I think 13, 14 is the worst. Old enough to be surly, smart-mouthed, and know-it-all, but not old enough to be able to take care of themselves with regards to food and shelter or buy their own things. I kind of felt like they wanted me to be the mom when they needed something, only. And that’s frustrating.
Has no one ever heard of the TERRIBLE TWOS? Especially for first time parents and the kid is throwing tantrums several times a day and the poor parent doesn’t have a clue what to do.
We saw a classic example today at large store. Mother had two kids in her buggy, one was about two and the other about one. The two year old was screaming her head off, bouncing up and down in the buggy seat. When we saw them, the mother was heading for the exit as fast as she could with a very frustrated and embarrassed look on her face. A number of us had smiles: “been there, done that”. We had all experienced it before.
Yeah, the teens can be tough, especially if you have a daughter, but by then the parent should at least see themselves in their kid. And that’s what you have to do. Do you remember being a teenager?
Yeah. That’s exactly *why *it was so hard to see him going through some of the same mental illness/substance abuse stuff I did as a teenager…only he was also cutting. 
Because I totally, intimately, understood his pain and despair, and knew that he just had to get through it. I couldn’t fix it. All I could do was try to hide all the knives and booze and keep him alive until his brain started to function better.
Toddlers are exhausting. Teenagers break your heart.