Quotes About Parenting

Living with real children can be humbling. Every morning I would tell myself, "Today is going to be different

One father said that what helped him become more sensitive to his son's emotional needs was when he began to equate the boy's bruised, unhappy feelings with physical bruises.

Describa: (lo que ve o el problema.) 2. Dé información: 3. Dígalo con una palabra: 4. Hable de sus sentimientos: 5. Escriba una nota: Acaba de aplicar cinco habilidades diferentes a la misma situación.

We say "please" to our children to model a socially acceptable way to make a small request. But "please" lends itself best to our more relaxed moments.

There will be times when that will be the obvious and right thing to do. All I want to point out is that if you decide not to give equally, for whatever reason, that's all right too. The children who fail to receive won't go under. Your understanding and acceptance of their disappointment will help them to deal with life's inequities.

The group beamed and applauded. It was a lot to absorb. I thought I'd better summarize. "So when it comes to homework," I said, "here are your new strategies." 1. Be on your child's side. Acknowledge his feelings! 2. Problem-solve. Consider everything. 3. Be your child's advocate. Communicate with the teacher when homework gets overwhelming. Don't worry about what other people's kids are doing.

Statements like these say to the child, "I don't like what you did, and I expect you to take care of it." We hope that later on in life, as an adult, when he does something he regrets, he'll think to himself, "What can I do to make amends—to set things right again?," rather than "What I just did proves I'm an unworthy person who deserves to be punished.

Children don't appreciate having the names they call themselves repeated by their parents. When a child tells you he's dumb or ugly or fat, it's not helpful to reply with "Oh, so you think you're dumb," or "You really feel you're ugly." Let's not cooperate with him when he calls himself names. We can accept his pain without repeating the name.

Let us realize that, along with food, shelter, and clothing, we have another obligation to our children, and that is to affirm their "rightness." The whole world will tell them what's wrong with them—loud and often. Our job is to let our children know what's right about them.

The whole world will tell them what's wrong with them—loud and often. Our job is to let our children know what's right about them.

I have the feeling Heather is going to be "expressing herself" a lot more in the future, and I'm sure I won't like everything I hear; but in the long run, I still think it's more important for her to be real than to have to continue being "mother's joy.

Resist the temptation to "make better" instantly. Instead of giving advice, continue to accept and reflect on your child's feelings.

When we describe the event (instead of talking about what "you did"), we seem to make it easier for the child to hear what the problem is and deal with it.

Ése es el gran desafío," dije, "cambiar nuestro pensamiento de 'cómo arreglo las cosas yo' a 'cómo capacito a mis hijos para arreglar las cosas por sí mismos.

When children want something they can't have, adults usually respond with logical explanations of why they can't have it. Often, the harder we explain, the harder they protest.

The father was astonished. He hadn't asked questions and yet the child had told him the whole story. He hadn't given one word of advice, and yet the child had worked out his own solution. It seemed unbelievable to him that he could have been so helpful to his son just by listening and acknowledging his feelings.

Refrain from giving the child information she already knows.

We too worried about being permissive. But gradually we began to realize that this approach was permissive only in the sense that all feelings were permitted.

treating our children, not as they are, but as we hoped they would become.

All we can do is attempt to understand our children's feelings. We won't always succeed, but our efforts are usually appreciated.

By being kind to ourselves, we teach our children to be kind to themselves.

we treated both our children and ourselves, that our readers would catch the spirit behind the skills and be inspired to improvise

There is no such thing as a calm, conflict-free life with young children

We found that when we accepted our children's feelings they were more able to accept the limits we set for them.