I feel as though there should be a support group for this because I don't want to feel like I'm the only one

Our daughter, 5, has always been absolutely perfect.  Perfect birth.  Started sleeping 8hrs solid through the night at 2wks old.  She's always been super calm, cool, and collected.  Very observant and curious, but always restrained and behaved.  She understood complex demands very early.  She took forever to start talking, but when she did it was full complex sentences and stores.  She'd cuddle with me or mom for hours.  Her attention span has always been amazing.  She has always been the greatest little helper, always wanting to do whatever daddy or mommy are doing.  She so desperately wants to be big, but she still knows how to be a kid.  Everything she has ever done has just been so perfect from breast feeding to school.

Our 2y/o son?  Holy fucking shit balls.  Traumatic birth, a week in the ICU at 2wks old.  He did not sleep for more than 2hrs straight until he was 10mo old.  Every 2hrs he'd wake up screaming bloody murder and then refuse to eat for 10-15 minutes.  If I had to feed him?  Fuck me.  It took forever for me to figure it out, but I had to wrap one of my wife's dirty shirts around his face and lay him flat on the floor.  If I held him, he freaked.  If he didn't smell mom on that filthy shirt, he'd freak.  Now that he's older e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g is a melt down and he's a spiteful little guy too.  Tell him no and he'll grab the closest thing and throw it into the floor.  Smack his butt and he screams for the next 5 minutes solid.  Cuddling?  2 seconds max before he's kicking for freedom.  His attention span lasts a nano second.  It takes him 10x longer to learn he shouldn't be doing something than it did his sister.  Despite being a complete lunatic, he is such a lover just like his sister.  Whenever sis gets upset, he runs over to make sure she's okay.  He also wants to try everything, even if he's way too little (like riding a bike).  

Tell me we're not alone






In their natural forms:

You are not alone. I think boys are wired that way. My two are just like your except the boy likes affection. he wants to climb in the bed and snuggle with mom. He also likes to be Alpha. He will chest bump or smack any other boys to assert domination. He is only 2 and will do this to bigger kids.

You are not alone. I have 3 boys. The two oldest are lunatics. We have a girl on the way. God help me.

I am the polar opposite of my brother, we turned out ok. He is the President of our company, I am the VP. Shits cool.

He tries being alpha at home and it's hilarious.  He gets pissed when me and mom are loving on eachother.  If mom climbs in my lap and starts kissing on me, he'll run over and start grunting and growling

Assert your dominance OP, honestly he is only two, probably a bit early to be judgmental.

Wait until your little angel is 13-15 and the hormones are raging.

I had my two girls about 15 years earlier than my two boys.... girls were both cool calm and collected, like yours.... my boys will make you curl up in the fetal position and beg for death....they are cute doing it too, but MAN!  I really think they are wired different..... And about your daughter, don't worry.... you will have your rough time with her in about 10 years....   just love her no matter what and she will break out of it eventually....   

That looks like red hair on him, which would explain a lot... 

I noticed your son is a ginger. Have you taken into account that he has no soul?

There's nothing judgemental about observing occurrences.

I'm not worried for me when she gets older.  I'm worried for mom.  Those two already go at it lol

Our oldest was like your daughter.  My sisters and I all had babies within 4 months of each other and their babies were nightmares while mine was perfect.  They kept telling me I wasn't really a mom yet because I was toting around a Cabbage Patch doll.    I was very smug about the whole thing and kept thinking they were doing something wrong.  

Then my youngest was born.  Now, her birth was an absolute dream----best of all 3 of my kids' births.  But from the get-go she was a miserable little thing.  Wouldn't sleep in more than half hour stretches, got pissed off at the drop of a hat, was only halfway content when I held her non-stop.  Earned the nickname Baby Hulk.  She damn near turned green when she'd go into her rages and we didn't like her when she was angry.  

Now, she was scary smart (I'd love to know her IQ) and she had her moments when she was very sweet.  But for the most part her infancy and toddlerhood were spent with us just trying to deal with her moods.  Then almost overnight about the time she turned 4 it was like a switch flipped.  She became the best one of the bunch!  Responsible, loving, considerate, etc.  She still has a short fuse but it's not always lit now-----she drags out her temper for more legitimate things instead of stuff like telling her she's cute which used to get her all spun up and spitting mad.  

Anyway, there is light at the end of the tunnel.  Don't indulge him and do continue to teach right from wrong and he may surprise you with who he becomes in a few years.

Thus far, this is our leading answer for why the Bubba acts the way he does.

