Is there a point at which parenting becomes consistently easy and fun?

[LanaStraightLeg]

I have two small children. Life with them brings moments of great joy, love, pride and wonder, but they're glued together with stress, frustration, fury, despair and exhaustion. Is there a point at which it becomes mainly easy and fun? Don't say being a grandparent.

Er no ! Sorry
As with most things it's hard work but hopefully worth the effort :)

I have a 4 year old & a 1 year old so I don't know....but I'm guessing not. Each age has its own challenges and the things we find hard now will seem easy compared to what's to come!

There is always a lot of work involved. It will be much more stressful if you resist that idea and think it should be all fun and games....

Some parents will tell you that parenting is 'easy and fun' - I am still waiting for that moment 12 years on ........... perhaps when they leave home ? - and no, I absolutely know that I will not have that 'empty nest syndrome'. Not that I am counting the days or anything.

I found when DS2 went to school full time and DS3 was in nursery each morning it got lot easier. I enjoyed being him on his own for a couple of hours in the afternoon knowing he was my last baby. For the fun bit I'd say when my youngest was about 7. I remember buying a Merlin annual Pass that year and we did lots of good days out. Then we got back home they went of and played nicely while I sorted stuff out and cooked dinner and thought to myself that was a fun day with my kids and so much easier than when they were toddlers and babies. My eldest is 25 now and we have a really good laugh together. I love meeting up with him for lunch and we send each other silly little messages throughout the day.

Mine are 17, 15, and 12.
It's FAR easier and more fun now than it was then they were little. Has been this way for at least 2, maybe 3 years I reckon.
Of course you still worry about them, but then you would if they were 43 and living their own life I guess - that's part of being a loving parent - but the day to day living is so much easier once they can cook, and iron, and dress themselves, and be left home alone, or walk somewhere on their own, and have their own key, etc.,etc.,etc.

Yes, I do.
Although I agree it is constant and at some times hard work, difficult with seemingly little reward.
It's surprising how easy it becomes though if you keep the realism and not constantly want things better or different. Sort of going with the flow and not expecting it to get better. Then I think you start to notice improvements, differences and feel like you are getting somewhere, until a new scenario and circumstances appear to make you think again.

When they leave Home?

Mine are 10 and 7 and I would say we have reached that stage, yes. I am finding these years easy and enjoyable.

I think we are in a lovely bubble between the years when they need a ton from you physically (baby/toddler/young school children) and the years when it is emotionally draining and difficult (teenagers).

Plus I work full time and have an after-school nanny who does a lot of the drudgery. Not sure I would feel the same if I was doing all the school pickups / shunting to activities / fixing dinner. The only "chore" type of thing I really do with them is homework oversight. I have a couple of hours with them in the evenings where we read, chat, watch TV, play together. Monopoly is a current favourite!

You'll go through easy phases, which I think are different for each child. Personally I find the baby and young toddler bit so so hard.

I found parenting really easy when my dd was between 2 and 3. Now she's almost 4 it's a daily struggle. I'm thinking the 6+ stage might be easier??

Not so I've noticed.....

7yrs and 5yrs here. Still very hard work and stressful.

Yes the 6 plus stage is easier. When mine were toddlers I remembered constantly looking at the clock thinking how early can I do the bath and put them to bed. I remember closing all the curtains and yawning a lot at about 4 pm hoping they would fool for it. Deffo not fun then.

HeartsTrumps, I totally agree with your post. My dcs are the same ages 10 and 7 and I call it a 'golden age'.

The logistics are them in school are still hard work but they have never been so much fun and laughs. Enough personality but not much of the moodiness yet, plus ds 7 still tells me he loves me every day and stares into my eyes.

At about 8.30 when they are both in bed and we open the wine

Is there a point where anything in life becomes consistently easy and fun? Work? Married life? Travelling?

Yet all of those things can be enormously worthwhile. And you may find you cope better with some types of difficulties than with others. I find the teen years very rewarding in many ways even though we've been through seriously hard times.

Hell no.

My two are 4 years and 7 months so maybe too young to qualify for this post, but in all honesty at the moment I love it every day and while there might be crappy moments, the overall trajectory is fun and it is enjoyable.

My 4 year old is a cheeky monkey (but very loving and generous) and my baby sleeps badly and I'm knackered most of the time with a sore back, but hey - that's fine with me as he's a smiley wee soul when he's awake, and they're at that age where it's great seeing them interact (as DS2 can't move yet, so he hasn't yet started to piss off DS1 :-D.

I'm sure as soon as DS2 starts crawling, the challenges might start to outstrip the fun...

My only DC is 6 now and yes I would say its now both easy and fun, although probably much easier with only the one child!

I don't think it's about the children's ages, it's about the other stress in your life. I am a foster carer and love it - but we are financially secure, patenting is my job and I get a level if professional satisfaction similar to if I was working, and I have a cleaner do an not multitasking as much as most SAHMs, so I enjoy it. When I have been parenting with money, time or satisfaction worries, I haven't enjoyed it. When things aren't going well I focus half on sorting the kids and half on sorting myself out and that seems to work.

11 and 8 years old here and great ages, although for me 6-8 years were absolutely fab. Ds 1 is becoming far too worldly wise for my liking.

Mine is 9 - it is pretty much lovely. She can have a shower, get herself to bed by herself. Sleeps in at the weekend. Moans a bit but is otherwise low maintenance. But on the other hand she is not wandering the streets alone yet.

Mine are 18, 16 and 7 and I found it easiest when they were babies and you knew where they were and who they were with at all times. As they get older it gets easier in some ways and more difficult in others.

4 was lovely. 12 was horrible. 13&14 have been ok so far.

I also found the pre-school years super easy. DD is 9 and very busy with her own agenda of school/activities/friends/homework etc and that in itself is a lot more work than a baby that more or less goes where you decide. She has come home tonight with an absolute mountain of homework (homework gets given out on Friday for the following Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday) and we will need to sit down to work out what to do when and she will need help with quite a bit of it.