is age 3 better/worse/same as age 2

[Liz79]

hi all
My dd will be 3 in a couple of weeks -already! She is lovely :) but it is sometimes like talking to a brick wall and god help me if we need to do something she doesn't want to eg wash face, brush hair/teeth!

We've all heard of the terrible 2's but I often think, actually it hasn't been all that bad, we have survived and she is generally agood little girl who has grown up so much this year. Give self and Dh pat on back.

Then I hear on another thread 3 is a notoriously difficult age. Gulp. What's this year got in store for me? What should I expect and is it worse than 2?

Not just me, then. My DD is generally fairly placid & easy going. But if she doesn't want to do something, by god you know about it. Proper threenager strop.

I find that doing the "you're upset" , "you don't want to do x" , type stuff helps, as it gets her away from repeated "NO!"s and lets her know that I understand, or something. It gets her to calm down, at least...

DS was 3 last week. The last couple of months have definitely been the most challenging. I think we're definitely in for terrible threes.

Both my dd were far more stroppy and prone to tantrums at 3 than when they were two!

DS had horrible moments whilst 2 but grew out of it whilst 3, he is now nearly 4 and is lovely on the whole now. DD turned 2 and turned horrible so I hope she will grow out of it like her brother did!

DD was a dreadful threenager.

ds is 3y11m, this year has been hellish at times, sorry.

i have been pregnant and had a new baby so thars compounded it i think.

this time last year i thought id escaped tantrumming

I've actually enjoyed the 3's! 2 was so many tantrums and generally not easy to reason with. Now we don't get tantrums, but do get a bit of cheek and backchat. However generally it is a lovely age - so inquisitive, so trusting, so happy-go-lucky and easily pleased

DD was AWFUL from about 15 months onwards. Lots of tantrums several times a day, very difficult to calm her down.

She turned 3 in June and is now about 95% better. She rarely has a tantrum, and if she does it's incredibly easy to snap her out of it.

Today we had a 3 hour shopping trip around a busy city centre without one single strop. THis was unheard of even 6 months ago

different.

more rewarding - learning to do things that make my life easier (dressing self, feeding self) and things i enjoy doing (reading, writing, drawing, painting, glueing)

we can have a conversation now.

bring on 4 though.

Easier - they can be bribed

Worse, irrational tantrums and back chat, threenager is right!

I think they're all different. I found two OK, three no problem, four horrendous (because they're soooo clever and verbal and devious and argumentative), five quite calm, six dreadful (though mainly through sibling rivalry), seven and 8 OK, 9/10 onset of puberty - looking back I should probably hide in the shed until they've done their A levels.

DS1 was an angel when he was two. I thought we had escaped the notorious terrible two's. Then he turned three...

I have a 3 yr old DS and a 2 yr old DD! So currently have experience of both! DS was great at 2 and tbh i don't think we went through the terrible 2's with him but then he hit 2 and he was terrible, it was like someone flicked a switch for those first few months of being 3! I can't rememeber now when it changed but he will be 4 at the beginning of Jan and he is much better now . He still has his moments when he is over tired but he's generally a really sweet boy.
On the other hand, we are definately going through the terrible 2's with DD (2.4 months) and have been on and off since she was about 15 months so i'm really really hoping she has grown out of it by the time she turns 3 as i think i'll have gone slightly mad by then lol!

2 is a piece of piss compared to 3. By a fucking MILE

Sorry