in their behaviour (but they often do have their reasons to be teh way they are) but not come across one yet where I thought, oh all is lost and how bad....they all have their brilliant moments and you can see the wonderful person that they desperately try to hide so often.

On the fashion thing...think most Teens have a much harder time to shock this generation of parents then it's ever been, because I see punks and goths, and ripped Jeans, and extra short skirts, etc...and always think...been there, done that....lol....part of it....so, maybe they will get bored with it easier, because, well, a lot is done for teh shock factor, isn't it....

[Malfoynomore]

oh and tuppy, the midwife got it right, and I think as parents we will worry about our Kids till the day we die...just different worries

[Lilymaid]

"Parents of older or grown-up children completely forget the lack of sleep thing" - Oh no we don't as we get "Can you pick us up after the party?" etc at 1 am (or later)and then have to get up in the morning and go to work! Parents can generally get some sleep in when their children are at primary school/early secondary, but pre-schoolers and teenagers keep you from your bed.

[juuule]

Totally agree with that Lilymaid.

[Wisteria]

plus you lie awake worrying what they're doing when they don't come in on time! Not that mine do that yet but I did it to my mum - oh the hell that poor woman went through with me

[lucyellensmum]

morningpaper, im supposed to be stopping MN but HAD to post. As the poor harrased mother of a teen AND a toddler - i can see your point,toddlers are hard work, but my teen - omg!!!! its not so labour intensive granted, did i say toddlers are hard work [work] but then you knew that alread But with Teens its the worry and the fact that they spend their lives fluctuating between pouring their woes at your feet and hating you. Its draining. I plan on enjoying my little girl while she is still just that i do know where you coming from though.

[curiouscat]

I agree LucyE it's good to appreciate however they are.

I have to confess the Ann Karpf(?) column in the Guardian family section on Saturday, living with teenagers, does scare the pants off me.

Endless swearing, fighting and sulking etc, and she seems such a nice mum.

[WendyWeber]

Teenagers aren't all like that though, cc. That mother is a bit of a doormat!

[coddy]

sh will eb a pinky liberal

[pointydog]

har

I'm getting to that stage myself, morningpee - I look at toddlers and think how delicious they are even though I wasn't hugely enamoured with my own at that age

[2spells]

teens are wonderful.
Oh but so are cute , chubby little toddlers.

[fleacircus]

I think that Guardian mother is awful; totally inconsistent, whiney at her kids, she and her DP constantly undermine each other, and in the last one her attitude to her daughter seemed almost leachy. Can't bear her.

[Blandmum]

a quite like teenagers.

Granted I don't have any of my own yet, but I work with a load of them.

They are quite sweet and often very toddler like

[juuule]

" and often very toddler like"
Oh, that is so true

[Blandmum]

It always makes me . Bless them!

And then they start to fall in love with each other and it is so sweet and heartbreaking at the same time. And in the end they grow up an leave you [sigh]

[Paddington64]

I have 3 daughters 20, 18 and 3 1/2. None of them have been really hard work but I do love the toddler years! At least I know where they are and what they're doing and who they're doing it with!! (DD1 texts me all the time just to let her worrying mum know that she's ok)Btw hi, I'm new!