6 Parental Challenges And Sure-fire Ways To Overcoming Them

According to Britannica, a US encyclopedia, parenting is simply raising children and providing them with protection and care in order to ensure their healthy development into adulthood.

The Cambridge English Dictionary also defines it as the raising of children and all the responsibilities and activities involved in it.

Simply put, you can say that parenting is the art and act of raising children.

There is no denying the fact that parenting comes with different challenges.

Some of these challenges include making decisions about child care, finances, balancing work with family, and many more.

While these challenges may vary among parents, there are some challenges that are common to them. 

These challenges at times become so overwhelming that some parents stagger under their weights.

Nonetheless, the good news is that, as a parent, you can overcome any challenge you face in the process of raising your children.

Although the challenges cannot be avoided, there are ways you can overcome and deal with them. This is what this article discusses.

In this article, you will learn about the meaning of parental challenges, the top six parental challenges, and sure-fire strategies that can help you overcome them.

It’s time to win over those challenges you have been struggling with as a parent. Cheers to your victory in advance!

What Are Parental Challenges?

Parental challenges are any difficulties or concerns parents encounter when raising their children. These are the dilemmas, hardships, and unfavorable situations parents may face in the process of bringing their children up.

These challenges usually span through the various developmental stages of the children and can be influenced by various factors.

Parents encounter different challenges, starting from the infancy stage to the adulthood stage. Each stage of development comes with its own peculiarities.

The infant stage has its own challenges. The childhood stage has its own challenges.

The teenage stage has its own challenges. Likewise, the adulthood stage. We will delve into some of these challenges in the next subheading.

There are many challenges parents face throughout the different stages of child development.

However, I have only done an expository discussion on the six most common challenges parents often encounter in the journey of parenting their children.

Join me below as I take you on a ride to them.

1) Continuous Tantrums From Children

This is a challenge that comes primarily at the infancy and childhood stages.

According to statistics, 80% of infants and children throw frequent tantrums at their parents. While some are lenient with it, the majority are not at all. 

Some children can start crying at the drop of a hat. They derive satisfaction from crying their eyeballs out.

This usually leads to a kind of frustration, as it annoys and aggravates parents. It leaves parents feeling debilitated and agitated.

As a parent, if you have an infant or young child who loves to throw frequent tantrums, you have to learn how to keep calm so you won’t lose your cool.

If you don’t keep calm, you may overreact, and this can affect the psychological and emotional development of the infant or child.

Many parents make the mistake of raising their voices in anger against their children whenever they throw tantrums.

However, this is bad and dangerous because of the side effects it can have on the growth and development of these infants, toddlers, or children.

Instead of being aggressive or raising your voices against them, there are effective strategies you can adopt or implement to wade through this challenge. One of these strategies is active listening.

Active listening in this context means the ability to listen to the reasons behind the frequent tantrums that keep coming from your infant, toddler, or child.

Since infants and toddlers cannot talk yet, when they need certain things, the best way they express themselves is by crying.

You must have this understanding, as it will help you to keep calm and listen well so you can find out what the need is at that moment.

If it is a grown-up child between the ages of 4 and 10, you can sit him or her down to have a discussion. Let the child know that you don’t feel unnerved by his or her temper tantrum.

Allow the child to know he or she can always ask for anything without crying or being stubborn. Show the kid that you care and are willing to make provision for what he or she has asked for. 

If you don’t have the capacity to make provisions for this need at the moment, explain this to the child in a comprehensive way. If he or she continues the habit, please don’t give harsh punishments.

Doing that may instill fear in the hearts of the child. The aftermath of this is that the child will not be able to communicate his or her needs to you in the future.

This may cause the child to look for other wrongs, like stealing, to settle his needs.

To conclude on this, frequent tantrums from children are one of the common challenges parents face in raising their children.

However, this challenge can be overcome through love, active listening, communication, care, and patience.

2) Consistent Complaint and Whining From Children

This is another challenge parents often encounter in the journey of parenting. Some children are so skilled at making complaints and whining.

This habit is one that can throw parents off their balance. Children and teenagers are the ones who generally do this.

Many children and teenagers are good at making complaints about everything. They complain about almost everything their parents do for them.

