Parenting Quotes

“I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father’s protection.”

“The father who does not teach his son his duties is equally guilty with the son who neglects them.”

“The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.”

“My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.”

“When I was a kid, my father told me every day, ‘You’re the most wonderful boy in the world, and you can do anything you want to.’”

“A little praise goes a great ways.”

“Cannot we let [children] be themselves, and enjoy life in their own way? You are trying to make another you. One’s enough.”

“So long as little children are allowed to suffer, there is no true love in this world.”

“Our children give us the opportunity to become the parents we always wished we’d had.”

“Never do for a child what he is capable of doing for himself.”

“There are times when parenthood seems like nothing but feeding the mouth that bites you.”

“The most assiduous task of parenting is to divine the difference between boundaries and bondage.”

“Reading to children at night, responding to their smiles with a smile, returning their vocalizations with one of your own, touching them, holding them - all of these further a child’s brain development and future potential, even in the earliest months.”

“Only by being permitted to experience the consequences of his actions will the child acquire a sense of responsibility; and within the limits marked by the demands of his safety this must be done.”

“He who does not teach his son an occupation is as one who has taught his son to rob.”

“How true Daddy’s words were when he said, ‘All children must look after their own upbringing.’ Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a [child's] character lies in their own hands.”

“It is my pleasure that my children are free and happy, and unrestrained by parental tyranny. Love is the chain whereby to bind a child to its parents.”

“Disobedience is the infant’s first step toward autonomy.”

“A baby is an inestimable blessing and bother.”

“The toddler craves independence but…fears desertion.”

“There must always be a struggle between a father and son, while one aims at power and the other at independence.”

“No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings.” -

“Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.”

“The defects of the children mirror the defects of the parents.”

“Tiny children want to learn to the degree that they are unable to distinguish learning from fun. They keep this attitude until we adults convince them that learning is not fun.”

“It is not attention that the child is seeking but love.”

“What causes adolescents to rebel is not the assertion of authority but the arbitrary use of power, with little explanation of the rules and no involvement in the decision-making.”

“Let your child be the teenager he or she wants to be, not the adolescent you were or wish you had been.”

“Children love repetition, but not when it’s overdone. They will lose interest if you progress too slowly, and if you go too quickly the materials will be beyond their comprehension.”

“If we continually try to force a child to do what he is afraid to do, he will become more timid, and will use his brains and energy not to explore the unknown, but to find ways to avoid pressures we put on him. If, however, we are careful not to push a child beyond the limits of his courage, he is almost sure to get braver.”

“If for only half an hour a day, a child should do something serviceable to the community.” -

“What the father kept silent the son speaks out.”

“If there is anything we wish to change in our children, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.”

“Because children see parents as authority figures and gods, they think that the way you treat them is the way they deserve to be treated: ‘What you say about me is what I am’ is a literal truth to your child. Consequently, when children are treated with respect, they conclude that they deserve respect and hence develop self-respect.”

“Honor your father and your mother.”

“Children thrive when parents set before them increasingly difficult, but always meetable, challenges.”

“The greatest gifts my parents gave to me…were their unconditional love and a set of values.” -

“Children have more need of models than of critics.”

“Never lose your temper, except intentionally.”

“Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one.”

“When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, an hundred.”

“Patience is the greatest of all virtues.”

“Virtue consists in actions, and not in words.”

“Take more pleasure in giving what is best to another than in having it for yourself, and then all the world will love you.”

“When our kids are young, many of us rush out to buy a cute little baby book to record the meaningful events of our young child’s life…but I’ve often thought there should be a second book, one with room to record the moral milestones of our child’s lives.”

“If you want a sense of personal values we should be communicating to children…Healthy societies send signals to their children and to those who have become temporarily confused at any age.”

“Respect yourself if you would have others respect you.”

“True strength lies in submission which permits one to dedicate his life, through devotion, to something beyond himself.”

“What does not kill me makes me stronger.”