What age is the easiest?

[Jessicatmagnificat]

Just a general query out of interest really. I have a DD who is 6 months old, and lots of fun, but also lots of hard work. I have days when it feels such a grind and when I would love a bit of time to myself. I also find a feel tired most of the time. This set me thinking: does it ever get easier? If so, when? Will DH and I ever feel completely relaxed ever again? Certainly life is much easier now than it was with a newborn, and DD and I have a lot of giggles and play together, but it still feels like being on a treadmill at times.

IMHO the best years are from about 4 to pre-teen. Babies are labour intensive and wake up at night, toddlers are unreasonable and run amok.

Once they can walk, talk and are potty trained,it is deffo easier.

LOL malory - I was just going to suggets over 2s.

I think for me it gets easier when you don't have to spend every waking moment supervising them - which happens at about 2 IME.

I understand how you feel Jessica - I so found the toddler years hard work and that was with two well-behaved ones.

What I found hard was the amount of time spent on the floor building bricks, doing jigsaws etc etc.

I just never realised that that was what happened with little ones - you have to spend an awfully long amount of time actually entertaining them!!!

Anyway I did it and found it hard but things turned around for me when they were about 5. (This probably sounds yonks away to you but it will go really quickly!). From then on they were happy to have me nearby but not need me for the constant entertainment and also at that age they seem to come into a time where they like to talk about things more.

This time they are at now (they are 7 and 10) is just bliss to me. We spend so much time together but I'm not building flippin bricks - we're talking about things or going out to places.

Others will find the toddler years the best - but we are all different. I can only reassure you that you're not the only one to feel like this and a time will come that is much less stressful for you.

I agree with mt - it depends on the child and the parent. As a parent, there are certain things that you find really difficult to deal with but others would really not be concerned.

I found my DS easiest as a toddler - he was a lovely, cuddly, relatively compliant, fun 1 and 2 yo. I am also quite enjoying him just now - he is 6, and we can read together, discuss things etc. He was a bit of a PITA a lot of the time when he was 3/4/5 becaue of various things such as baby sister, starting school and being really tired etc.

DD was an easier newborn than DS. She woke in the night, but I fed her and she went back to sleep. This was a after DS. She was also quite sweet from about 12 months to 2 1/2 although very much my shadow. She is going through a bit of an angst stage atm though (will be 3 on Tues).

Newborn to crawling are easy.
But I am looking forward to never having any nappies in our house ever agin, even nighttime ones!
Since having a secoond child, I firmly believe that nothing is hard when you only have one
There is that annoying toddler bit though, when they are tantrumming all day, and walk so slowly, and are not quite sentient enough to be a companion