Objective To support the child-health medical staffs give targeted parenting guidance, by surveying the parenting problems in parents of preschool children in urban area of China. Methods In 2017, the parenting survey was conducted among 2 286 parents of 3-5 years old children in 15 cities, 14 provinces across the country. The parenting survey was about the social demographic status, the parenting problems and the severity of each specific problems. Chi-square test and Logistic regression were used to analyze the influence of social demographic factors on the serious parenting difficulties. Results 92.9% of parents reported experiencing more than one parenting problems and 3.7% of parents encountered at least 3 parenting difficulties which was very difficult to deal with. Parents reported that the incidence of specific parenting problems among 3-5 years old children was between 52.48% and 13.91%. The most common problems were "picky eating"(52.48%), "not eating by herself/himself"(49.66%), "sleep problems"(46.54%) and "disobey"(46.07%). Logistics regression analysis showed that boys(OR=1.25,95%CI: 1.02-1.53) was the risk factors for parents to report serious parenting difficulties, while elder children(OR=0.84,95%CI: 0.75-0.95), mother′s age at delivery(OR=0.96,95%CI: 0.93-0.99) and nuclear family(OR=0.77,95%CI: 0.61-0.97) were the protective factors. Conclusions Parents of children aged 3-5 years old in urban China are generally faced with parenting problems. It is necessary to provide universal and professional parenting support for parents. The medical staffs should provide parents with feeding, sleeping and behavioral support, especially to the parents with young children, boys, young mothers, and non-nuclear families.