10 Biggest challenges faced by parents in raising kids in 2023

Parenting has become a daunting task for parents in 2023. There are a lot of changes seen in the way societies have evolved today. The concerns, preferences have changed, and the way of living has changed completely over the years.

In 2023, a common trend is that both the parents are working to bring financial stability in the family. Thus, it is becoming increasingly tough for parents to strike a balance between kids and work. Due to this, parents have adopted newer styles of parenting.

Here is a sneak peek into a few challenges faced by parents in raising kids in 2023:

1. Lack of time

One of the biggest challenges faced by parents today is the lack of time. In a day, parents (especially moms) have to juggle between so many duties. Managing office work, doing household chores, and looking after kids is a lot to handle.

Due to increased parenting stress, most parents are choosing to become parents much later in life, once they are financially settled. Moreover, parents are increasingly resorting to having just one kid as they find it extremely difficult to manage life with kids around.

2. Failure to teach kids the fundamental moral values

You would see that young kids are increasingly getting diverted towards doing wrong things. One of the biggest reasons for this is that they lack moral values. The parents are already managing so much in a time-pressed schedule. They hardly find time to teach kids the fundamental moral values. The small kids lack the wisdom to differentiate between what is right and what is wrong.

Plus, the added exposure of media and technology, are making inappropriate content available for the kids. The ethical values and moral values have also deteriorated in the upcoming generation due to indecent exposure.

Due to smartphones all around, parents are unable to track the activities of their kids. This may be very dangerous for the child’s development and may put him or her on the wrong track if their actions are not closely monitored.

In earlier times, when living in joint families was a popular way of living in India, the grandparents would teach the fundamental ethical and moral values to the kids. But due to the increasing preference for nuclear families, the parents fail to give ample time to kids.

3. Imbalanced life

Somewhere with this whole rat race of proving ourselves and earning more with time, the true essence of life is lost. Though there are more facilities and comforts, but somewhere the happiness and peace in the heart has gone away. 

The families are falling apart due to a lack of time for each other. The children suffer when they don’t find their parents around. Sometimes, the kids develop an inferiority complex when they don’t find enough support and love of their parents.

So, balancing life is another big challenge for parents in 2023. Though career is important, but ignoring kids and other responsibilities cannot lead to a fulfilling life. Hence, the parents are always on their toes to be able to perform well in aspects of life.

4. Lack of trust and understanding

As parents are away at work, usually, they lack an excellent strong bonding with their kids. The emotional bonding between a parent and a child has faded away with time. 

The kids are hesitant to open up in front of their parents due to a lack of emotional tie-up. This is the reason why kids are increasingly seeking help from their peers rather than approaching their parents. 

When the kids are not attached to their parents, they are emotionally wrecked and feel lonely.

5. Nutritional deficiency 

No doubt, the parents have become much aware of the importance of good nutrition and work hard towards it, but still, the kids today suffer from nutritional deficiencies.

The increased contamination in food and milk has created a major barrier to provide ample nutrition to kids. Due to complicated life, the concept of eating freshly cooked food has also faded with time. The availability of junk food everywhere has further challenged the way kids eat today.

In most places like Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore, the food is cooked once in a week, refrigerated and consumed for the entire week. Though the variety, the taste, and the options in the menu have improved over time due to the double income of parents, but nutrition is still a concern.

The heavy use of chemicals and pesticides have deteriorated the nutritional value of the food. The kids these days suffer from an increasing number of diseases and are seen to have weak immunity.

6. Excessive use of gadgets

Not a single day passes by when kids don’t use gadgets to play games on mobile, iPads, or laptops. It is said that the 90’s generation of kids was the last generation to play out on the roads. 

Nowadays, kids are completely glued to screens, as there are so many apps to distract them. You would notice that due to frequent screen exposure, the eyesight problems are rising in kids. 

