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?

A 3yr old on my own trying to work from home is possible the hardest thing I've ever done.

70 year olds - incredibly stubborn!

My kids are 16 and 11 and they’re not difficult at all. They’d like to see their friends but they have phones so they can chat to them. And they have always spent a fair bit of time gaming and watching tv anyway so they’re ‘struggling through’. 🙄🤣

Looking back, my kids would have been most difficult when they were toddlers. Like pp I have said I’m thankful my two are older. If the internet goes down though, I’m in trouble. 🤣

I have a newborn and a 28 month old. It's not too bad. He's having to learn to entertain himself tho. He wants the pkaydough out twice a day.

6 year old dd is easy but 15 year old ds has severe autism and severe learning difficulties and he's finding it hard 😩
It's hard to give them both the attention they need

I have a 1 and a 2 year old. It's tough 🤪

At least with a toddler the days are full on but they likely have a nap and go to bed earlier than when they are older

Depends on the toddler. Mine dropped naps from 18mo and never slept before midnight. Now if my 3yo goes to sleep before 10.30pm she is awake 1-4am. My older 2 also don't sleep before 10.30. So we all go to bed together and all get up together. I have not been without a child since Thursday 26th March.

Depends where you live. On a farm in the country with no public transport all age groups pretty ok.

In a flat in a town with no outside space, all a bloody nightmare for different reasons.

I have a four year old and it s not that bad although it is full on. I feel quite lucky I don't have to worry about home educating actually.

I agree toddlers: when they are old enough to walk, but not old enough to have any danger awareness!

I have a 3.5 year old and it's rubbish.

He really misses his friends but is too young to be able to chat to them on the phone

He is old enough to ask questions but not old enough to understand the answers

He is used to a lot of activity

He doesn't nap.

Plus I have a 9 month old

My 8mo is determined to go to A&E. We stuck edge protectors on the wall today and she's been ripping them off.

I wouldn't mind so much except her sister had to have her head glued the other week. Can't be turning up to hospital again with two separate kids with split heads.

DD is two.

The good:
She still has an afternoon nap
She’ll play alone with her toys for a while (with supervision). In fact she won’t let me join in with her Play Doh as she wants to do it all herself. Fine by me!

The bad:
She wants to type on my work laptop
She wants to climb everything
The tantrums
The petty vandalism

Neutral:
She’s obsessed with Curious George and wants to watch the same two episodes over and over again

I think 3-4 would be awful. I remember the xmas when mine had just turned 4. It was just the two of us at home for a fortnight, I ended up regularly going off to have a cry in the car. His meltdowns were epic, and he was well past napping so there was no respite all day.

He's 5 now and merrily plays his game while I work.

Also I would have loved an extended maternity leave aged 11 months as I was heartbroken to return to work.

I don’t have experience of older children but I have an almost 2.5 yr old & BF 8 week old. Partner still working full time 6/7 days a week. It’s relentless! I often find myself thinking what a piece of piss it would be trapped indoors if I only had the baby (even though she is very windy & refluxy and feeding every couple of hours round the clock)

Toddlers are demons! But it does make me feel better to read that others in the same position feel the same.

I actually think this is one of those rare times when having twins is actually easier. They entertain each other quite a lot also piss each other off but never mind

We took them for a walk today and they shouted "I am Princess Holly" and "interesting sticks" at the top of their lungs all the way round the block. At 2, they are basically like dogs that can talk a bit.

What I find hard is keeping up with work. I basically take Zoom meetings and firefight a bit in the day, then spend 8-11pm doing emails and working on projects before doing a bit of housework and going to bed.

My 14 month old is pretty easy to be honest, but that’s because he’s happy to play by himself sometimes, gets his shoes and brings them to me when he thinks it’s time to go outside and is generally quite a content little boy. No judgement here that’s just pure luck and he does have screaming melt downs at times, but mostly if he’s fed and got his toys he’s happy.

My still not walking 16 month old will play independently a little but as she's still crawling to get around the play outside is a bit limited. Working from home and looking after her at the same time is impossible, but at least she's too young to ask to go places.

12yo DD and her endless eye rolling, stomping and huffing is really starting to grate on me...she seems to think it was mine and DH's decision to lockdown and make life difficult at the moment!

10 and 18yo DSes aren't really any hassle. Occasional muttering from DS1 about not being able to see his girlfriend but he's mostly fine. Some good brotherly bonding over Lego happening too!

Should have said at the end, I think even with the stropping from DD it's easier than having a toddler at the moment!

My parents if they have any more stock people will start ordering from them. Give me a toddler any day.

I reckon toddlers too. I'd struggle with mine as toddlers in lockdown and mine were fairly placid.

DD1 is nearly 3 and is a bit of a nightmare. She misses her grandparents, is desperate to play with any child she sees out the window or on tv, cries if we go past the play park and suddenly is terrified of going to bed. She doesn't understand what is happening but knows that things have changed. DD2 is 9 weeks old and no bother.

My daughter is hard work (4) but this is much preferable to a 15 year old equivalent of me. God knows what my mum would have done as I would have just gone out and given 0 fucks about it. This must be a testing time for parents of teenagers who can’t always physically keep their kids in doors