He's not going to bring a girl within 5 miles of the house when he's older because of the revenge I'll be seeking  "Hey *girls name*, we were broke when he was born so I hope you're okay with the foreskin foreplay".

He's a demon spawn.  

Oh I know, he gets no different treatment than his sister did.  I'm not worried about him, but it's fun to bitch during the toddler phase.

6yr old son
3yr old daughter here


it will get better.  but yes, boys are usually a little rougher at a young age.

just wait till that little girl hits the tween years....  

You would never know my wife and her sister are related. They look and act nothing alike.

fwiw, my brother and i really cant stand each other.  we have never been close.  :shrug

We have eight year old twins and they're both totally different people.

The girl is usually stable, tough, and adventurous (and listens).

The boy is all over the place, inconsolably cries if he falls down even on carpet, not very adventurous, and doesn't listen to shit (prob got that from me )

And a 1 year old that's a little tank.

It's crazy how different genders of children can be.

My youngest daughter started trying to be the exact opposite of her older sister from about the age of two

I've had several people tell me that boys are more difficult early, and much easier later on (teen years).

Attached File


@JoeCoastie

My brother and I look nothing alike and act nothing alike.  We attended the same college briefly.  Whenever people heard that we were brothers, they assumed that we were BS'ing them.  I'm tall with a large build, he's average height with a thin build. I'm introverted, he's the life of the party.  We get along fine, but we have a LOT of differences.

I graduated HS with a set of identical twins. One was gay, the other not. Does that count as polar opposite?

He's a redhead. /thread

We have a boy and a girl who are 3 years apart with my son being older. He was a royal PITA as a baby and toddler.  He would at least take a bottle, so my wife was able to get out of the house on the weekends to recover her sanity. Eventually we figured each other out. The "best" thing that happened to our relationship was when my wife got put on bed rest in the hospital for 6 weeks when he had just turned 3. I got a taste of the single parent life. That shit is hard, but we bonded. Even as a 15 yo, we're still good.

My daughter got off to a rough start. She was a month early. As stated above, my wife was on bed rest for 6 weeks due to some complications. Daughter only wanted the breast, refused to take the bottle. When she was old enough to start eating baby food, she refused to let us feed her. She wanted to do it herself. Once she could do things for herself, she became just the way you describe your daughter.

This is going to sound crazy to some, but we taught our kids sign language when they were babies. Babies can make signs long before they can speak. Having them be able to tell you what they want: cookie, milk, water, more, change, play... was awesome. They didn't scream and fuss while we tried to figure out what they wanted, they told us. My son even made up his own signs and taught them to us.

I've always heard boys were harder, but I never imagined it was this different.

Maybe your son is mad you have him wear a fedora? He probably isn't ready to resign himself to a life living in his mom's basement just yet


I have my first due in January. I have no idea what Im in store for and I know it.

Congratulations, you have a boy.

My son is pretty much the same way, especially when told no. Throws himself on the ground or grabs the closest thing to him and is ready to throw it.

Actually I got a dark satisfaction out of one incident last week. He threw a fit at the park, dove onto the ground in the gravel parking lot, picked up a giant rock, and prepared to throw it - right at a group of people eating at a bench. As he swung his arm out to throw it, I totally Shaq blocked him and knocked that rock right out of his hand mid-throw. I saw the surprise and anger in his face that he was not able to complete the throw.

I was an honor student. Didn't drink in high school. Didn't get into trouble. Work 40 hours a week. Own a home. Have a wife. Responsible and reasonable adult.

My brother (2 years younger). Career drug addict. Multible rehabs. Dropped out of school. Multiple arrests. Has never managed a real job for more than a couple months. Stolen thousands upon thousands from my parents. Still lives at home at 30.

Nice pics


I only have a 10 month old, so I got nothing to compare

Haha.  That happens all the time, usually him bashing his head into something from rearing back to throw.

A couple days ago he launched a toy at his sister and it bounced back and nailed him in the face.

I have two little girls: they turned 2 and 1 this month.  Younger one is WAY more independent than our firstborn.  She will snuggle, but it is on her terms and for the duration she decides.  Older one I feel like i need to scrape off with a spatula sometimes.

Physically they are way different too.  If I didn't see her come out with my own eyes I'd swear our younger daughter wasn't ours.

Yep, kids are different.

Our first and third are real challenges for me. They're strong willed, go getters, highly social, highly active and high energy.

Middle son? Thoughtful, imaginative, occupies himself, introverted, but very dependent and a bit slow to learn some things.

Just one of the many challenges of being a parent. I can't wait to see what #4 is like.