The Task, Challenges, and Obstacles of Parenting

Raising and caring for children is one of the most important activities an adult will undertake. This importance is for the welfare of the individual child as well as the welfare of the community, which extends from the immediate family (however defined) to the broadest sense of the living community. Raising children often involves meeting challenges presented by immature humans, and many child guidance programs provide strategies for addressing those challenges. In this article we invite the reader and those who provide child guidance to consider the challenges relative to the tasks of child guidance, which we present as the training of children to meet the duties of life. Thus, meeting the challenges most effectively requires attention to this ultimate task. It is important to give appropriate attention to the common and unique obstacles that parents and other child-care providers face as they meet the task while addressing the challenges.