If you’re a parent, then odds are you can attest to the fact that there’s a few different ages your children reach where they almost suddenly become… well, let’s just say difficult .
The terrible-twos is pretty much a universally acknowledged phase all kiddos go through, and don’t even get me started on the sass of a four-year-old. But is there one specific age where all children become just about impossible to handle?
As it turns out, yes, there most certainly is.
According to a recent poll, parents seem to agree that 8 is the toughest age when it comes to dealing with their kiddos.
As reported by Parents , the poll, conducted by OnePoll and sponsored by Mixbook, found that the majority of parents out there believe 8 is that not-so-magic number that leads to plenty of headaches and more than enough frustration to last the entire year.
So is it time we make the “hateful eights” a thing or what?
In order to determine the hardest age to parent, organizers surveyed 2,000 parents of school-age children about the highs and lows of raising young kids.
6-year-olds were found to behave much better than expected, and just about every parent agreed children who are 7 are the most prone to serious tantrums.
But as far as which age proved the most difficult overall, it was decidedly 8-year-olds. In fact, that’s around the time you can expect to really start experiencing serious eye-rolls, door-slams, and infuriating stubbornness.
So what exactly is it about being 8 that can make children so gosh darn *terrible*?
Well, this is actually around the age that the body begins to prepare for the extreme highs and lows of puberty. That means the onset of some hormones that may turn your once sweet child into a not-so-pleasant, brooding presence at the dinner table.
But 8 is also the age when children really begin trying to establish their own independence and individuality, too.
That’s definitely not easy, and it can produce a lot of behaviors that can have parents throwing their hands up in defeat, feeling like they don’t recognize their child at all.
But they’re just trying to figure out who they are. And it’s a process. A headache-inducing, unbelievably frustrating process. But it’ll pass eventually.
The poll didn’t just focus on the *bad* parts about raising children, by the way.
It also asked parents about the good stuff too.
For instance, 42 percent of those surveyed said their proudest parental milestone was their child’s first day of school, while 37 percent said it was watching their little boy or girl walk somewhere on their own for the first time.
And, as far as keepsakes are concerned, the survey found that the average parent will save 15 pictures, 12 homemade cards, 16 family photos, and 12 home movies.
Now, would you go through the effort of hanging on to those memories if they were all bad ones? No, me neither.
So I guess this survey just goes to show that you have to take the good with the when it comes to your children. One day they won’t be 8 anymore and everything will be fine.
Of course, then they’ll eventually hit the teenage years and… well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
h/t: Parents
