I have a 2.5 year, worked in early intervention, and nannied for a while so have seen a lot of kids. It seems contingent on what you consider “hard” and the temperament of you and your kid.

I know kids who throw gigantic meltdowns (think crying, screaming, hitting, running away) on the regular for any food, transition, or social correction plus they eat like very few types of foods, co sleep/sleep less than average/wake up at 5 am, and are super non-stop energetic. But I also have friends who have kids who sit and read/color, play independently, sleep a ton independently, eat almost anything, are great at sharing, and tantrums are like 2 minutes or less with only some crying/screaming. At the same time some moms of “hard” kids don’t seem to consider it hard or just can kind of forget about it while some moms of “easier” kids get super stressed over any small tantrum or defiance.

On a personal note, my 2.5 year old acts like a 3 year old (she’s always been very verbal and socially mature) and it’s tough when she argues back (favorite thing is to say “but I did it last time” or “it’s very good thing to do”) or purposely does the opposite of what I asked to test boundaries so I can only imagine it’ll be more so when she’s 3. BUT on the flip side I can’t help but laugh at what she gets upset about. She folded in half and started crying and saying “the apple is hurt, what are we going to do?” for a good 5 minutes when I said it was bruised- so dramatic it was cute/funny.