What stage of parenting have you enjoyed most so far?

[YellowsAndPinks]

DD is 6 months and is mostly enjoyable but still obviously very demanding and hard work. She can be quite whingy and has a short attention span so I can't go to a coffee shop and have her with me for too long etc, everything is done in short bursts which is fine but I'm looking forward to stages where we can play together a bit more. She is starting to try and crawl but can't yet so is quite frustrated on her play mat.

I'd be interested to know which stages you enjoyed the most and which you found the most difficult? Feel guilty that sometimes I'm counting down to bedtime!

I struggled with the baby and toddler years- PND, childhood cancer and all consuming, unrelenting fatigue. DS is now 5 and an absolute delight. I’m finally enjoying motherhood in the way I always knew I should.

Love newborns...just gorgeous yet passes by so quickly.

Toddlerhood is a nightmare imo!

Primary age is lovely...so much more independent yet they still seem really little.

My ds is off to secondary school this September so will see what the teenage years bring...

I like right now - 9 and 6. They are fabulous and brilliant and clever and funny and sleep through the night and sort out their own toileting arrangements.

I also did enjoy the newborn stage - particularly the first 6 weeks with ds. (Second child.) Snuggly newborn plus I was confident and knew what I was doing (as opposed to the total confusion and fear with dd!) And dh took 6 weeks of parental leave so we were able to have 6 whole weeks as our complete little family.

My son is 9 months old and I have likes him and looking after him more and more with every month that has passed. I have found he has just got easier and easier (is still very hard work though!).

I'm so jealous of people who enjoyed the newborn phase... My boy just screamed all day every day for months and I thought I was going to go mad! So so glad that's behind me now!

I think it very much depends on the baby ❤

I enjoyed the baby stage but I'm honestly loving the toddler stage, dd is 2 in a couple of weeks and I love seeing how quickly she's learning new things everyday. She has always been a mini daddy looks wise but I'm starting to see a lot of me in her personality traits now, especially her stubbornness, determination and love for chocolate 😂😂

loved toddler stage. They were so damned cute and funny and their utter joy at ordinary life makes you see the world afresh.
Loved age 6-9 before the first pre-pubescent hormonal shift, when they were just very happy and even tempered and up for anything.
I've loved mid to late teens too, watching them grow into young adults.

It's all good, but those were the best bits.

I think each year has got better. Anything below 3 I could probably do without repeating - there were some brilliant bits but the relentlessness of parenting is horrendous. Every year aged 4 up has been brilliant. I've yet to do teendom so maybe ask me in a few years!

Loved it all except potty training and when they first insisting on feeding themselves. They are grown up now and have turned into the most wonderful people

This thread is giving me hope! I adore our DD more than life itself but holy Moses she spends a LOT of time being frustrated.

First she wanted to nap but couldn’t stop fighting it. Then she mastered this but wanted to sit and couldn’t. After she’d nailed sitting we had about of a month of lovely, calm playing and napping in the buggy.....

Until now. 8 months and wants to move but hates being on her tummy (reflux). Lunges for something, faceplants, pukes and then shouts at me. Repeatedly all day.

I LOVE my friends’ pre and primary school aged children (am a teacher so I guess it’s ingrained in me) and regularly swap with them on days out, even when the preschoolers are in tantrum mode 😂

Really loved 2-5/6 so playful, gorgeous and cute.

Newborn stage is always magical

Now enjoying the teen stage, less hands on and much easier.

9-11 were okay nothing special

The bit where he is asleep, or at nursery.

Still waiting to find out ..... DS now 18 .

Actually for me from about 8 months - 2 years was really easy, DS was a dream baby, slept well, entertained himself and absolutely not at all clingy ... and no talking back.

I bloody love the newborn days.. absolute piece of piss!

I have a 3 year old and 18 month old... bloody knackered! I do not enjoy this stage..at all

(Well I might do when the baby gives me a "cuggle " and says "ahh kiss" and when the 3 year old actually listens and is super sensible! But those moments are few and far between )

I have loved every stage for different reasons. I don't think I've had a favourite, I have loved all of them and watching him learn new things and develop, but I do like now he's sleeping through.

