The whining. The crying. The dramatic collapse because the banana was broken in half. The tantrum over the thing you absolutely did not think was going to become a thing.And then there’s the phrase we reach for almost automatically: “terrible twos.”But what if we stopped labeling an entire developmental stage—and therefore an entire child—as terrible?Because here’s the uncomfortable part: adults have tantrums too. We just tend to give ours better vocabulary, more socially acceptable explanations, and occasionally a little flair. We call it frustration, overwhelm, stress, burnout, being triggered, having a bad day, or “needing a minute.” A toddler cries because their cup is the wrong color and suddenly they’re “terrible.”This episode explores the mirror children hold up for us: the whining, protesting, negotiating, emotional outbursts, and irrationality we recognize in them because—if we’re honest—we still do versions of those exact things ourselves.And I’m questioning whether we should be so quick to speak the word terrible over our children in the first place. Because if we’re already carrying cultural baggage about what a “terrible mother” or “terrible parent” looks like, why would we want to build a family narrative around having a “terrible child”?Maybe the goal isn’t to pretend the behavior isn’t exhausting.Maybe it’s to stop confusing difficult behavior with a difficult child.

They’re Not Terrible Twos. They’re Tiny Humans Experiencing a Terrible Time

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