This complaint usually comes as a result of a lack of contentment, which is usually sponsored by peer group influence.

Take, for instance, a teenager who will always nag at his or her parents because they are unable to do for him or her what other parents are doing for their children.

“Mummy, you are not caring. My friend’s mother usually buys something for her whenever she comes home, but you don’t.”

This is a good example of the complaints teenagers make. 

Another example is “Daddy, you hardly take us out during vacations. My friends often tell me stories of how their parents took them to fascinating places during the vacation.”

They always want their parents to help them meet the standards of their friends. This can be so daunting and provoking that you may want to do something funny, but that’s not the solution. There are ways you can overcome this challenge.

Paul E. Bird, a retired university teacher, explains how she deals with complaining or whining students.

She said, “When my students whine, they are generally letting me know that they need my personal attention and help in learning how to do something. I naturally gravitate to these the minute I hear the whine and give the student some personal attention and physical correction.”

From the above statement, it can be said that giving attention is one strategy that can help you overcome this challenge, whether you are a mother or a father.

When children and teenagers complain and whine repeatedly over something, it means you have to pay quick attention to it.

Generally, children and teenagers love it when you pay attention to them. They feel beyond delighted when they know you care about them. They feel secure when you give them a listening ear.

Although the habit of complaining and whining can be frustrating, you can deal with it if you learn how to listen well to your children and teenagers.

Don’t shout back at them or yell at them. You can talk to them without having to raise your voice. 

Remember that teenhood is a transitional stage where children cross from childhood to adulthood. This stage is a delicate one, and as a parent, you need wisdom to deal with your teen child if you don’t want him or her to go wayward.

Peer group influence is one of the things that is common among teenagers. They always want to be on the same level with their peers at school and in the environment.

This is why they will always complain and whine about one thing or another you haven’t done for them. Therefore, you must apply wisdom when dealing with them.

Don’t do things that will make them keep silent with you. Provide what they need for them, as God will give you the provision.

Team up with your spouse and make plans for how to take them out once in a while. Educate them on self-esteem, self-image, contentment, self-identity, self-discovery, sex and sexuality, and friendship.

Create time to be with them and shower your attention on them.

While it is true that teenagers are the most complex to deal with when it comes to parenting, I want you to know that they are lovely and fun to be with. You just need to know how to relate to them so that you won’t make a hell out of their lives.

To sum this up, your children and teenagers may complain about almost everything, but you must employ wisdom, love, care, and attention in dealing with them and correcting them.

3) Unmanageable Rivalry Among Siblings

If you are a parent who has more than one child, you will experience this oftentimes.

Your children will quarrel, fight, and have disagreements over many things, especially when they are growing up.

Nevertheless, you can manage this rivalry between or among them.

The first step to overcoming this challenge is identifying what often leads to the rivalry. There are many things that can lead to rivalry between or among your children.

Some of them are: food, clothes, your relationship with them, the attention you give to each child, jealousy over one ability or the other, and many more.

When you identify what the problem is, you will be able to address it.

For example, if you notice that it is your attention that leads to rivalry between or among your children, you should try to share your attention with them equally.

Do not practice favoritism with your children; it is dangerous. This is because it can lead to long-term enmity, resentment, and bitterness between or among them.

Love your children equally, spend time with them equally, and care for them equally.

Additionally, you can teach them the virtues of tolerance, acceptance, and forbearance.

Help them understand that misunderstandings are unavoidable because of their differences.

Let them know that they will always have the right to disagree over many things because they have different personalities, but they can

Learn to tolerate, accept, and forbear one another in love.

Furthermore, teach them to always admit their mistakes and say sorry to themselves whenever they have misunderstandings.

Educate them on the virtue of forgiveness so that they won’t give in to malice, bitterness, and resentment.

When you do all of these, you will be able to manage rivalry between or among your children.

4) Work-family Balance

Here comes another challenge parents face when raising their children.

They struggle with juggling multiple responsibilities at once, including taking care of children, maintaining deadlines at work, and keeping up with household duties. This challenge is specifically common for mothers.

