The aim of this research was to test the relationship between parent stress sources and some family characteristics with parental rearing practices. The research was conducted in three kindergartens in Zagreb and 148 participants participated - parents of children from two to six years. Out of the total number of participants, 123 is female and 25 male. As a measure of parental stress sources Upitnik izvora i intenziteta roditeljskog stresa (Profaca i Arambašić, 2004) was used and for parental rearing practices Skala roditeljskih odgojnih postupaka (Profaca, 2002) was used. The research results show that parents experience mild stress and the main sources of parental stress are attachment to a child, communication with a child, discipline of the child and his / her demandness. On the other side of the continuum, the lowest intensity stressors are estimated to be unfulfilled expectations, the material situation and the health of the child. The research results show that the most common rearing practices are acceptance and harmony and incentives to self-actualization, while authoritarian procedures are less common and punishment methods are the rarest. Regression analysis showed that younger children are more demanding for parents. Furthermore, parental rearing practices acceptance and harmony can be predicted by the age and gender of parents. That is, we can say that women and older parents show more levels of acceptance than men and younger parents. Also, more levels of stress are associated with more frequent punishment methods.