Do you still love your children the same when they are teenagers?

[ThereSheGoes1419]

DC are 5 and 1. Of course I know that I will still love them when they are teens, but will I still love them as intensely as I do now? Currently they depend on me for everything, and they are so bloody cute that I just want to pick them up and squeeze them. I look at them laying in their beds at night and my heart feels so full. Is it the same when they become teenagers?

@Pesimistic

Post like this make me sad and excited for the future with son, I dont want to let go of his childhood but I am equally as excited to watch him grow, I think it's going to be tough looking back when I'm old and remembering him as a little kid and how much fun we had and are havin, but that it's gone and not coming back.

I do feel a pang when I see fb memories posts etc when they were small but I remember how much harder work they were to look after then! I do love them being more self sufficient

The love grows & the relationship develops, my two are 19 & 17 they are just so lovely, funny & great to be around, we are a very close family.

Of course you love them the same but you won't show them love in the same way. Nothing nicer than baby cuddles but my teenage DS barely let's me near him!!

DD is 14 and of course I love her as much as ever. She does not like a cuddle as much (although still sometimes on her own terms) and she doesn't really fit on my knee anymore but we are still close.
She is more independent and needs me less for practical things eg goes clothes shopping with her friends using her allowance rather than me dragging her round but that's OK.

In the last year or so I've found conversations are more on a level and genuinely interesting. Last night we were talking about what the American Dream means because she'd been studying John Steinbeck at school and it was a better discussion than I'd have with DH on the subject I think.

She can watch more sophisticated TV, films etc that I actually enjoy too (surely no-one is sorry to lose Peppa Pig). Watched some episodes of Fawlty Towers and Black Adder and she definitely gets all the sarcasm and nuance whereas DS aged 9 still doesn't really.

I value her opinion on clothes and fashion. She buys really thoughtful presents that I actually like (again better than DH)

On a downside there is eye rolling, back chat, selflessness, a bit of lying , messy room and general uncommunicativeness (no idea what she does in her room for hours sometimes) but I remember doing all that as a teen. Have not got to the underage drinking and boys stage yet but I remember that too. She says smoking isn't a thing now as everyone vapes!

No, I dont think you do. You love them as much but I think you learn to emotionally step back from them and start to see them as more a independent human beings with great positives and also with flaws. I thought mine were pretty much perfect kn every way when they were younger, now I realise they are human with feet of clay, just like the rest of us.

Yes definitely and even older.
When my eldest sons wife and baby were rushed into the ICU after the birth, what I saw was not a grown man, but a frightened little boy who needed a mum cuddle, which is exactly what he got from both me and his dad.
Fortunately all ended well.
I can't imagine ever loving any of my kids less due to age.

Like others have said it also makes you realise how much your parents love you too (or it does me)

My mum was younger when she had me and I recently realised I am the age she was when she waved me off to uni. I was desperate to get away and start my own life and had no care for her feelings but now I know exactly what she was feeling.

I don't take my parents for granted so much now that I know how they feel and I really appreciate how they brought me up and how they still love me.

Now I'm imagining what it must be like to be a grandparent. understanding how it feels to be a child and then a parent and then seeing your own child parent theirs.
I hope I get to have that experience some day.

I have a baby and two teenagers. While the baby is lovely for cuddles and snuggling up in bed I still love my teens the same as when they were little.
They are funny, interesting young women and I feel proud of them and how well they've coped with all the recent disruption. Of course they have their moods and bad days but who doesn't?
The relationship is different, the love is the same.

I think the love grows, if anything. Mine are 19 (20 tomorrow! ) and 16 and just the best company. They make me laugh so much, they have wonderful passionate views on politics and all sorts of things, they are lovely and kind and compassionate. Sometimes they are also very exasperating and annoying (particularly when it comes to messy rooms). But my love for them has never wanted. I still love to hug them right and tell them I love them to the moon and back and they still say I love you more. They're amazing.

*waned
*Tight

Love yes, I love the bones of them. But they become their own person and that can be lovely as many of these messages testify, or they can become challenging in a wide, wide variety of ways.

DS is one of those 'lovely' ones described here on this thread, articulate, good grades, etc etc. I love him to bits.
DD struggles with anxiety, she can disappear into 'her cave' and need coaxing out like a frightened creature. I love her to bits.

The joy and the sadness of parenting teens is loving them fiercely while knowing you can't fix all their problems with a cuddle and a trip to the park.

I've got a teenager and a five year old (and 2 in between!)

My love for them hasn't changed and as they get older and do more in their lives I feel like I'm bursting with pride at times at the people they're becoming. My relationship with them deepens as they become more like mini adults.

Buuut having said that NOTHING beats the cuteness and squidginess of a five year old!!! Oh my god he is just adorable in his innocent 5 year old view of the world and his complete adoration of me without all the I hate you's and sneeriness of teenagers!!

I want my little ones to stay my babies forever. They are so cute. 🤣

My eldest is 16 and I absolutely love being his mum. Don't get me wrong, he can drive me nuts at times, but I'm loving watching him grow, seeing his relationships with friends and you get different worries . I can't wait to see him grow up further, it was just the two of us in the early days and I was a fairly young mum so felt we grew up together

Yes you do and that's why parenting teens can be so hard.
Because you love them just as intense it's hard to let them go and make their own m8dtakes, but you do it out of love because not letting them.wont help them develop into a normal adult.
You have to let them go, make m8stakes, watch them grapple with finding their own identity and where they fit in against brutal peer pressure. It's hard very hard because you love them and want to protect them every bit the same as when they are little, except you just can't unless you want to stifle them.
They may infuriate you as they fight for their independence but also a new close friendship and bonds develop as you share opinions and thoughts and have more grown up conversations.

My son is 44, I still love him, I don't watch him sleeping any more, or want to pick him up and squeeze him

To everyone loving their growing children the book “I Love You Forever” with have you in bits!

Your relationship definitely evolves. As others have said it is still possible to love a teenager fiercely, but not actually like them very much sometimes. My 16 year-old ds is hard work at the moment. Sometimes the fact that I love him so much makes it harder when he doesn't love me back!