Since mothers have great responsibilities to fulfill as a parent, a wife, and a career person, they find it difficult to maintain balance.

They struggle with giving their attention to their husbands, taking care of their children, cooking and house chores, and reaching the zenith of their career goals.

This struggle often stresses them mentally, emotionally, psychologically, and physically. Nonetheless, there is a way out of it.

In order for you to maintain work-family balance, there are tried-and-trusted strategies you can employ and implement.

Some of these strategies are: setting clear guidelines for your duties; setting your priorities right; delegating tasks; carving out time for self-care; and communicating with your partner about the weight of your responsibility, among others.

You can write down your tasks for the day in order of their priorities. After this, fish out the ones you can delegate to your children if they are adults.

If you don’t have grownups, you can employ the service of a versatile personality or, rather, rapport with your spouse in humility so he can offer to help you.

Additionally, you should make time to take care of yourself to avoid being worn out. Do not allow the weight of your responsibilities to affect your health. You can only function well when you are healthy.

Therefore, you should always create time to burn out of stress. You may decide to relax by meditating or doing yoga. These two really help in relieving parenting stress.

In conclusion, you can strike a balance between your work and family if you create an effective time management system for everything you do.

5) Raising Children In Digital Age

We are in a digital generation, and the growth of digital devices and social media is on the rise. Children are becoming more digitally savvy, and this has contributed to the challenges faced by parents.

Statistics have recorded that an average teenager spends at least a half day on the internet. This is due to the fact that the generation we live in is digitalized.

Also, we have many Gen Zers who have free access to internet gadgets. Even if they have no mobile phones, they know how to go about it in order to access the internet.

As a parent in this digital age, you must apply wisdom if you don’t want your children to be victims of the disadvantages that come with using digital devices and social media. 

So many parents make the mistake of depriving their children of access to digital devices and social media out of fear that it will corrupt them.

While it is true that digital devices and social media have their disadvantages, the fact remains that they have advantages too.

Some of these advantages are freedom of expression, platforms to show creativity, an avenue to connect with great minds, and a site where e-learning can be achieved, among others.

This is why it is wrong to deprive your children of access to the internet.

Instead of denying them access, there are better things you can do.

Some of them are:

• Talking to children about the risk of technology;

• Teaching them about internet safety;

• Educating them on the dangers of cyberbullying,

• Watching inappropriate content, and identity theft;

• Limiting the use of smartphones and tablets for young children; and

• Installing an accountability application on teenagers’ phones.

If you apply any of the aforementioned strategies, you will be able to raise good children even in this digital age.

6) Financial Challenges

Finance is another challenge parents face when raising their children.

In an economy where the cost of living continues to increase, some parents lack the financial capacity to cater to the needs of their children.

This usually weighs them down and makes them see themselves as being unfulfilled as parents.

If you are experiencing financial challenges as a parent, I want you to know that there is a way out of this. Therefore, you must keep holding your head above the water.

Although the situation in the economy may not be palatable, you can still gain financial freedom and earn money, which will enable you to provide for the basic needs and wants of your children.

To overcome financial challenges, you can learn skills that will give you the opportunity to earn multiple streams of income.

This is not a generation that waits for salaries given by white-collar jobs.

We are in a generation where everyone, both parents and children, is learning skills like public speaking, digital marketing, and more.

You can learn skills like content writing, copywriting, video editing,digital marketing, e-commerce, ebook publishing, etc.

These are some of the high-paying digital skills that companies and brands are highly in need of.

Your children deserve to live a good life. They deserve to have their basic needs and wants met at the right time. You can’t afford to deny them these because you are financially handicapped.

I am therefore challenging you to arise and start creating values that will attract wealth to you.

Conclusion on Parental Challenges And Ways To Overcoming Them

As it has been established in this article, parenting is a tedious job that comes with tons of challenges.

These challenges include frequent tantrums from children, complaining and whining, financial challenges, raising children in the digital age, balancing work with family, and managing stress. 

However, the good news is that they can be overcome through patience, wisdom, care, attention, skilling up, and many more strategies that have been discussed in this article.

Therefore, I advise that you begin to apply these strategies as soon as possible. Congratulations to you on your victorious conquest as you do so.