If you have never lived with a toddler, you don’t understand the pure and complete frustration they cause. Why are toddlers so annoying? That’s like asking why the moon comes out at night. It just does.
Toddlers can melt your heart with a hug and pat on the back. Then they have a meltdown in the store while everyone is staring, making you want to get down and join them. We would never lie and say all toddlers are darlings. No, your toddler is going to annoy the crap out of you, and here’s why!
They can’t talk but want you to know what they are saying
Toddlers who don’t talk yet bring a whole new level of annoyance to your world. We get it – if you couldn’t vocalize what you wanted you would be a tantrum-throwing mess of a human as well. But having to offer seven different options because you can’t tell what your child wants gets exhausting when you are caught in this loop multiple times a day, day after day.
When they can talk, the only word they say is “no”
Some sort of magic makes “no” every toddler’s favorite word. You ask to change their diaper. No. You ask them to eat their food. No. You ask them to get in their car seat. No.
Do they want to jump off of the couch into a kiddie pool full of ranch dressing? Well, they’d probably say yes to that one. But tiny humans only want to tell you no for everything, even the things they like, and it makes your eye twitch.
Meal times are a game of roulette
Within one single meal, your toddler can go from wanting the red cup and blue bowl to wanting the yellow cup and green bowl. Now you have more dishes to wash, and you are both crying because you can’t even find the green bowl. Asking your toddler what color cup and plate they want before food touches it is part of your life now.
Clothes are the enemy
Getting a toddler dressed can be an all-day event. You have to be firm and give your child two options for each item of clothing you want them to wear. This will reduce the process of them rejecting everything you offer.
Also, why can’t toddlers ever keep their clothes on? You turn your back for a few seconds and their socks are nowhere to be found. They can’t dress themselves, but they sure can take their shirt off in record time and not be able to find it again. The mind game of keeping your toddler dressed can get tiring.
Their legs become noodles when you need them to walk
Toddlers love to turn into a bowl of spaghetti when they don’t want to walk anymore. But when you have your arms full of grocery bags or a smaller child and can’t grab that bundle of liquid from off of the floor, things get really annoying.
Toddlers are known for saying they will walk and then five minutes later, they have turned into a puddle on the floor. So if you are going anywhere where you will have to walk a lot, be prepared to carry that child every time.
They turn into stone when they see their car seat
Why do toddlers hate their car seats? The second they see it they become wooden dolls. Trying to get them to bend at all becomes impossible. And it’s always when you are running late and in a hurry that they activate mannequin mode.
Trying to bend an arm through the strap can sometimes be done. But when they won’t bend at the waist so you can finish the clips and tighten them is frustrating. That’s why parents have to do the mental math game to calculate when to start getting the kids into the car. You have to allow an extra 5 to 10 minutes for the car seat time suck.
They want you to be late for everything
Speaking of time, toddlers love to do everything in their power to make everyone late. All of the time. From not wanting to put on shoes to asking for their favorite blanket for the ride to forgetting to grab their toy so you have to run back in and get it, your tiny terror will always find at least two reasons for you to be late.
Traveling (or doing anything) with a toddler means constantly setting timers, looking at the clock, making sure you give yourself extra time to leave, and never being on time in the end, anyway.
Toddlers will drive you crazy and make you want to cry more than they do. But the good news is that stage doesn’t last forever. This is all part of your child’s growth and development. Just repeat to yourself: the more annoying they are, the more they are developing their little brain.
It’s better to just find a happy place to go in your mind while your toddler terrorizes you. Oh, and binge-watching your favorite show over and over again will help you get through the toddler times, too. But as much as we all commiserate about how annoying toddlers are, enjoy it. Pretty soon they won’t want to annoy you and you’ll be the one begging for attention.
