To say that children really fray my nerves

[Ouchy]

Is this just me?

Mine are nearly 7 and 10.

I’m constantly watching what I say so I don’t accidentally say the wrong thing
Constantly breaking up arguments between them
Constantly fielding snack requests
Constantly have someone trying to negotiate how much screen time they should be allowed
I don’t have all the answers!!
Managing others’ emotions
Instilling table manners, tidy habits, personal care habits

I know a lot of this is just parenting but OMG!!!!! It’s better in the summer....

DD reappeared a couple of hours after being dropped at her friends house, as they’d failed to find a local takeaway that was open, or a supermarket, AND friends mum was refusing to have a non-vegetarian Deliveroo delivered to her house. Friends phone has died, so I order their food, obviously pay for it. I’m then given cash to the value of 2/3 of the order - there are 4 of them and DD has left her money (borrowed from me!) at friends house so I’m well out of pocket. Cue DD going up and down the stairs trying to figure out who owes what (they’ve not factored in the £4 delivery charge for a start), all the while whining it’s all TOO COMPLICATED.

All I can think is that at 15 I wouldn’t have been allowed out for NYE, never mind given a lift to a friends house, where I know there will be alcohol, then cheerfully allowed to order a takeaway ... and then you whine coz the maths is a bit hard?!

Really, she’s 97% no bother at all, but god she knows how to push my buttons.

Yesss I have found my people!

The fighting. Oh god, the fighting...

@AliceAbsolum - I think you're in an excellent position to deal with what comes with parenting. It was heartbreaking to see a colleague spend 8 years going through ivf, and then when she had her child was horrified because it wasn't easy at all. She said she'd been so focused on the ivf, she hadn't thought about what happens next.

At least if you know that some of it can be quite shit, you're ahead of the game. I hope it all works out for you, whatever that looks like.

@PreggoFeminist86 - it does get better! Dc are 16 and 12. They generally get on and the 16yo requires little intervention. She will also make lunch or tea ... sometimes.

The 12yo is actually more helpful than the 16yo around the house and can amuse himself. Sometimes they even talk to each other ...

Yes to everything you have listed.
Mine are 5 and 10, it’s impossible to keep both happy at the same time- at any time one is whinging or angling for a fight with the other (verbal).
I swear under my breath occasionally (often)

Ong its relentless! I have 2 boys. Youngest is asd/developmental delay/possible adhd. Omg he's hard work, I adore him. I adore them both but shut the fuck up for 5 bastard minutes, please. When they both start talking at me at once I feel like my head will explode. The constant need for snacks, wtf is that all about. I'm a single mum so they're with me constantly (even at night for the youngest) so it's utterly exhausting. Roll on next week!

God me too. I have 3. They fight and whinge. If I sit someone sits on top of me. Then someone else fights over my lap.
All I want to do is read a fucking paragraph with no distractions.
Worse, dh is a doer... which is of course fucking great. He comes in then wanting praise for fixing a tap or clearing crap in the shed, while judging ne for doing nothing. Granted I am lazy but fielding 3 kids who are like whipping briers is not exactly golden couches and peeled grapes.
Ok I'm being a grump.

On the plus side, the dc now go downstairs and plug themselves in, so we get to have a lie in.

To the parents of pre-schoolers saying they hope it gets better - if gets waaaay worse before it gets better!
My DD is 13 and thinks she has life all sussed out! It's seriously frustrating trying to deal with and you have all of the 'real life's issues that I'm trying to teach her to navigate!
The latest gripe in her life is that she wants an iPhone 11 even after she got lots of things for Christmas.
She will not be getting one - she's been told she can save up herself!

I'm with you OP! If it was legal I'd have sold them on eBay 10x over. They are a bit older now so I don't have these thoughts as often

Oh no, I'm one of those mums of preschoolers hoping it gets better! DS1 has just turned 4, DS2 is 10 months. DS1 is SO LOUD all the time, so annoying, constantly tormenting the baby. DS2 has basically just cried for the last 10 months, although in between he's lovely and smiley. He's still a breeze compared with highly strung DS1, but I'm so looking forward to when they will eventually play together and leave me be!

This thread has cheered me up immensely. I have a stroppy 7 year old and in holidays alternate between her following me around all the time and then dropping me like chopped liver as soon as there's a sniff of another DC to play with (she's an only). I have actually never met anyone less reasonable than her in my entire life and I had a most unreasonable sister growing up and teach teenagers.

Today has been tough yet again. Thinking of this thread earlier actually helped me said yo myself I'm not alone, there's plenty other losing their minds right now just like me.

Do our nerves Get unfrayed as they get older or are we now like this for life?

Fucking draining isnt it? I'm totally sick of all mine.

9 year old with an answer for fucking everything
13 year old who treats us like shit on his shoe
15 year old who's emotions are like a rollercoaster

They dont even go to bed so we can get 5 minutes away from them anymore! Fucking sick of them.

Oh and they cant speak a single civil word to each other. All disguised with snidey fucking remarks.

9 year old DS "I won on Fortnite!"
13 year old DS in most sarcastic voice ever "oh wowwwwwwwwww that is amazingggg wowwwww nobody has ever done that before."

I want to run away!

Holden - I nearly completely lost my marbles during a board game with them this afternoon

I blame a lack of chimneys.

The devil makes work for idle hands.

Dd is 2.3. DH and I are practically on our knees after two weeks of no preschool.

She's exhausting. I've no idea where she gets her energy, considering that she exists off a piece of toast and two crackers a day. The endless climbing and jumping and running and bouncing, and the mess...the endless mess she generates out of thin air.

I was not prepared for the reality of life with a toddler. DH took the co-sleep job last night (dd refuses to sleep in her own room, and I haven't the energy to argue), I went into our spare bedroom and slept for 13 hours. That is how utterly knackered I was.

I suspect it's the constant vigilance that wears me out. Twelve hours of it a day. It's like being in one of those tense thriller/horrors where, at any moment, something will come crashing through the wall and sever an arm.

My nerves are shot. I actually googled parental burnout last night, and discovered it was a thing. And I look at other parents with toddlers and a baby too, and just think "How? How the hell do you do it?" and then wonder if dd is unusually boisterous because I could not imagine even thinking of having another baby.

I love her to bits, but bloody hell. I wouldn't be surprised if my hair starts falling out with stress.