THE THREENAGER

I have no idea what people mean when they say 'terrible twos'. They didn't exist for us. Or maybe they did but having a threenager is so much more insane that I've now forgotten the twos? If that's the case, then can i have the two year old behaviour back, please?!

Yes, at two years old toddlers are pushing boundaries. They are learning so much more and they might be attending nursery so they are trying to figure it all out. Plus they are so much more mobile than they ever have been. But I’m telling you, three year olds are exactly the same but they come loaded with a years’ worth of extra knowledge and sass! Their beautiful little brains are taking in so much information every single day BUT, they are that little bit cleverer too. That little bit more wise. They can say more. They know you better by this age. They play games. They push limits. Being a parent to a three year old is hard work. It's like they become older overnight and suddenly want to do everything themselves.

I am constantly being told 'DADDY, SIT THERE!!' In the nicest possible way I need to let him know that 'No, daddy can't sit there right now, daddy has to tidy up the carnage you left at the dinner table. But daddy will be there once he's done that'. Combine that with a wrestling match every time you want to get your three year olds shoes on to pop to the park, then you have a wonderful tension headache that funnily enough you never used to get pre-kids because you were oh so relaxed all the time...

It’s a cliché but they can turn a tidy room into a scene from a tornado within a matter for seconds. HOW DO THEY DO IT?! I actually watched my son and his friend on their last play date as i wanted to see what they did to begin with and they both went in all the drawers and toy boxes and actually just pulled everything out. They just pulled it all out. That was it. They didn't play with the contents… so clearly they love to know what they’re working with then make an informed decision on what to play with once they know their options.

It’s such a learning curve trying to understand and sympathise with what they are going through. Us mums and dads... we’re old. We’ve lost our innocence and we have been jaded by the world. But these babies haven’t. And it’s hard to remember that in the running of day to day life.. My husband and I try to parent as gently as we can. Of course this is easier said than done at times when you have a toddler who is practically a daredevil and would happily run off chasing after a duck by the lake only to almost fall face first into the water. But we try, and that’s the main thing.

I am in no way shaming the three year olds of this world. I fully understand what my son is going through and support him as best I can. But I am a thirty two year old man. Sometimes it's hard when the tantrums, the shouting, the tears and the demands have literally not stopped all day. We're told 'it's all just a phase', and this does help and I am a big believer in it. In the last two years my boy has driven me insane with some things he does, to then stop them almost overnight and a month later I remember 'Oh yeh, he hasn't don't that in ages!'. 

By three years old they know what is right and wrong most of the time. Yet they happily still do what's wrong whilst looking at you as they do it... (Wiping their snot on the patio doors to name just one). Whenever I feel myself close to popping, I remember that it's around this age they'll have their first memories. And it destroys me to think one of the first things he'll remember would be me raising my voice or him crying because of the way I have reacted to something. I read this somewhere recently, and it's stuck with me ever since...

Every time I feel I’m reaching boiling point, I remember these words.