Objective To deeply understand the parental care experience of children with spinal cord injury (SCI), so as to provide a reference for promoting their physical and mental health. Methods A phenomenological research method was used to select 11 parents of children with SCI by using purposive sampling for semi-structured interviews, and the Colaizzi analysis was utilized to refine themes. Results Four themes were extracted:bearing the burden of caring, complex mental experience, adapting role change and improving caring skills, desiring family and social support. Conclusion Parents of children with SCI suffer from heavy care burden and negative psychological emotion, so medical staff should pay attention to assessing their care experience, and provide positive psychological adjustment and appropriate social support when necessary, so as to alleviate their care burden and improve their mental health.