Quotes About Parenting

Any mom who tells you that she does it effortlessly is not telling the truth.

There are parents out there screaming as if their kid is going to be in the big leagues someday. C'mon. I chew them out if I see that. Maybe they've got their own idea how to do things, but it's wrong. Just be with the kids. Let 'em make errors. Give them all a chance. It's not about winning. It's spirit, togetherness.

Never give a child a sword.

My mother was an actress and my voice teacher, an incredible voice teacher. My biological father is an actor, and my stepfather, who raised me along with my mother, is a psychotherapist. I was always supported in creative ventures.

My kid, her life. I want for her what she wants for herself.

Kids aren't bonsai. Maybe instead of trying to make them beautiful to the rest of the world, you should just love them and let them grow.

No hay niños difíciles. Hay adultos a quienes nos resulta más fácil desplegar nuestra energía y nuestros intereses en otros ámbitos.

My books are mine, and yet they are alien to me--as a child belongs to a parent and yet has a life of its own. I can guide and hope and nudge my characters this and that way, but in the end, they become what they become. I don't always like what they become myself, but like a parent, there are times when I just don't know what to do about it. Other times when I'm so proud of them I could bust.

What was the point of giving children freedom to experiment and fail, if one then turned it all into a tiresome object lesson?

Being a mother was like being trapped in the first fifteen minutes of a horror film. Everything was fine, lovely. But there was this persistent sense of dread.

throwing out "I sorry" as if it were confetti, her private little parade of destruction rolling past, leaving Eliza to clean up all of the mess. They had tried hard to teach their children the importance of genuine remorse, what it was to say and mean "I'm sorry.

Maybe children just want whatever it is they don't get. And then they grow up and give their children what they wanted, be it silence or information, affection or independence--so that child, in turn, craves something else. With every generation the pendulum swings from opposite to opposite, stillness and peace so elusive.

Perhaps all the difficulties of pregnancy, childbirth, and mothering in the early years wouldn't

If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do matters very much.

Children are our second chance to have a great parent-child relationship.

yes, if you doubt it, it's true that people can feel suicidal after using marijuana, especially when they are young and use high-potency products with high frequency. I know because it happened to my son in front of my very eyes.

Distinguish between your child and his behavior. Always acknowledge behavior that you want to reinforce - not the child for doing what he did. For example, rather than saying "What a good boy for dressing yourself!", say "Hey that's good dressing!

You don't become a better parent or employee by not enjoying your life.

As adults, overall, in two-parent families have spent more time working for pay, the time they spend interacting with their kids has also increased.

I would argue that, over the last 40 years, as a higher proportion of parents' time in two-parent families has been compensated at market rates, parental time overall has become more valuable. Consequently, parents allocate this valuable time differently during their nonworking hours than people did in the past.

Over time, the way parents have allocated their non-market-work hours has shifted considerably. The biggest change in the new home economics has been time devoted to housework. This has fallen precipitously—almost in half over 40 years.

I feel like I spend much of my energy some days convincing the younger people in my house to go to bed so I can go to bed. There is always something else that has to happen. The toddler wants to be rocked again. Someone else's homework must go in the backpack. Someone has forgotten to tell me something very important, some story that takes meandering minutes

When I got to the house about an hour ago, James took one look at me and said, "Damn, girl, your parents put out some good product." I think it was a compliment, but I'm not quite sure.

Three months after Rachel was born, Lou admitted smuggling her into church. "It wasn't my fault," she said, after she'd confessed. "I was compelled." "What do you mean, compelled?" Andy had asked, annoyed, betrayed, but also consumed by tenderness the way he always was when he watched Louisa breast-feed.