Parenting Is Hard

Recently, I asked parents to tell me which of their two primary relationships was harder for them — their relationship with their spouse or with their children. When two-thirds of the respondents answered “with their children,” I was curious. What makes parenting so hard?

The fact I was wondering about this should give young parents hope. It’s obvious that by the time you’re a grandparent, as I am, you can’t even remember how challenging it was! Sleep deprivation, defiance, sibling rivalry, school crises, health worries, constant demands, and all the other challenges that characterize the parenting decades of one’s adulthood are miraculously forgotten when the kids finally grow up.

The Challenges

The majority of parents with children old enough to defy them are experiencing some form of “parenting stress.” Here’s what parents wrote:

Having to deal with each child’s personality and never being sure whether I’m doing the right thing.