Raising a child can be difficult for many reasons. Caring for a child, especially an infant or toddler, can take up a significant amount of time, and it may be challenging to maintain strong relationships with a spouse or romantic partner, or with friends. Many parents face financial challenges or find it difficult to coordinate schedules and arrange child care. A parent who stays home with a child or children may feel overworked in the home and resent the other parent for working outside the home, which can put strain on a partnership. Parenting is also often physically demanding: some parents with young children spend a significant part of their day cleaning, doing laundry, and performing other household tasks, and many report insufficient sleep.
Parenting may become even more difficult when a child exhibits signs of a behavioral challenge, physical or intellectual disability, or mental or physical illness. It may be especially difficult to cope when a child who requires extensive medical treatment or other extra care is not the only child in the home, and parents may find it difficult to give all children equal amounts of attention. This may lead some parents to experience guilt along with greater levels of stress. Research has shown that, as a result of parenting classes, parents/guardians learn more effective parenting techniques, the behavior problems of children decrease, and the quality of the parent-child relationship improves.