Hated every moment of the newborn stage, but then I did have awful PND. Enjoyed 7 months to 11 months, then had 2 months of teething / wanting to walk hell, and have loved basically every minute since 13 months (she's almost 18 months now). She gets better every day. She's started having 6 or 7 tantrums every day which I thought I'd find exhausting but actually I secretly find them quite funny and I love that we always have cuddles afterwards.

DD is 2 and a bit and I’m loving this age. I’d say I’ve really loved from about 18 months. Now is great - we can have little conversations, she’s starting to really use her imagination, and she has real interests. I love watching her learn and develop - she is very strong willed but for me that’s part of the fun. (I only have her though so much easier than with more!)

Things are generally easier now - we can go out for lunch or dinner and although she can’t sit through a 3 course meal, we can sit and talk and enjoy it together. When she was smaller she just spent the whole time frustrated and trying to climb out of any highchair, and it was just stressful!

We are flying tomorrow - did the same last year aged 13 months and it was a bloody nightmare - she just cried the whole time as wanted to be crawling and not on my lap. This year I’m quite looking forward to it! She will love having her own seat, doing some colouring and reading and eating too many crisps.

DD is 17, DS is 15 and this is the most fun I've had as a parent. They are grateful, interesting and funny, you can leave them alone in the house, they can get themselves where they need to be, but still want to talk to me. I think I will look back on these last few years as the best bit.

The bit I'm in now, primary school aged. Absolutely detest newborn and baby stage, it completely stifled me, I felt trapped being that relied upon. So it's just got better the older and more independent they've gotten, I love watching their characters develop and can enjoy being around them now. They have such a thirst for knowledge, playful, independence, but still put you at the centre of their world. I can't imagine enjoying any other stage as much as this one other than hopefully adulthood!

Different with each child! I have four.

DD1 was an awesome human from 4-11. She is a grumpy 13 year old now who gives loads of eye rolling type attitude.

DD2 was a lovely baby, she's a sweetheart now at 10, but was such an away with the fairies type toddler that she was a bit annoying!

DD3 was a nightmare until she turned 5, is still pretty lovely now at 7.

DS was a wonderful newborn (hadn't enjoyed newborns before him!), then a bit annoying for a few months as he wouldn't be put down. He's super right now, 7 months old.

Mind is currently 19 months and I love it. I started to really enjoy him from about 12 months. I have to say it makes me a bit sad thinking about first 12 months - it was ok, I don’t think I was depressed but it was a slog and I didn’t get many moments of joy. We’re sticking at 1. I can’t take the risk that we get another one like him as I think it would break me (reflux, never slept more than 2 hours at a time until he was 13 months or so, very attached to me).

I am currently sat watching my two who are 4 and 8 doing gymnastics camp and thinking how lovely it is they can do it without me and are much more independent . I found the baby stage quite tough 1-2 is quite cute but they get frustrated when can’t communicate . 3 they can be little terrors .

Loved new born stage.
Looked after my grandchildren yesterday 7 and 9 absolutely fantastic don’t need to look after them the same way you have to a toddler. We had a great time cooking, playing cards, having grown up conversations about the moon landings. Perfect.

I'm really enjoying my 5 year old more than ever, just so funny, can have an interesting conversation, going to the toilet by himself, get his own drinks, he's reasonable, no tantrums, can take him to cafes and outings, he's so enthusiastic about everything. My other son is 2.5 and it's THE CUTEST age but hard too.

I liked the new born stage
Don't enjoy the toddler stage
Much easier as they get older.

Overall, I think I prefer to have an older child.
I have 3 dcs of various ages. Struggling with younger two now that it is the Summer holidays and I was only thinking today if both of them were 5 years older, life would be much easier than it is right now. I don't want to wish our lives away but this is how I feel.

Mine's a few months over 2 and I am loving this stage. She's so chatty, lively and hilarious. She makes me laugh multiple times a day. And there's no better feeling in the world than a big pudgy armed cuddle from her. Amazing.

Don't miss the constant cycle of feeds, naps, nappy leaks etc of earlier stages at all.