Which parenting stage have you found the most challenging so far?

[juliano]

What is the hardest parenting phase you've experienced so far?

It depends whether you’re more suited to a) dying of utter exhaustion (0-3) or b) teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown (14-18). I think I slightly preferred the nervous breakdown.

I would take the exhausting 0-3 any day over the nervous breakdown of dealing with 16-20.

13-16 for me, although DS is only 18 so perhaps there is worse to come. It’s a huge adjustment to parenting teenagers, and I found the loss of the easy loving connection very difficult. 16-18 has been great though. And I do enjoy the cameraderie amongst parents of teens: the slight smugness and judgement of the primary years falls away as you are all in the shit together.

Teenage years were by far the worst!
Babies easiest 😃

14-19. Bloody awful. Then they turn into wonderful humans. Stay strong everyone

Thank god, I'm not alone, that made me laugh, game me hope & know its not just my child.

Teens . 13 and 14 years olds .

0 to one for both of mine by miles. They are adults now.
Next was 1 to 4.
5 to 25 was a breeze.

Me too. I hated the newborn stage with all three of mine.

7-11 for me. Autistic girl and her emotional regulation during this time was wild. She was also aware she was 'different' but not why or how to manage it. But we worked through it. 14 now and she's doing teenage years so well. But actually I realise tend to find kids most rewarding younger (toddlers) or teens. I must enjoy the challenge 😂

Teens are the hardest. I'm right in the thick of it now 😩

I also found my eldest ds who is 20 going off to college far away, so difficult. I missed him and the daily interaction so much. I felt unprepared for how sad I would feel. I didn't let him know that though. He is doing really well, so I couldn't hold him back.

Newborn.

My kids didn’t sleep through until 2 years and when they were little they fed every hour or so. 😅

Ever since I wasn’t their main food source, it has got a lot easier.

For me it was 0 to 18 months.
You can't depend on them sleeping.
I always hated spoon feeding them.
Mine now are age 14 ,18 and 20.
Didn't find teenager years hard at all.
Just when they are babies, the constant bottles , nappies and cooking food they wont eat.

well said - if parents here believe it will all sort itself out by the time their children
are 30, they are in for a surprise - it never ends, the dramas are more dramatic,
the wilfulness. more wilful, the financial requirements expand, then they start with
the children of their own, then you will discover nothing you do or say is either acceptable or correct, although they will have picked out a pram for you to buy,
that nonsense never changes

Nobody agrees with me but newborn probably to do with the postnatal depression, traumatic birth and being severely unwell. And that’s why I’m one and done could never do it again.

14-17 for all three kids. Hard work and stress like nothing else I have ever experienced. It does calm down, but fuck me it's difficult.

Toddler years by a mile! 1-3: awful.

My teens are vastly easier now!

i remember when my MIL said that the toddler years were her favourite I nearly cried, as I was appalled that I was in the best phase! Fortunately, like a lot of things she said, it was pure nonsense.

Gosh! so reading this, it sounds like all ages have challenges! 😅
Mines under 8's, are a lot of fun!

Late teen and young adult

Preteen parents like me reading this thinking 😩

My hardest was 3, with both of them really.

Teens
Hormones and how many of us never realised while we go thru peri how hard it will be.
One day they talk & are your normal.child next they are slamming doors and we are the devil..
U sat with my teen for dinner while they wore a hood over there hair texting unable to put the phone away for that time.
Love a adult child independant and sensiable loved by all.
Ideal age 0-7

Teenage years. Mental health, self harm, suicidal thoughts, depression, loneliness, ill health.

DD is only 5 but the 0-1 age was mind-numbingly dull. Babies are basically a potato with legs & arms. Pictures of them do absolutely nothing for me, but I adore from about 18 months onwards, every age has been the best.

In recent weeks I've had colleagues crying in my office, one because his son, in prison has repeated suicide attempts, and another because her son's gf has taken her own life and she's worried sick about what he might do. Both "children" in their 30s. I imagine they long for the days when poo was the problem.

My Dad says the hardest thing he ever faced as a parent is when my DH died leaving his daughter (aged 52) widowed and his DGCs without their dad. Prior to that Dad had generally been able to fix everything for us.

I'm sorry, that's much more gloomy than I intended and undoubtedly the day to day drudgery of parenting improves, but I'm not convinced the emotional load ever lightens.

I have 3 DC, two are adults now. Teenage years definitely most stressful years. How sweet they were all were pre-seconday school age.