If you’re a parent to multiple children, do you think there is an age that is particularly difficult to parent?
Parents Were Asked the Most Difficult Age to Parent
I ask because according to a new parenting poll, parents have decided that age 8 is the hardest age to parent.
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Parenting Poll Weighs In
A parenting poll conducted by OnePoll and sponsored by Mixbook, found that parents think ages 2, 3, and 4 are a walk in the park compared to age 8.
What We Think
Honestly, I am quite shocked. I definitely find that the toddler years are the hardest and I currently have 4-year-old and an 8-year-old.
I do understand where parents are coming from though, age 8 is a time where kids are in that pre-teen phase and trying to become their own person, push their boundaries and of course, throw tantrums.
Why Age 8 is Hard to Parent
In the poll, parents said that age 8 is so tough, parents referred to this stage as the “hateful eights”.
Seems a little harsh but parents say this is the age where those tantrums intensify and it’s really hard to deal with.
Obviously, each child and family is different but overall, parents think the hardest years are between 6-8 with 8 being the hardest age to parent.
So, what do you think? Do you agree?
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Do you agree? Is 8 the most difficult age to parent? Tell us in the comments below!
It really depends on the child. For some kids (I would have guessed most) 2-3 is the hardest, other 6-8 or 8-11. For others it’s teen years, though I really do think parents of teens forget how isolating and consuming newborns and toddlers are. I have 4 kids, a 15m, 12f, 8m, and 6m, with a mix of neurotypical and neurodivergent. The 2-3 years weren’t that long ago for the 6 year old and were really rough, the worst of the 4 kids. Things are getting progressively easier for him. My hardest kid right now is my 8 year old by far. I know wrangling a toddler is hard, but trying to catch an 8 year old almost as tall as my wife and force pants on him and force in into a car kicking and screaming everyday is much harder than doing that for a toddler. Maybe the respondents of this pole skewed toward parents of kids with ASD and for that 8 is the hardest age. That’s my experience with my 8 year old and 15 year old, who as a teen makes me skiff at everyone who told us the teen years would be harder. But for my neurotypical 6 year old, toddler years were hard and can’t imaging 8 being harder than those years for him. We’re all having different experiences here. Don’t let anyone or any poll invalidate the hard things you’ve gone through. Also, don’t let your experience invalidate what someone else is going through. None of us truly know what’s it’s like to raise someone else’s kids.
Very good points!
This absolutely not true. I have no idea who filled out this poll. My stepson is 9 and my son is 3. My stepson is SO easy to look after vs a 3 year old. You actually have time to breathe, or take a nap.
Families that are going through fresh hell of the toddlers years are literally not comparable to families that have primary school aged kids. It is so much easier.
This poll makes me angry. Parents have dementia when it comes to the baby and toddler years. I swear they forget the fresh hell they were once in. As a child gets more independent, it gets easier and less relentlessly demanding.