To think 4 year olds are fucking hard work

[HerRoyalFattyness]

Sometimes.

Well. Mine is.

DS1 is 11 and shares a room with DS2 (PITA 4yo)

DS1 got a Lego millennium falcon for Christmas.
He stored it safely in my room as it was too big for the shelves he has over his bunk bed (which is where he usually keeps things he doesn't want his brother to get)

DS2 tonight has decided to sneak into my room, carry the falcon back to their room and destroy it.
Now I know he's only 4 and just wanted to play. I know he didn't mean to break it.

But he did.
And now I've knelt down to help DS1 clear up the debris and knelt on a piece of fucking Lego and cut my knee

DS1 is completely not bothered by this and just said poor Chewie lost Han all over again because Han solo was in half

But argh. I'll be having words tomorrow. He knows he's not meant to be in my room without me. He knows he's not meant to get out of bloody bed unless he needs a wee or something.

I'm not looking forward to it. He can throw.a right tantrum when he wants.

So AIBU to think he's a PITA?

I honestly feel like a shit mum for feeling this way sometimes.

Some days I long for solitary confinement

Maybe we should set up some sort of respite care for parents of children under 7?
We can book in for a few days, fuel up on alcoholic beverages and have full body massages etc, then return back to deal with the horror that is our own offspring when we feel a bit more refreshed.

Leave the kids to fend for themselves. They all seem pretty feral so I'm sure they'll be fine

Holy Shit @screamer1 I think our children are twins!

My daughter can genuinely turn any argument into me being the unreasonable one.

And she has speech delay.

I would've thought one bonus of having a child with speech delay would be no talking back.

Hell no. The Omen take 2 doesn't let a little thing like the English language get in her way of letting you know what a bell end she thinks you are.

I have a five year old. She is the most dramatic individual I have ever met - like a mini teenager sometimes (the state of her when asked to tidy her room - slides off the couch like she’s made of liquid and sighs in a highly exasperated manner) . She also has highly selective hearing and she does everything at a snails pace. No sense of urgency whatsoever, even when its something that she wants to do. That particular trait makes me want to gouge out my own eyeballs in frustration.

Absolute angel in school right enough.

DD2 is 2.5 and her nickname is the Tasmanian Devil. I often wonder what she will be like when she is five.

I would've thought one bonus of having a child with speech delay would be no talking back

My DD is 6. She has selective mutism.
The kid is fucking mute. When not at home. At home it's a whole other story. She is the loudest child I have ever had the displeasure of knowing.

Oh yes, I can definitely relate to this. My 4, nearly 5 year old is terrible at the moment.

It began when he started school in sept, I put it down to big change and being extra tired etc but several weeks later he is still the same if not worse at times.

It's a bit of a shock as he was always such a good boy before this, never really had the terrible 2s etc.

He refuses to get dressed for school, refuses to get changed after school, suddenly hates brushing his teeth and washing his hair, hits and screams when told no, growls at me when I'm trying to discipline him, screws his face up, blows raspberries in my face, overall a terrible attitude.

We've tried removing toys and having reward charts, it just doesn't seem to go in.

He can be lovely one minute and a little terror the next. I keep saying it's just a phase... Here's hoping it's over soon.

Im also 'trained' to work with children but it seems I haven't got a clue with my own!

We were hoping to try for baby no2 this year but this is putting me off, I can't imagine dealing with this when pregnant (had HG last time) or with another baby to worry about too!

Feelingpoorlysick
Ah another growler. I can relate to that. I tell him he isn't an animal and the smart arse little shit says "my am. My a people animal"

They have an answer for everything don't they!

My 3yo was an absolute angel until his brother was born 2 weeks ago. Now he runs away every time we leave the house and DOES NOT LISTEN.
He has been talking since he just turned 1 and literally speaks from the second he opens his eyes at 6am until he is flung into bed at 6.30pm when I cannot listen to him for one second longer. He argues with me about everything. If I dont responds instantly to what he has said he repeats it continually and gets louder and louder and louder. If I fall asleep on the couch while he is watching tv he wakes me to say "mummy, you fell asleep!". Yes I bloody did!

@Feelingpoorlysick Yes!!!
My 5 year old will not hear that he's wrong.
He will just keep arguing and then start crying!!

@HerRoyalFattyness it's like we can't even get a break. My daughter will get mad at me when I can't understand her exactly what she's saying. Which I get must be annoying.
But why's that my fault?!

@CameronG Sometimes I genuinely can't cope with the snails pace. It hoe story breaks me. How can it take so long to eat you breakfast?! And then they ask for another bowl and some toast! No! Because it took you 45 mins to eat that and we need to get Dressed.

