Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Toddlers are hard work

27 replies

purpleme12 · 06/10/2015 22:10

I find my toddler hard work and stressful she's very demanding wants to do everything what she wants, moans and I can't see a reason why, cries when she can't do something she wants to. She won't play by herself at all so it's not like I get a break and I'm often watching her to make sure she's not doing something she shouldn't be especially when we're out. We've been out and I feel like it's been constant. Please tell me there are other people who find this hard and who want a break sometimes I just want to know I'm not alone!

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

RandomMess · 06/10/2015 22:13

Yes it's hard work!!! Some personalities far more than others (I endured both kinds )

c737 · 07/10/2015 10:44

I sooooo feel your pain. I have a 19 month old dd who just does not sit still and is extremely demanding of my attention (made even harder by the addition of 2 wk old ds1). It is just relentless and sometimes I'm just clock watching til bedtime when I can finally get some peace! Really hoping that the next 6 months to a year will see her calm down a little and engage in more play by herself such as jigsaws, drawing etc and hopefully increase her (extremely short) concentration span a little. It's like the best and worse of times - she's so engaging, funny and delightful yet such high bloody maintenance!

WorldsBiggestGrotbag · 07/10/2015 10:46

Yep, 23 month old DD is bloody hard work. Especially with 12 week old DD2 to contend with too!

PicnicPie · 07/10/2015 11:23

Another one here who understands the struggle. DD1 is 2.10 and is constantly challenging and asserting her independence. And DD2 at 14mo is not far behind!!

I just choose my battles and give the eldest lots of opportunity to be independent but there are certain things I won't compromise on which she is well aware of.

winchester1 · 07/10/2015 12:08

Do yours need things to be done just so -,only half the time you've no idea what was wrong with the way you did it the first time? We had a full on 20min of screaming and thrashing because I opened the car door wrongly yesterday
Mines 2.1 and I fear he is teaching the 9 month old

Maybe I can send them to live with their Nan until they are old enough for school

NickyEds · 07/10/2015 14:32

Fucking donkey work. Ds is 21 months and dd is almost 12 weeks. 20 minutes of hysterics this morning because he snapped his crayon. Another half an hour because I peeled his sodding banana. He can't talk so sometimes I just have to guess what tragedy has befallen him. It's pissing it down with rain so we can't get out. Bah.

Last night ds had cried so hard (because he wasn't allowed some swiss roll) that he threw up. So there was the choice between cleaning up sick and dealing with the toddler. Dp and I fought over who got to clean up the sick- "You always get to clean up the sick". What have we become!

I'g sell my soul for a night in a hotel!!

flanjabelle · 07/10/2015 14:34

Completely understand. I can't even contemplate another child as I find dd such hard work. she isn't a naughty child, but any toddler is hard work. It's constant from the second you get up in the morning. I know I am lucky to have her, but it's tough and its tiring and I'm not sure I was intended to be a full time toddler entertainer.

All I can say is thank goodness for toddler groups. they are saving my sanity.

jellyjiggles · 07/10/2015 14:36

Yes they are! However I'm sat here with my dd watching TV and loving it and I'm bored. For the first time in a very long time I'm actually properly bored.

I've even cooked tea ffs in an attempt to not be bored but honestly it's all very dull in our house at the moment.

slightlyconfused85 · 07/10/2015 14:38

I found my dd dire between 18-24 months. Really hard work, whiny and tantrumy. As her speech improved during her second year she has transformed and is pleasurable to be with 90% of the time at 2.11. I think there's a lot to be said for communication and when they break the barrier it improves.

BrianButterfield · 07/10/2015 14:41

My 22mo is all sweetness and light most of the time - she's so happy, every one comments on it, chatting away and getting on with the whole world...except when she DOESN'T.

Then woe betide us. She can wail for England and talks quite well so does long monologues about everything that is wrong in her life. She flops to the floor in public and it looks like I'm dragging her along the pavement! She wants food constantly and can't even wait for the toaster to pop up before wailing at her lack of toast. She also chooses the absolute worst times (like when I'm trying to park in a tiny space, in the rain, with a queue of traffic behind me) to yell and weep like a banshee.

