Question of the Day: Is It Really Hard to Raise a Child?

Dr. Alex Lickerman, a general internist and former Director of Primary Care at the University of Chicago who has been practicing Buddhism since 1989, told Psychology Today that parenthood is both wonderful and awful at the same time. He explainined that what makes parenthood wonderful is literally all things others would tell you, while, things that make parenthood awful are quite intuitively clear such as the obvious things like lifestyle changes, stubbornness, and tantrums.

In a survey by the Zero to Three Foundation, around 73 percent of responders describe parenting as their biggest challenge as they deal with added costs and responsibilities, including modern difficulties like planning pressures and screen time battles.

At the same time, approximately 91 percent of responders call parenting their greatest joy witnessing their child grow, discovering new passion, and mastering a skill. Thus, the hard work parents go through are all worth it.

Parenting is hard as it will eventually lead to pure mental and physical exhaustion. Being a parent would also make you act in a way that is not true to your core character. Usually, worry and fear are the common emotions parents would experience. Yet, parenting is one of the amazing gifts.

Read Also: Setting Playdate Boundaries: Keeping the Child Safe at All Times

Kids have their own unique personality

Children enter the world without a manual. They may have traits that may be similar to yours or maybe the total opposite of yours. Nevertheless, parents need to understand that every child has their own unique personality, so avoid making your child someone you adore and transforming them into a person they're actually not.

Opinions abound, hence, the main key to successful parenting is being supportive in either good or bad times. This only means worrying less about bolstering their skills and more about building your bond. Nurturing parenting behaviors enhance the child's brain development and better stress response among young ones.

The study entitled Galanin Neurons in the Medial Preoptic Area Govern Parental Behaviour determined that parenting behaviors are mainly triggered through neurons in the hypothalamus, a tiny part of the brain where hormones are released. The study discovered that parenting behavior is controlled by galanin neuropeptides.

Parents do everything for the sake of their child

There are many factors that determined why raising a child is difficult. Aside from the costs that come with having a child, being a parent makes you overly protective your child. No parent would want their child harmed; thus, you want to spare them from pain. Sometimes there are realizations that you should let your child experience pain so they would be able to handle them on their own. This makes parents torn, as their priority will always be to protect their child from genuine threats. It makes it hard for parents as they don't want to leave their children alone and as much as possible, they want to be there for them. However, things won't always go the way you want them, and eventually force you to let go of your child while guiding them.

Being a parent makes you do almost everything for the sake of your child. An example is when you dress your child when they are perfectly capable of doing it themselves. This is because parents want to spare kids the difficulty.

According to Raising Kids With Purpose, there is no direct benefit to providing for a completely dependent baby. Yet, parents instinctively develop parental behaviors that usually come from genetic programming or the feeling of responsibility increases, especially parents who have a new life to care for.

Related Article: The Dangers of Putting Too Much Pressure on Your Kids