What's your favorite/least favorite age?

[kidlove]

Will you all reassure me that there is nothing wrong with me? ;) I do run a Day Care and I do love children.....that being said, I have noticed over the years, I really am not super duper fond of a certain age group. I love love love babies and 1's and 2's, even early 3's, BUT....when children reach mid to late 3's and 4's even sometimes 5's, they tend to get on my nerves A LOT through out the day. Something about the nosy/pushy/"I know everything" attitude that just gets me. I tend to feel a little guilty because the ones I once couldn't get enough of, now drive me CRAZY.:bored: by the time most reach the age of pre-school I am almost throwing outside pre-school flyers at the parents......"please get your kid out of my hair" aaaaahhhh! Not every day do they drive me bonkers, but I def notice a trend with the specific age group that tends to "do me in!" by the end of most weeks. Anyone out there deal with the same junk?:o:unsure:

[michellesmunchkins]

Nothing wrong with you...unless there is something wrong me too because I am the same way as you! I love the babies, they are my absolute favourite. I also love the 2's so long as I have had them since 12 months because then they are trained to my rules lol. I generally won't take a child at 2 and above who has not been with me as they tend to have too many bad habits and the terrible 2's are rampant! By age 3 I am really done with them lol I find the attitude is what drives me nuts. Again, if I have had them for a couple years its not usually as bad since they know what I will put up with and what I won't but they still push the boundaries. The 2's are a great craft age because they truly are working on their own crafts and they love to learn! I refuse to do school age care EVER! I don't have the patience for those attitudes and behaviours.

[Spixie33]

I actually don't enjoy 1 year olds very much and count the days for them to reach the 18 month stage. I would love never to take care of 12 month olds. They can't talk, walk, craft, communicate or interact very well so you are just feeding, cleaning, changing them and carrying them around. They are not as fun as the older kids or toddlers.

I love 18 months because they can walk, say a few things, understand simple instructions and rules like where they are allowed to go/touch and what not, and they are curious and fascinated by everything. They are just the cutest.

I don't mind 2s or 3s at all. I love my three year olds but they have been with me for 2 years so we already have a good relationship.

I don't do school age anymore because I find them to be very needy. I thought that doing school age would mean they were independent but they actually get bored easily and want you to keep telling them what to do to keep busy. They ask for just as much attention - if not more than the 1-3 year olds. lol I like the daycare better just concentrating on the little ones.:)

I think everyone has their favourite stages and not-so-favourite and that is normal :)

[Dreamalittledream]

Funny, I've wondered the same thing! For me the least favorite are the babies (I feel so awful; they're so cute!) and the school age (never again here too!). I love the 1 1/2+ for their love of learning and eagerness to try anything. With babies it's mostly the putting everything (hands, toys...) in their mouth...I've really never been fond of the droolies. That and all the teething stages; poor little things!

[Crayola kiddies]

I'm with the rest of you ..... I dont do school age and as much as I like to bring the kids in at 11-12 months they are not my favourite age either .... I like the toddlers that can communicate and interact and help clean up and begin to dress/undress themselves for outside.

[sunnydays]

I think my least favourite is between 18 months and 2.5 years...the sudden independence and manifestation of their little wills can be challenging, especially if there are more than one of them at this stage. They are the group that will try to run off on me at the park, tend to get hurt more because they are trying new things...and mostly, discover that they love to say "no" and try to do things their own way! I actually really like 12 month olds as they are still little and sweet and I also love 3 year olds as they are more interesting...you can have conversations with them and teach them things :)

[Sandbox Sally]

I love walking age to about 3. I loathe school aged children from 4-8. I love my own school aged kids (of course) ;) but I will likely never take school aged children again. That is all.

[Bookworm]

I can't really decide which one I like best/the least. They all have their ups and downs. I like the young ones because they are easy to take care of. The 18 months + are fun because you can start to do more crafts etc... with them. 3 years + is great because they have such imaginations and come out with hilarious stuff, but the attitude begins... I haven't take school aged kids and probably wont due to all the problems mentioned on here. :)

[Mamma_Mia]

I like any aged baby until 3yrs old!

School aged. period. not a fan of....

[kidlove]

Thanks for your comments...had a feeling it was pretty normal, I guess we can't like them all, all the time. You know I don't even mind the 3's too much. The little girl who drives me crazy is not only a month from turning 4 but also a VERY attention wanting type child, has to know what I am doing ALL THE TIME. "WHY?" ALL THE TIME. and is my little mocking bird. If I get after another child she will them reiterate what I have said to that child, right in their face when I leave the room. Very bossy, and pushy with others......maybe not so much her age but her attitude is what drives me bananas. thanks for your input, nice to see all the likes and differences.
The ONE thing I noticed that ran down the board with all of us was the fact, none of us wants to take care of school aged kids........I'd rather shoot myself in the foot than take another summer full of all those ones. ha ha ha :laugh:

[Momof4]

Well, since I'm currently transitioning a 1 year old baby I'm not too fond of that age group right now. Just kidding, but I wish he would settle down. I find that all my dckids start out at 1 year old or under since that's when the mat leave Moms return to work in our area. I do like to start children early so that they learn my rules as they learn everything. By the time they are 3 or 4 they have been here for a long time usually and are wonderful.

Sure they go through lots of phases and try to push their boundaries now and then, but I haven't had major problems. My Jeckyll/Hyde boy was a real test but he was good for me and a monster in front of his parents. Then I had a girl who was a super tattletale but I would tell her to talk to her friends instead of me about 50 times a day and we made it through. They were the worse ones.

Thankfully, I don't have school aged children in my daycare because I would NOT want to have children of that age here. I do have a 4 1/2 year old girl here every other day because she just started JK but she's been here almost 4 years already and knows what I expect from her and is a real gem.

[Serendipity]

I really love the kids from about 2 years until 4 and maybe even 5, just as long as they haven't actually gone to school yet. Something about actually going to school changes a kid and not always for the better.

It's almost as if every time I have a child grow up with me at daycare then they head of to school and every bad habit that every other kid has seems to rub off on them, even though I know they know better. :ohmy:

I really don't like to care for babies. They seem to be all work and nothing in return. Yes, I know they smile and laugh and are cute, but I just prefer older than 24 months I guess.

[playfelt]

For me I like aboaut 15 months to 2 years. They are usually walking and with that finding so many new things in the day that excite them and then for the next year you can expand on that curiosity. Before that it is all just mechanical care in the sense of physical needs - diapers, food, sleep and in between you attempt to do other things but your attention becomes more on the others in care in since the babies have their personal time spent on the care needs. After age 2 you are more at the mercy of what the parents are doing at home and then heaven forbid a child goes to school. I don't even take JK/SK any more because I couldn't stand the attitude - and they moved the bus stop from the end of my driveway.

[mom-in-alberta]

I LOVE to see the change that kids go through from 12-18 months. When they hit about 2, I could do without the defiance and "independence" that comes along, haha!

And yes; school aged makes me shudder. The only way I will do it now is if that is the only age group I am caring for. At least then it's in limited quantities. I cannot handle babies all day, and still deal with **whine** "He said he didn't like my picturrre". Ick.