Even my 4yo looks at her like she's crazy and says "why do you always do this right now? We're just sitting in the car!" Drives me nuts. Luckily I know from DS that they do grow out of it and become human.

BrianButterfield · 07/10/2015 14:43

She's also obsessed with Peppa Pig, which is the worst crime of all in my eyes. "Want wat Peppa Pig mummy" x 1000 in our house.

Eminado · 07/10/2015 14:47

Brian are u raising my child?!

I will literallt send u a video of my DD whining for pepoa pig.

NickyEds · 07/10/2015 14:56

You see with ds it isn't a whine it's high pitched-ear-piercing-baby-waking SHREEEEEK!

winchester1 · 07/10/2015 17:52

I've been dreaming of mine getting into peppa so at lest he could sit and watch and stop stripping for two mins. Sounds like if it ever happens it won't be the rest I'm hoping for.

winchester1 · 07/10/2015 17:53

Stripping and stropping

Joneseygirl77 · 07/10/2015 20:05

Oh yes with you on this one and I only have 1! 18mo dd who is also poorly at the moment so I feel even more guilty when I get annoyed by the strops/whinging.

Hmm slightly confused you say 18-24mo is the worst- ah the joys of the next 6 months to look forward to then!

slightlyconfused85 · 07/10/2015 20:22

I found it the worst but they're all different I guess! A lot of my dds whining and whinging was down to lack of communication and a complete lack of ability to reason. As these have developed she had become way cooler! Ds is only 12 weeks so I'm looking forward to the inevitable arrival of toddlerdom...

thatstoast · 07/10/2015 20:34

So glad to see other people feel the same. DS is 20m, not much speech and he's so difficult atm. It doesn't help that I've decided to start studying (on top of work) so out of the house more and we think he may have chicken pox!

Tiredemma · 07/10/2015 20:36

My two year old DD is so much hard work. Whiny, clingy- wont sleep in her own bed. Im exhausted.

When does it end???

Original poster

purpleme12 · 07/10/2015 23:03

It's so good to hear I'm not alone and other people saying it's hard! I've just got 1 so sometimes I wonder if other children are like this but from the sounds of it they are! And then when she's not doing all this she looks so sweet lol!

OP posts:

applecatchers36 · 07/10/2015 23:10

Your so not alone!!!

I find my DD 22 months so full on. She needs constant supervision, is very active and wants to do everything independently when she unsurprisingly doesn't yet have the skills to do so. Am also in the first trimester of pregnancy so this isn't helping as our energy levels are poles apart arghh!

Fuckitfay · 07/10/2015 23:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

winchester1 · 08/10/2015 11:44

We were tidying the garden yesterday and the two yr old stropped because he couldn't move a tyre on his own. Wont let us help, crys if its left where it is.
I'm not even convinced language will help if all I can say is you can do that you're too little.

CoodleMoodle · 08/10/2015 12:01

My 19 month old is a pain in the bum at the moment! Everything is a MASSIVE issue - from not being allowed to play on my tablet all day (she gets to use it and we have fun but getting her off again is hellish!) to me trying to get her to hold my hand and not, y'know, run out onto the road... And then there's the whole refusal to eat. And screaming at DH for no real reason. And not wanting to leave the library/park/shop.

We have our good moments but these last couple of weeks she's been moody, grumpy and, well, miserable. We're starting to hear words though, so maybe that has something to do with it. She knows exactly what we're saying, she just can't respond how she wants to and she gets angry. Plus, she thinks we are her loyal servants.

She's lovely really!

FinglesMcStingles · 08/10/2015 12:10

There is no logic. There is no rationality. There is a rapidly decreasing level of sanity. Not so much a battle of wills as a neverending war.

On the plus side, at just over two and a half, DD's communication and mental sophistication skills are advanced enough for basic negotiation and/or bribery. This helps approximately five per cent of the time.

Flip

1 2