I shared with you some of the reasons why I love the stage of childhood we call toddler hood. Today, I want to talk about some of my least favorite parts of this particular stage. I’d like to preface the following remarks with the fact that it’s all right not to care for a particular phase your child is in. After all, not everything is pleasing – the rose may be beautiful and have a delightful fragrance, but the thorns can leave your fingers bloody.
With that in mind, here are my 10 of my least favorite parts of toddlerhood, some are funny and I hope you find the humor in it all. Humor makes parenthood and childhood a far more pleasant place to be and I firmly believe it is better to laugh than to cry.
- Toddlers are a developmental stage where their perceptions, their mobility and their skills are growing exponentially, it’s almost impossible to keep them out of the cupboards, the refrigerator and every other place you want them out of
- Toddlers are difficult to placate when they get tired or cranky and it can be tough to even get them to go to sleep, even when that is what they desperately need
- Toddlers want to do everything, all the time and they don’t want to be limited by space, obligation or other constraints
- Toddlers can’t stop exploring, every moment, of every day, they are in exploratory mode and it requires constant vigilance to keep them from getting into trouble or harm
- Toddlers don’t like to be confined, they hate their car seats, high chairs or play pens, so it’s an inevitable battle every time
- Toddlers want to do things for themselves, so you have to be prepared for the food flings, messes and the time spent cleaning up afterwards
- Toddlers have trouble with comprehending their own temper or range of emotions, when they are upset, they are very upset and when they are angry, they are furious – it takes time and patience to learn how to soothe them
- Toddlers dislike change, even just picking up a toy and moving it from the middle of the floor to a toy box can set them off
- Toddlers don’t want to go, they don’t want to leave the house, the store, the car or anywhere else, they just want to be where they are
- Toddlers begin to experience their world in such intense ways that it can be forgotten what a stimulating overload the world can be and that leads to having to leave early from events, stores and even from your own dinner sometimes —
For many of these same reasons do I love toddlers, of all the stages of childhood it is equal parts delightful and frustrating and despite all that I say, I would not trade it for the world. Even on those days when I wondered how I would make it through the next one. What are your least favorite parts of toddler hood?
P.S. That whole drop it for Mommy to retrieve — I never wanted to be the dog in the game of fetch!
Related Articles:
Toddler Antics: Do You Have a Little Nudist?