Are the Terrible Twos REALLY so Terrible?

A friend of mine posted a wondeful status on her facebook about the wonderful morning she had with her three year old and how happy and proud it made her. Someone then commented on that and told her to enjoy it now because the "terrible teens" would be there before she knew it.

Back up just a minute...terrible teens?
I always thought it was called the terrible twos.

_

But how many times do we hear that being extended now to the "terrible threes"
"fearsome fours"
"sour sixes"
And now
"terrible teens"

(I've heard all of these, I'm sure you've heard more)

Why are we labeling each stage of our child's development so negatively?

I have a three year old. He threw tantrums at one, and at two, and does still now. Does that make this a terrible time??

No! This is a BEAUTIFUL time!

My son is learning to speak in sentences and sings me the alphabet and sings and dances to all of the songs in Frozen.
He excitedly helps me make pancakes, he constantly asks for hugs and follows them with an adorable "ahhhh" once he's in my arms. He snuggles and softly strokes my arm or face. He tells me he loves me and says "scuze-ski" when he burps. He jumps up and down and yells "daaaheee!" when my husband walks through the door and rushes into his arms.

There is so much that is beautiful in who he is and what he does, how is it fair to him to label any part of his life as terrible because he doesn't want to put his shoes on and throws a fit?

How will it be fair to call him a terrible teenager because he rolls his eyes or misses curfew or talks back to me?

If we label a whole year or group of years of our children's lives in our minds as terrible, before or after it happens, then that is exactly what it's going to be and that is how we will remember it.

Just some food for thought...was the whole second year of your child's life really terrible?