To think once your children get to a certain age and stage in life, you experience a second wind !

[Lardlizard]

I just feel one coming on !
Like where you feel full of life and energy

Ds is 6.Ive had a second wind for the last year or so.Brilliant!

Completely agree op, my dd is 10 and I am already tasting the freedom to come. she has asd so will likely always have some form of dependency but I can now leave her at home for up to an hour locally to do what I need or want. Already have a mental plan on how to encourage further independence into teen yrs.

One of my dfriends has teens now and she has so much more free time now that they are off doing their own things or at home.

Yes we have a good life, we're early 50's part time workers. All dc are now independent. We see them often.
We've paid off the mortgages and live in a lovely area. We have loads of friends, our dogs, hobbies, busy social lives, belong to clubs and do lots together.
We normally have three holidays abroad a year, a few in the UK seaside, city breaks etc, have a camper van and a holiday cottage.
We go camping to rallies and music festivals on our motorbikes.

Ooh this thread is making me happy! Mine are 4 and almost 2. 4 year old starts reception in September.

Am I going to start to have a tiny bit of time to myself in a year or two? Yay!!

I am loving life now. I look back on my life with two toddlers, a husband who worked away then and what I now recognise as chronic PND and I wonder how I managed. I restarted my career with a very part time job 8 years ago. I'm now Deputy CEO, doing a masters and have an 18yo and a 15yo. They're nice people to be around, they help around the house and can cook competently and I have hobbies and friends. DH and I are having a short UK break in September and the 18yo is in charge. I think the tide started turning when the youngest was 8.

I feel one around the corner. Single parent to teens, age 50, and the last 17 years have been quite hard, years of feeling pushed out because i didnt have a husband. But now i have my job and freedom feels around the corner. Feel like i just need to be a little braver mind you!

I needed to read this today. Terrible 2s and pregnant again so a long way to go but knowing there's a light is uplifting

Glad you are enjoying the thread, cheers to us all 👏👏👏🍾🍾🍾🍾

Agree. It gets better after the hellish baby, toddler years. Perhaps a bit cruel to say that because at the time, I loved those years but now that I've got my life back a little I can see how completely and utterly consuming it was. You do lose yourself for a bit. Agree with a pp I wouldn't want to relive those days again.

I love @MorrisZapp's post and I totally agree.

Mine are seven and five, and while the five-year-old is experimenting with a bit of rudeness and sass, and the seven-year-old can still be screechy and melodramatic, I feel like myself again. I know who they are and, to an extent, who they will be.

There have been dark times over the years when I've despaired; have I spoiled them? Have I neglected them? Have I passed my issues and insecurities onto them, is THAT why they're behaving so dreadfully? But now they'll suddenly do something really very charming, or kind, or polite, without being asked – and I suddenly think, Oh! They've got it. We can all sit down and eat the same food without someone crying; pleasant activities come to a pleasant end, without someone yelling and me wondering why we bothered; they wake up at a reasonable hour (sometimes I set my alarm so I can exercise and have a cup of tea in blissful solitude); they tell genuinely funny jokes and want to play board games we all like; they think hard about people's birthdays and what they think that person would like.

It's a work in progress – they do still fight a lot, for example – but there's light at the end of the tunnel for sure.

First night booked away without the teens and it's like a whole new world!

I do feel like my parenting duty's are relaxed, I've done the hard work they are great company and good boys so all my strict rules seem to of paid off. They can still annoy the hell out me but we have a laugh about it now.

Enjoy and great thread

Yes, I noticed it first when my youngest hit 5, again when they were all old enough that my oldest could comfortably babysit for an hour or so, and I'm having another as my 3rd is about to head off to secondary and making plans for when my youngest goes in a few years...

Yes, when my first was around 10 I started to get a bit of life back. Met my partner then pregnant again when my first was 13. I had too much fun, clearly.... I now have a 2 and a half year old, waiting on my next wind.

I echo others, great thread, thank you!!

I needed to see this thread. I’m deep in the drudge with a 4 and 1 year old and I’ve never bickered so much with my husband as now. The last month has felt better and I’ve psychologically marked 21/2 as a point where the younger one might be easier and then 4 when she goes to school. My days when I’ve got both of them are carnage, working with them at home is carnage but when I have one of them at a time it feels much easier.

Absolutely! Enjoying life more, the evenings are more relaxing and actually enjoying the kids more. Onwards and upwards

@Sailingblue the first two years of my youngest life, me and DH bickered so much. It’s good again now and remember why we got together, hang tight!

Yes! @Lardlizard cheers to us! Bloody brilliant we all are :-) my two are 6 and 1. My dh and I argue a lot! I have little time to myself but us mums don’t give ourselves enough credit in the hard times. We get it done lol

one of the everyday pleasures of parenting older kids is sharing some interests. Even daft stuff like watching a decent film together instead of having Paw Patrol on a loop makes life a bit more enjoyable.

I've just been into town with my 13yo to pick up a couple of bits. We stopped for coffee and cake and it was lovely - she's now really great company.

So, can someone give us a definitive age for this? I want to mark it on my calendar!

Yes! I noticed it when my youngest was 5.

My dc are 4 and 2 so I’m in the thick of it just now. I know things will change in the future so this thread is an interesting read.

Definitely. Once we got sleep sorted and no really early mornings we started to live again. I think I had more fun in the ten years after that than I did in my twenties.

This is giving lots of hope

(3 year old and 10 week old)

When does the second wind come??

Oh god yes. I watched my 6 year old make himself some toast this morning, and my heart sang a little. I think a lot of it is that there is less to worry about - if we are out and one of them needs a wee, there is time to find somewhere. They don't need a daily nap. I can leave them alone downstairs while I work. They can entertain themselves. I started playing football and running more regularly last year - there's no "guilt" about leaving the other parent with them, because they aren't really work any more. (Mine are 6 and 8, by the way).