problem child | Idiomator

Meaning: (euphemistic)A child who is particularlydifficulttoraiseoreducate, especially due to a lack ofself-controlanddisruptiveandantisocialbehavior.1926March 30, “General Topic: TheProblem Child”, inThe Age, Australia, retrieved11 June 2009:Of recent times very much has been said regarding theproblem child, but as Lady Stradbroke pointed out last week but little is being done to cope with the menace that child is to itself and to the community.2006October 21, Alan Fryer, “The Children of Woodlands”, inctv.ca, retrieved11 June 2009:Hill was aproblem childwho was sent to Woodlands because his parents couldn't handle him at home.2022, Tom Wright, “Scene Two: Classroom”, inI Ain’t Dumb(Modern Plays), London; New York, N.Y.; Dublin:Methuen Drama,→ISBN,page12:An’ here I am. Your dreamproblem child. A facety ghetto rude gyal grateful for your remarkable lack of judgeyness, an’ ready to be dazzled and inspired by your penetrating insight.; (idiomatic,by extension)Someone or something persistently difficult orvexing; a frequent source oftroubleorannoyance.1959January 26, “Payoff for Pioneers”, inTime:[A]n ambitious supersonic carrier fighter called the F3H Demon . . . proved too heavy for its Navy-specified Westinghouse engine (in itself aproblem child), and turned into a $265 million fiasco.2009April 16, Theresa Vargas, “Superintendent Thinks Small in Plan to Revamp Middle Grades”, inWashington Post, retrieved11 June 2009:Locally and across the nation, middle schools have generally been regarded as theproblem childfor school systems.

Examples:

EN: "Heavens, what a problem child!"
ES: "¡Cielos, qué hombre más problemático!"
EN: A backward child is a problem child.
ES: Un niño que no avanza es un niño problemático.
EN: The piano is my problem child
ES: El piano es mi problema de infancia.
EN: Venus' little problem child.
ES: El niño problemático de Venus.
EN: I never thought Penny would turn out to be a problem child.
ES: Nunca pensé que fuera una niña problemática.
EN: Here comes your problem child.
ES: Ahí está tu problemática hija.
EN: Number two son, who have become number one problem child.
ES: Hijo número dos, que se ha convertido en hijo problemático número uno.
EN: Wales said you were worried about me, so I rushed over to say the problem child's home.
ES: Estaba preocupado por mí. Vine a decirle que el niño problemático está de vuelta en casa.
EN: You're getting to be a regular problem child.
ES: Te estás convirtiendo en una niña problemática.
EN: You're getting to be a problem child.
ES: Eres un niño problema.
EN: A very nice man, but a bit of a problem child when he's on a diet.
ES: Un hombre muy agradable, pero un poco de niño problemático cuando está a dieta.
EN: In my many weeks as a campaign manager, I've never had a problem child like you.
ES: En todos mis años como director nunca he tenido un problema como tú.
EN: Now wait a minute. That's a regular kid. That's no problem child.
ES: No es un niño problemático, es un niño normal.
EN: A real problem child, pinky.
ES: - Todo un problema.
EN: I'm a problem child.
ES: Soy un niño problema.

Note: the examples for non latin scripts have a high likelihood of mistakes, we do not own any of this data and it is sourced from Wiktionary, the NLLB database and Opensubtitles. Please help us improve this by contributing correct examples. We will be working to fix this issue over time however it is a bigger issue due to the the difficulties in dealing with non latin scripts and grammatical structures(non-romantic/european languages have lower resources as well ).