When they can hold their own food in fork it will be easier. When they can use the restroom and clean themselves it will be easier. When they can help you clean the house it will be easier.

They’re going to introduce all new emotional strain to your life eventually, but they get remarkably easier as they become more competent. Part of your job is to make them competent at things.

You should edit your post title; I almost came here to give advice on the paperwork for establishing a temporary monopoly on your intellectual property ;)

For parenting, YES it gets much easier physically really just about now (2-3) as they start to be able to play more independently, (esp imagination games – encourage it, play along a few times and they will continue on their own).

It gets a lot easier physically when they go to school even that half-day a few times a week gives them a lot to process.

Beware, it gets much more challenging emotionally right around 3-5. This is where they will try to find what the boundaries are. Set clear boundaries and stick to them. Be a hard immovable rock just a few times and you both will really appreciate it for years after.

EDIT: oh yeah and be prepared to go into another room, yell obscenities at the little brat into your pillow where they cannot hear, and come back into the room as the Patron Saint of Calm Parenting. DO what you can to avoid losing it right in front of them or worse at them. They will test you.

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Yes. Two & three year olds are blisteringly cute, but take so much attention, you are right.

Around 7 is the age of reason, so that’s when it really eases, you can explain more and control less, and teenagers can be legit helpful. But even 3 years old is easier than 2 because they can speak better, so are not so frustrated.

I remember with my first, she was truly a terrible toddler, just so much will and energy, had tantrums. On more than one occasion I had to remove her from a store or other public place. Put her in gymnastics and all that energy got focused on sports, was a good thing eventually.

I had 4 and married into 5 more - one day you will be thinking it all went by so fast, it’s crazy. Hang on, you will make it. I won’t say it gets easy soon, but less exhausting soon. Do you have a partner? Can one of you do more of the morning work and the other the evening shift?

NO! Rise up for your kids. Playing it safe is a death sentance. “Functional unemployment” nearing 25% in U.S., analysis finds

yes when they move out

Yes. Do your best. Take care of yourself. Keep going. It gets better.

Yes. For one, the older they get the more independent they get. When they’re little its like you gotta lug around like 2 large bags and a playpen if you wanna just like go to someone’s house. Eventually you don’t need the playpen, then two bags becomes one bag, then the large bag becomes a small bag and then they can just carry their own little backpack if they need any personal items.

In a couple years, prob when he’s between 4 and 5, if you need to go anywhere, you can just be like “let’s go!” And he will put on his shoes, put on his coat, run out to the car, open the door, jump in his carseat, buckle his seatbelt, and be ready. This is very fun.

If he is a 2 year old boy, there’s a good chance he will still be in diapers, so not changing diapers is a big QOL improvement.

2 yo can be very challenging. Take him to the park where he can run off all that energy. He will chill out. My oldest son was extremely challenging when he was that age. He was impulsive, destructive, unpredictable. If he wasn’t in the room with you he was painting the carpet with nail polish. If we invited people over for dinner, he would grab whatever was laying out on the dinner table and break it. He quick grabbed cellphones and immediately dropped them in classes of water, he would grab your glasses off your face and just break them in half. He destroyed multiple baby gates within seconds. But I just took him to the park in the morning, let him run, tried not to be too hard on him despite being sometimes incredibly frustrated. Told him I loved him every day, sang him to sleep. He chilled out, and now he’s a hard working, committed young man. He’s still a pain in the ass, but he’s a good guy, I love him and trust him.

It gets easier but it gets more complicated. Some of the issues that can come up around age 11-13 are not easy. But its also my favorite age, because they become like self aware in a way that they weren’t before. They develop little identities, but they’re still kids. But this process, esp around other kids going through it can be really difficult. Teenage years can be difficult, even if they’re not rebellious and chaotic, they become very self absorbed and it feels like they’re slipping away. This also changes with time, and it has its own rewards watching them mature into young adults.

Parenting never gets easy, but those young years when they are so dependent on us are the most like labor intensive, and the labor is very like “make sure you have all of the 500 things you need for them in order to leave the house.” Make time for your self and your partnership if there is still a partner in the picture. Ask for help if possible from relatives. Don’t lose yourself and don’t let your partner (if there is one) lose themselves either. Strive for balance over happiness. The happiness will come if there’s balance, and it gets easier to find balance as they become more independent. But ironically, with independence comes strong ambivalence, not necessarily like happiness.

Hang in there dad, you got this

This is about the most “your-mileage-may-vary” topic possible, but almost certainly, yes, especially when it comes to the stuff you talk about. Kids at 2yo just need way more helicoptering than they do a year or two later. Our son developed a heck of a talent for entertaining himself roundabout that age, so yeah, you’ll get to have your own leisure time back. That’s just kinda the sacrifice you sign up for, the first few years you get very very little.

Yes. So much, easier.

The big improvements in your future:

• reliably sleeping through the night ~3 YO for my boys (biggest improvement by far)
• reliable day time toileting, so not having to carry “the bag” everywhere
• better appetite/impulse control, ~4 YO, not always having to have a “kid snack” on hand. So you don’t have to constantly think, when they last ate.

Those are just a few big ones in your immediate future. There are bunch more smaller things.

One word of advice, don’t accept “I don’t like it”, before they taste any food. The rule in our house is “is OK to not like something, but not OK to not try something”. Fussiness is learned not innate. Too many parents give in way too quickly, and I see kids who don’t eat anything but stuff they are already comfortable with.

Another commenter said to encourage age appropriate independence. 100% agree. Example, a few weeks back on Sunday morning my 10YO comes into my room and asks to make pancakes for breakfast, answer “sure, but you have to make enough for everyone (5 of us) and any mess is your responsibly to clean up”. He got his brothers to help, 4YO getting utensils and setting the table, 7YO mixing and measuring, whilst he cooked.

It is an adventure, that’s for sure, three are super frustrating moments (daily) but there rewards are immense.

I’m childless by choice, so I don’t have any lived advice. I just wanted to say that you sound like a great dad and your boy sounds like a healthy little duracell bunny! All the best to you and your little family!

From what I have observed around me, you’re currently in the hardest stretch of parenthood in terms of the physical and mental toll from not having any time to yourself, but it comes back to you gradually as the little one grows and starts to explore the world. By the time where you get most of your freedom back, you will do anything to have those early years back. The paradox of parental love <3

It doesn’t get easier. The challenges change, but the level of effort remains. As insane as it sounds I found the teenager years to be more challenging than the younger years.

Early on it is feed them, clean them and monitor them. When they get into the teenage years they start working against themselves. That is when it gets insane.

1. The “terrible twos” are called that for a reason.

2. You wrote “patenting” in the title instead of “parenting”. You might want to fix that!

Yes.

Teach as much independence as their age allows.

Talk to them as an equal human, just smaller and less experience with things.

Calmly narrate everything you do.

Kids pickup on all this and the more they learn about how the world fits together, the more capable and confident they will be.

Try to encourage solo investigations of things, or quiet individual tasks like painting.

At 2 there is heaps of assistance you need to give. As the independence grows, your tasks may not get less, they just morph into something else.

Aye.

They say it doesnt get easier, the difficulties just change.

My son is 13 now, and Id say its true. That said, the toddler years wiped me out. I much prefer these teen years.

It does get easier, but never is it easy.

I also have depression I struggle through all these years, keep swimming, I quite literally live for my son. I was taught in those early days, you cant pour from an empty cup as a parent, so take care of yourself