Additional information

If a child is (quite) a handful, he/she is difficult to control:

 ➤ My eight-year-old nephew is quite a handful. You never know what he's going to do next.

If something is an uphill struggle (or battle), it takes a long time to succeed:

 ➤ It was an uphill struggle persuading my aunt to move into a care home, but she agreed in the end.