Another thing that is pissing me off is the inability to find what is right THERE!!
He will stomp, and cry and shout that he can't find it and it's not there. Is there. I find it in two seconds.

I honestly adore my kids. But my God how is there not some retreat to book into for a break.

I voted YABU, only because he’s not a PITA, just a normal 4 year old

My 3 year old is very demanding. He won't let me talk to his father for 5 minutes, nor play by himself. I feel like he is hanging off me all the time... is wearing.

@Beseen19 I told my husband that I think somebody has told or son that if he stops taking he'll die.

Because the kids talks constantly. Alone at the table eating food? Talking.
Brushing his teeth? Talking.
I'm on the phone to somebody? You better believe he has some life or death shit to tell me right then.

So this week:
A meltdown because she wanted to paint a coaster but didn't know the word for coaster and so was saying 'grey thing' and talking to me like I had the intelligence of a budgerigar.

My name was mud when I dared to apply mint Burt's bees lipbalm to her chapped lips "you're burning me mummy!"

Refuses to wear a happy for bed. Wets the bed. Shouts at me for not putting a nappy on. FML.

"I do it myself" rinse and repeat

Older brother says something kind to her. She willfully misinterprets and hits him.

And yes, then turns round and says something like "I love you all the days mummy". And it's all forgotten!

The Noise. Seriously my sons voice is like an absolute foghorn. I honestly don't know how he has the capacity to talk so loudly. He also told me I was lazy the other day when I asked him to pick up his socks. I couldn't tell him off because I was laughing so hard at the idea of being lazy, chance would be a fine thing.

I know I'll miss all this when he refuses to come out of his room in a few years time. Why is life so cruel.

Osirus haven't you read the thread? All 4 year olds are arseholes.
As are 3 year olds, 5 year olds and some 6 year olds too

When is somebody going to come on and tell us the exact age they stop being assholes. Because I need to know that.

I think it's possibly when they move out.

Can they do that now?
Because no joke I'm pretty sure my 3 year old can take on anything in the outside world. The only thing that harms that child is the brown bit on a banana.

Just wait till they turn 12 (she mutters darkly). I see your easy-peasy toddler stage and I raise you full-on family Armageddon!

And, for the sake of clarity, I also have a four-year-old.

Red wine...it ought to be on prescription.

My 31/2 year old can be amazing but she is bloody hard work at the moment. I had her little friend round over the weekend and she was so easy in comparison. She was calm and listened carefully to everything. With mine everything is frantic and heightened. She is very intense. Her imagination is fantastic but it’s her way or the high way. If you aren’t constantly role playing or following her vision she gets v stropy. She’d do well as a dictator somewhere. I also think she thinks I’m an idiot that needs correcting. She is an angel to teachers but not me.

Last week my husband picked her up from nursery before a few days off and he said all of the other kids were just like her followers. She was concerned they’d miss her and managed to line up about 10 2-4 year olds to give them hugs one at a time with words of encouragement. Apparently all the adults were stifling giggles. As she left they all waved and said goodbye to her in unison like they were in some sort of cult. My husband said it was one of the funniest things he’d seen. I worry she bosses them all around like she tries to do to me. At the moment, they are compliant but at some point they’ll realise they can say no and then the trouble will begin!

So basically I’m trying to parent a wannabe cult leader. I realised this weekend that is why I’m knackered.

Well if we ship all these pain in the arse kids to the same spot, I'm sure they'll be fine.
Survival of the fittest and all that? The Spartans did it
DS2 would be fucked. He is allergic to tomatoes and coeliac
DD would become some sort of feral fucking queen because despite being silent she has a whole fleet of kids that follow her around the school yard while she grins smugly

@Moominmammaatsea I had this ridiculous dream that we will get to 12 and it will be great. Because I can keep the house tidy instead of constant hurricanes ripping it apart. And then somebody on one of my Birth boards posted a picture of her 12 year olds room and I wondered if a dying raccoon had gotten in.

What do they do? Why are they so angry? Do they not like getting everything and never paying bills? Can I be 12?

Moominmammaatsea nooo don't say that. DS1 is 12 in October... He's always been such a good boy! Please don't let it end!

Oh this fills me with despair - I thought they were supposed to get EASIER at four?! My 3.5 year old is a complete horror show at the moment. She was an angel until she turned three and then bam 💥

I was hanging in there telling myself that it's just another few months and then she'll calm the fuck down - I guess not

angsty sorry.
Have some . You're gonna need it.