To ask. What age is most difficult to look after during lockdown?

[louise5754]

Those with primary age children I think it's will be hard to remember back to having babies and we haven't had the teen years yet to compare.

But.....

I reckon the most difficult age to keep entertained would be the toddlers 1.5-3 ish?!

Anyone else?

I think it depends on.the personality of the child, the environment and how many children you have.

I have a 5yo and 2yo. Thought they would both be difficult in different ways. They adapted brilliantly and exceeded my ( admittedly low) expectations of them.

WFH with these ages is difficult tho.

I would dread having teens....

DS is nearly 2 and actually it's not been too bad, as long as we have activities to fall back on (we've been doing a lot of baking). When I'm working though, absolute nightmare. Luckily dh is on half term so much easier for me to get on today - they spent the day in the garden in a tent!

I think him being too young to understand but also young enough to distract when he asks for his friends or nursery is helpful. Unfortunately some people think the parks including all play equipment being shut doesnt apply to them so I was a bit worried about him seeing a few children on stuff and getting upset that he can't but he has been a star really.

"Anecdotally, my friends with 3/4 year old boys seem far happier at home than the girls seem to be. No idea why."

Complete coincidence. My 3yo son is hard work. Among my friends with kids the same age (all born the same month) there is an equal split of boys and girls who are struggling.

I do think the young children who go to nursery and/or lots of playgroups must find it harder than those who do fewer things like that and are more used to quiet time at home with a parent.

2.5 year old ds and 8m old Dd here. It’s tough. I’m wfh but thankfully dh isn’t (not set up yet and he’s effectively on leave until he is set up).

Ds is full of energy at the moment which is brilliant usually. But it’s exhausting.

Thankfully though neither of them are aware of what’s going on.

I think some of it depends too on what you want them to get from this time. Mine are 8 and 10. The 8 year old is great.. Does lots of reading, creative stuff, a variety of things. Will watch TV or play a bit of a computer game but self regulates so thars fine. The 10 year old though, if allowed, would simply be on one screen or another all day and any other activity, other than reading, needs to involve me or his sister so it's hard work. If I let him just do what he wanted it would be easy, but horribly bad for him so it's a, daily battle and negotiation.

I'm 34 and finding myself quite difficult...

4 and 7 year old are great. Keep themselves busy and play on their own. Eldest at 8 is struggling, always wanting to play fortnite with his friends and I'm not letting him.

8 month old, 2.5 year old and 7 year old. Life is hard at the minute!

My 42 year old husband is harder work than my 16 month old newly toddling toddler. At least my toddler naps in between the neediness!

I think a walking toddler who isn’t quite at the age of being able to entertain themselves would be really difficult.

Primary age is easy peasy (this is what I have).

And I am bloody glad I don’t have teens right now because I know they’re causing big problems refusing to stay in.

50yo DH, nightmare, wants to ‘go to the shops, what do we need?’ every bloody day. He feels very cooped up and we have a large house and garden. God only knows how he’d cope in a flat!

My teenager and tween on the other hand have been angels.

And his parents are just as bad.

2.5 year old here. It's a bit of a struggle now as he just loves being outside and running about the beach, park and going to nursery and now we can't do that. Well I tried the beach but he doesn't understand social distancing obviously and it was a bit of a nightmare. Relying on the tele far too much 🙈

Iv got to go with 11, my lad is year six, hes driving me bonkers, spends hours every day with the arsehole, quite a few tantrums, eating me out of house and home.
I know hes missing his friends and now looks like he wont see them again and the thought of starting secondary school sept without even having an induction day (not knowing anyone els) and we havnt even seen the school yet as its a new site just been built.

14 months to 4 years I would guess. Mobile, active but no concentration

At least children aged 14 months to about 2.5 still nap. The 2.5 (roughly) to 4 year olds don't 😭

@Snowpaw Oxford owls is free to join at the moment and has books from age 3 upwards so may be some things suitable for you and your dc on there?

Male. 66. 😂

I think personality plays a huge part.

I have a nearly 6 year old and a nearly 2 year old (both boys) and tbh it’s been a lot easier than I thought.

They both love TV (and I’ve been taking advantage). The younger one has a long nap in the afternoon. The older one is a home body and loves pottering with Lego. We have a (small) garden.

I’m not the slightest bit worried about home schooling them, which takes the pressure off.

Anecdotally, friends with slightly older boys (8-12) have been struggling a lot more.

AnotherEmma yeah my 15 month old still naps (he sleeps 8-6 at night with a couple of wake ups then naps 12.30-1.30) but the 6 and 4 year olds are still awake while he’s napping!

At least children aged 14 months to about 2.5 still nap. The 2.5 (roughly) to 4 year olds don't

Depends. I went nearly mad with non-napping DD. Then she went full time at nursery and started doing a regular one-hour nap. Fingers crossed she's still going to keep it up at home! It's been patchy so far but she's napped more often than not. She's 3. I think it probably just shows how different all of our children are.

I’ve got a newborn and a toddling sprinting biting nipping 1 year old and a 31year old.

If the one year old stops biting and the mmr stops making him into a tiny bear of a person he might be easier than the adult .. but at the moment he’s winning.

The newborns only hard points are lack of help, like i can’t take him a walk in the buggy (1 year olds mmr fever but must obey the rules and stay in) can’t take him to visit relatives who’d cuddle him for hours while I lay on the floor like a lump after the all night boob buffet. Other than that he’s a newborn, feed it, burp it and never sleep again

1 year old isn’t talking or listening yet so he just runs at you launches a cup at your head and bites you like some mad rioter, I can’t speak to anyone on the phone if he can hear them because he thinks they’re here so throws a full blown hour long scream fest, he obviously can’t burn enough energy off either.. I don’t think he could outside either but maybe the mental side of baby group would help, or atleast maybe help him speak (if you know what bbbff is let me know).

The adult.. Jesus, we need something every 15 minutes, he must do things, he can’t leave the toddler incase he falls, he could be doing xyz but it’s shut.. the only thing that isn’t shuts his mouth . Fortunately he still can’t work from home so he’s effectively got 8 hours of day care.

I’ve got an 18 month old and no garden (although we do have a balcony). I think it would be even harder if she didn’t nap though...

Actually reading the thread I'm thinking that having late teens early 20s in the parental home, or indeed being the late teen/ early 20s person back in the parental home, must be torture in many cases.

Do you remember how intense everything was at that age? I was at university and spent university holidays working and with whichever current boyfriend (series of 6- 18 month relationships which each seemed incredibly important at the time) then went straight to live abroad, much as I loved my parents I couldn't stand being cooped up with them and kept my visits to a few days. There's a weird, uncomfortable dynamic when a young adult who's been living away with total freedom returns to their childhood bedroom and their parent's rules! I feel for both sides of the parent- not-really-child dynamic in lockdown, it must be so unnatural and uncomfortable and hard to keep the relationship on the right footing.

I'm glad my eldest isn't quite 15! The first half of the teens are easy!

My 15 & 12 year olds are mostly brilliant. Not complaining, spending far too much time on screens (but so am I) and quite enjoying this time in a weird sort of way.