Introduction. The appearance of a mentally disabled child in the world shatters the ideals of parents who, before the child’s appearance, already have a certain image of the child and dream of the child developing well, completing school, and finding a good job. When a child with intellectual disabilities arrives, the caregivers are most often unable to imagine how the child will cope in life, and how they themselves will cope with the burden of the child’s illness. Parents must cope with many psychological, but also material, and therapeutic problems related to their child’s disorder, because in addition to the daily activities of caring for the child, for a child with disabilities there are other necessary treatments such as therapy and rehabilitation. An additional burden is the cost of treatment and rehabilitation resulting from the illness of a loved one, which may worsen the financial situation of the family. A single stressor may lead to the emergence of subsequent others, and affect the quality of life of these families. Aim. The aim of the study was to determine the specific functioning of families in which children were diagnosed with an intellectual disability (mild, moderate), especially to determine whether having a child (aged 5–8) with an intellectual disability has a significant impact on the parents of these children, mainly on coping strategies and the assessment of the quality of life of the family. Materials and methods. Stress Coping Inventory (mini COPE in the Polish adaptation of Juczyński and Oginska-Bulik), STAI Inventory in Polish adaptation (Wrześniewski, Sosnowski, Jaworowska, Ferenc), and a self-administered questionnaire which included questions about gender, age, education, place of residence, occupation, number of children, family structure, and a subjective assessment of the family and its material situation. Results. The results of the study suggest that daily stress associated with caring for a sick family member makes parents resistant to various adversities, but also deprives them of strength to act, and in some people also causes depression, anxiety, and affects relationships with others and assessment of quality of life.