For parents of grown (or older) kids - favorite age(s)?

[Anonymous]

I feel my kids definitely went through cycles of ups and down.

Love, love, loved 1 year olds. Watching them discover the world was awesome.

One kid was still awesome at 2, but hit a rough spot at 3. The other was the opposite.

5 year olds and 8 year olds I found kind of annoying - or at least my two kids at those ages. Have really enjoyed most of the rest up to 11, which is where we are now with my oldest.

[Anonymous]

I have two in college now, and a 5th grader. For all three, I found the years from 4-6 to be the most annoying. They ask tons of questions, don't listen to the answers, and seemed to say "Mom! Come here!" every few seconds. Plus they'd be really tired and cranky at the end of a day at preschool or elementary.

I have absolutely loved every other age, including the teen years for my older two.

[Anonymous]

I love how much variability there is in these answers!

Lesson seems to be: kids can be a joy or a PITA at any age. Sometimes in the same day!

[Anonymous]

Mine are 6 and 10 and it’s great. 4-7 is tons of fun. I can see my 10 yo fast approaching the tween teen years though and it’s a little bittersweet. We were out looking for Christmas ideas this weekend and I noticed she gravitated entirely to jewelry, room decor, bath bombs, music. No more toys. Normal and all but just kinda hit me she may be past the toy years.

Everything after 3 is fun. 3 is the last “hard” year IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I loved 1-4, or maybe 1-5.

HATED the elementary school years.

Since sixth grade, I've LOVED them again. Now almost 17 and still loving it.

Funny. I am truly dreading middle school with every fiber of my being.

[Anonymous]

My two girls are 3 years apart, currently 11 and 8. It’s fine, but I thought 4/7, 5/8, 6/9 were pretty awesome. I really miss having little ones.

[Anonymous]

3 sons.
5-12 good years.
13-17 not so good.
18+ good again.

[Anonymous]

I have two 15 year olds. Just starting to like them again. 12 to 15 were rough. Before 12 was good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I loved 1-4, or maybe 1-5.

HATED the elementary school years.

Since sixth grade, I've LOVED them again. Now almost 17 and still loving it.

Funny. I am truly dreading middle school with every fiber of my being.

Oh no. Middle school was GREAT. DD finally stopped constantly telling me about plastic crap toys she wanted. She got SO MUCH better at telling a coherent story that I could follow. She could watch tv with me without interrupting. We started having philisophical talks. We could go sit in the furniture section of Macy's and have an hour long talk. I could bring her to my yoga class. We took a cooking class together. Middle school was great.

[Anonymous]

Every age. There's something to like about each of them.

[Anonymous]

4 was my favorite.

Teenagers, really awful.

[Anonymous]

I have loved every age except 3 and 12. I have loved the teenage years and I am really going to miss her when she isn't living in my house every day.

[Anonymous]

Three boys. Two girls. Loved infant through about 13. 14-17 were kinda tough. They are 30, 27, 25, 23, and 18. I like all of them again. Most of the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I loved 1-4, or maybe 1-5.

HATED the elementary school years.

Since sixth grade, I've LOVED them again. Now almost 17 and still loving it.

I've never heard this. Why did you hate the ES years?

I find that unusual too. For many people they're awesome!

This was a surprising answer to me too. Ages 1-4 you are bogged down with nap schedules, diapers, toddler meltdowns, crappy sleep, etc. My oldest is almost 5 and is becoming SO much more fun now. We build legos together, do real crafts, he has a hilarious sense of humor, is loving the sports we sign him up for, etc. He’s already learning a lot of math and reading at his preschool and is excited for K next year.

Meanwhile his little brother is a destructive and loud little toddler (who I love!). But I thought elementary school was supposed to be way more fun than the little kid years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love how much variability there is in these answers!

Lesson seems to be: kids can be a joy or a PITA at any age. Sometimes in the same day!

I also think different parents have different strength. Some people (not me) are good at tolerating messes, are very patient with tantrums, and overall enjoy little kid activities. So these type of parents probably enjoy the early years more than others

I like to keep things neat and organized. I don’t thrive in chaos. My endurance for playing with toy trains is low. But, I love going to my 4 1/2 year old’s sports practices. He has workbooks (math and letters) that he does, and I love how much he loves learning. I’m much less stressed spending time with my oldest because I can actually have a quasi-rational conversation with him. He understands me when I say “put on your clothes and we’ll go to the park.”

With my youngest, I feel like I’m just constantly cleaning up messes and trying to keep him from climbing the furniture. It’s absolutely exhausting. I don’t think toddlerhood is my strongest parenting period. I’m so excited for when they’re like 4 and 6.