[charlie23]

Newborns until about 12 / 15 months.

I currently loathe the 4-6 yr old ages - the tantrums, the drama queen'isms, the crying at a drop of a hat, the fighting. Give me a non sleeping newborn ANYDAY!

[~Peaches~]

18 months - 3 years (so far) is my favorite.
There's just something about that 18 month mark where their personalities just start coming through so much, they're learning new things every day and are so surprising with how clever they are, and still so adorable. DD1 is just about to turn 3 so I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to that lol, but so far I've loved all her stages. DD2 is 20 months and I absolutely adore this age she is at now. Even with the tantrums and frustrations etc, she is just so hilarious and cute and I love seeing her learn so many new things and how much she picks up and takes in just from every day life. She is just so cheeky and giggly and clever, I love it all.
I did love newborns till I had one with silent reflux and every day felt like a nightmare, so I much prefer the 18 month+ age now

[Propaganda]

For me, I prefer newborns and young babies.

They're easier. Yes, they cry, and they can't do anything for themselves, but their needs are so basic. Their wants are mostly the same as their needs. When they cry, it's for a reason, and people will tolerate it because it's coming from a baby who doesn't know any better.

An older child argues. Tantrums in a way you can never fix ("I want the duck!" so you hand over the duck, and they scream some more and throw the duck back at you, screaming, "I DON'T WANT THE DUCK!" so you say, "fine, I'm keeping it," and they screech more... no winning!). Demands endless amounts of attention, but actually notices when you only half give it to them, "Oh, that's lovely..." is acceptable to tell a toddler. To an older child, it's a clear brush-off that they'll get angry about. An older child costs more money, still wants to climb on you but hurts when they do so, lies to get themselves out of trouble (even when the lie is in no way believable) and then cries when you call them out on it.

An older child is just more work for me. For someone who's not particularly social, all that forced socialisation is exhausting. All the endless "Mum, watch me!" is tiresome.

I much prefer newborns.

[AZMommyof3]

I really enjoyed the newborn stages, just because I got to snuggle with them so much. Now it's just a whole new stage of fun with my 6 year old twins and 7 year old! I really like these ages because they are developing more personality and we can have pretty good conversations about things! We laugh a lot! The things they say are too cute sometimes!

This post has been edited by rjflc69: 20/02/2013, 05:37 PM

Reason for edit: Edit to remove advertising in signature

[lifehacker]

Newborns. I love that stage, I don't mind at all getting up to feed, I have such fond memories of sitting in the rocking chair just me and baby, everyone else asleep, watching nightime tv and feeding, cuddling. I can watch their faces, listen to their noises for hours.
Propoganda's post is exactly how I feel, their needs are easily met and that gives me a lot of satisfaction.

If only they stayed newborns longer or it you didn't have to go through nine months and a birth to have one.

I don't mind the teenage years. They can be funny, entertaining and great companions.

I think my least favourite years are the ones where they are taking that next step into independence but not quite there yet so you get a cocky little period where they think they know everything or the latest, greatest friend/person/teacher they have knows everything. About 6 yrs old (1st year of school, no longer a reception they can read a few words, they think they know everything!) and again around 10-12 yrs old, upper primary, quite independent but still quite clueless really.