Moreover, the physical and motor skills development suffers when kids don’t get ample movement while playing outside. Kids are increasingly becoming obese or overweight, which was never seen in the older generation.

Keeping kids off gadgets is another challenge for parents today. The parents have to really pressurise kids to go out to play rather than playing games on the phone. If the screen exposure is not cut down, it will have a very bad impact on the physical as well as mental development of kids.

There is also increased peer pressure on kids to use mobiles and iPads. On a social gathering or outings, you would find kids using apps on phones to play games, etc. The kids get encouraged to use these gadgets more and more by looking at each other.

7. Aggressive behaviour

Today’s kids just don’t listen to anyone. You would find them answering back at you, arguing and doing only what they feel like doing. Once they turn teens, they just can’t stand anyone’s interference in life, not even their parents.

So, why are kids becoming so aggressive these days? Overall, if you see, we have evolved to become impatient and less tolerant as a society. It is common to have fights and arguments at home. 

The movies that we see are filled with action and violence. Even the cartoon shows are filled with negative traits of anger and violence. Kids get exposed to insecurities, stress, negativity, aggression right from the beginning. 

At times, you will find it very difficult to get your kid on to your terms. The kids misbehave, get annoyed, throw stuff or hit their parents when they are asked to do something they don’t like.

This behaviour gets too upsetting at times, and you have to put in a lot of effort to sober down your kids. 

8. Judgemental attitude

Today a kid is expected to be perfect in all ways to get accepted by his or her peers in school. If a kid does not speak well or is weak in studies, he or she is commonly judged by their peers.

You would notice that if your child is shy in socialising, then he or she will have a tough time making friends in school.

The times have changed, and even kids have become very judgemental about each other. Small kids are faced with things like being bullied, mocked at, and isolated by their peers. 

Life is no longer smooth and easy for parents these days. There are plenty of issues to handle right from the beginning years of schooling. At times, the child gets beaten up or is a victim of another child’s aggression. At other times, he is made fun of because he could not perform as expected in his class. 

So, parents, these days have to put in a lot of effort to make their child come up to expected benchmarks only to help them get accepted socially.

9. Too much study pressure

Today, even a small 10 years old kid is studying for almost 10 hours a day. The competition has increased so much. The kids have to be sent for additional classes post-school to make them competitive.

The kids are sent for Abacus classes, Vedic mathematic classes, reading and writing classes, etc. to gain an edge over others. Making kids study so hard puts a lot of pressure on parents. 

Parents need to put in the extra effort of picking up and dropping kids and making them revise things taught in these extra classes. It also adds a little more financial burden on parents who spend so much on these extra classes. 

The entire study system has evolved over time. The kids have to study and stay up to the mark to survive in such cut-throat competition.

10. Protecting kids against child abuse

53% of children in India are a victim of sexual or physical abuse. Even the cases of rapes and murders are increasing at an alarming rate as reported by the National Crime records bureau. The changing complexities of life have exposed children to a different set of challenges in current times.

A parent needs to be so much more aware of her child all the time. The children need to be protected and supervised at every step. Even when the kids have gone on playdates, the parents need to keep a constant check on them by getting in touch with their friends parents.

Especially the girl child needs to be protected at all times. The parent cannot let the small girls go in elevators all by themselves. They need to be escorted to playgrounds and need to be keenly watched for their safety. Sending them to a neighbour’s also is not safe these days.

The small girls need to be guarded against male servants like drivers, cooks, etc. The society’s moral values have entirely faded away with time. It is scary for parents to read and learn about the dirty things happening to kids.

So, a parent’s concern has grown so much over time. There is so much to protect your child from. The media, the technology, the strangers are all threats for your child. 

If a parent wants to really focus on the healthy upbringing of a child, then they need to be a constant watchdog for kids these days. Obviously, this has made things so much more difficult for parents as well as kids. These factors have raised the parenting stress manifold, and a lot of parents feel constant burnout due to the above-mentioned challenges.