Become Ben Stiller for the next 45 seconds, and meet the parents

Nearly two-thirds of American parents say the job of raising their kids is harder than they expected – but an overwhelming majority (80+%) also say parenting is rewarding and enjoyable all or most of the time.

That’s according to a new Pew Research report on parenting, which surveyed 3,700+ US adults with children under the age of 18. Here’s what else it found:

😟 Biggest parental fears: According to Pew, the No. 1 concern among parents is that their child may struggle with anxiety or depression, with 77% somewhat or extremely worried. That figure beat out all other parental fears, such as their child being bullied (75%), being abducted (59%), getting beaten up (57%), having problems with drugs/alcohol (53%), or getting pregnant/getting someone pregnant (46%).

👪 Gender differences in parenting: Across all parental fears, mothers were consistently more worried than fathers. Mothers were also more likely to say parenting is tiring (47% vs. 34%) or stressful (33% vs. 24%) most or all of the time – which makes sense, as mothers were consistently rated by both genders as doing more work than fathers across a wide range of child-care tasks.

📅 Hopes for the future: Parents very clearly prioritized financial independence and career satisfaction above all other future goals for their children, with around 9 in 10 saying both are extremely important. On the flip side, only about 1 in 5 parents said it’s extremely important that their children get married and/or have children of their own.