Teenage Twos

Mandy Mehanna-Sugar
3 min readJan 5, 2021

It’s so funny how kids change so drastically without warning, isn’t it?

You finally reach a point where you feel like you had everything under control and then BAM! they tranform into a totally different child, leaving you utterly confounded and… umm WHAT?

If you must ask, I am definitely talking about my daughter Melody who is currently 2 years and 4 months old.

When it was around July, I was starting to get myself ready for what everyone calls the terrible two’s and telling myself “it’s okay… she is going to test your limits and things will slightly change but you and Mel have a good relationship, it shouldn’t be too bad.”

HA!

Yeah… I was definitely off by a mile or two.

The day this child turned two she transformed into a freakin’ teenager.

Yes, you heard right a teenager in a two-year old’s body.

I personally prefer that term instead of terrible two’s because I can legit see myself as a teenager in her right now.

And labeling it “terrible two’s” makes it sound like the worst thing in the world and it’s not to that bad …

So here’s a breakdown of what I have witnessed in Melody’s transformation so far: wanting independence and to do whatever she wants whenever she wants, plus the typical refusing to do anything she doesn’t want to do and making sure to fight me on everything as well, and finally, saying the infamous NO!

What is up with that?

Perfect example:

“Melody let’s get dressed to go to the park.”

“No! Mama me no get dressed!” then proceeds to go to her room to change her cloths to go to the park.

It’s really funny how they just refuse to say yes to anything even if they want the exact thing that you are giving them.

Let me make something clear: I don’t hate this at all. If anything, it shows that this child is going to have a strong personality and that she won’t let anyone mess with her.

At the same time, all I want is for her to just make my life easier, but we all know that that is not how motherhood works.

We are meant to be pushed to every limit possible and pushing me to my very limit is something she is an expert at doing.

I have been asked quite a few times how I have been dealing with it and honestly, I haven’t.

It’s hard to say I have a way when I truthfully don’t. I‘ve been taking it day by day and making adjustments as we experience it.

There are times when I lose it and just walk away and go into the bathroom cry a little out of frustration, then calm myself so I don’t scream in her face because we all know that won’t be good for either of us.

Other times, I am super patient and collected and deal with her in the best way possible by finding a way to communicate with her properly.

Its just touch and go and totally dependent on our moods.

I personally believe this is all normal, and since all we see is perfection on social media its hard to deal with the reality at times. But if it makes you feel better I am here to listen and to help you know that you are definitely not alone.

There is no such thing as the best way to deal with the teenage twos.

If you want, try and just think of yourself as a teenager and how you behaved and see if maybe that can help you find a way to deal with it… at least that is how I have been trying to do it.

Every child is different, every situation is different. You just gotta enjoy the ride because let’s be honest it will be gone before we know it.

They are growing up so fast and then we will look back and say remember when Melody was two so sassy and cute its hard to believe she is already five.

Being a mom is the best rollercoaster of emotions and adventure I could have ever been given and I am lucky to have both my babies in my life.

Hope this helps.

Mama Sugar OUT!

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Mandy Mehanna-Sugar

A mom sharing her thoughts on life as a mom and life in general