Hilary Duff Is Ready For Her Toddler To Stop Saying "No" All The Time & Oh Can We Relate

Hilary Duff was already a mom of two before she welcomed her daughter Mae with husband Matthew Koma in 2021, but we all know that every child is different. And it seems Mae continues to be very much her own person even though she just over a year old. These days Mae is keeping her mom on her toes with one simple word, “no.”

The Lizzie McGuire actress has her hands full with 10-year-old son Luca, who she shares with ex-husband Mike Comrie, 3-year-old daughter Banks, and most definitely 1-year-old daughter Mae. Having three children at different life stages requires different kinds of parenting, with Duff heading off to help out with Luca’s school camping trip one minute and then dealing with her very busy little toddler the next. Her biggest challenge these days? Mae only likes one word, as Duff explained in a recent Instagram post alongside a photo of Mae looking especially mischievous.

“MJ you are very cute,” she wrote. “Time to learn more words than ‘NO’ though.” I can almost hear parents of toddlers around the world all nodding their heads in solemn understanding.

Many parents took to Duff’s post to share that they are in exactly the same “no” boat with their own toddlers. “Let me know how that goes! Currently having the same problem with mine. Except she says ‘no way,’” wrote one social media user, while another added, “Haha, it's my two year olds favourite word.”

Fortunately Duff does seem to take Mae’s personality in stride, even when she was on a recent flight to Hawaii with her daughter and her behavior became “unhinged,” with little Mae lashing out “like a caged animal” and Duff doing her best to just hold it together, as she explained on Instagram. Her two older kids may have been a bit tamer, but this is the benefit of having multiple kids. You get to look into the future and see that things get easier as they get older. Mae will eventually learn more words than “no” of course, and flying with her will get easier too.

And then Duff will end up doing what so many of us parents do; look back on their baby years and get all emotional about where all the years have gone. Forgetting all of those “nos” in the process.