Oh wow, you're thinking of becoming a parent? Is that why you've googled parenting quotes? Or perhaps you're looking for quotes about parenting because you're still not sure whether that's the path of life you want to pursue? If that's so, buddy, you've landed on the right page. But before we delve into an exhaustive list of inspiring, eye-opening, or simply heartwarming parenthood quotes, let's explore the topic a little more.
Suppose you've found yourself on this page. In that case, I assume you're mature and old enough to understand what sexual intercourse is and what it was initially “invented” for. Pleasure and enjoyment are essential; however, reproduction (unusual to see this word here rather than in a biology book, huh?) is the primary function. We, humans, are mammals who depend on reproduction to survive and carry the only human species left today - the homo sapiens. However, we no longer look at it this way. People opt to have children not necessarily because they want someone to carry their family name but rather to experience parenthood's joy and the (enriching) challenge of it.
While there are many reasons people opt to have kids, there's something special, even magical, about creating and bringing up another human. It's almost a godlike feature. People are in a position to "construct" a living human being, and if that's not one of the most powerful things a human can do, I don't know what is. Nonetheless, it's in our control to decide whether we become parents or not (parent to a furry friend counts, too). Family is everything; however, a family is no longer the traditional definition of a mom, dad, and their offspring. The family is a single mom or a single dad, a couple with no children, a person and a child adopted by them, etc. It's up to us which family mode we pursue. And whichever is welcome and "right."
One could come up with a thousand quotes about family or quotes about parents and the joys and challenges that are brought by becoming and being one. And they would be equally important and valid because although the parenthood experience is comparable, it's also very unique. And although not nearly a thousand, we have selected plenty of family quotes for you to read and scroll through. If some of these parenthood or being a parent quotes have given you food for thought, share your reflections!
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"You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance." - Franklin P. Jones
"Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you." - Robert Fulghum
"The Golden Rule of Parenting is; do unto your children as you wish your parents had done unto you!" - Louise Hart
"Children are not casual guests in our home. They have been loaned to us temporarily for the purpose of loving them and instilling a foundation of values on which their future lives will be built." - James Dobson
"Any kid will run any errand for you, if you ask at bedtime." - Red Skelton
"Screaming at children over their grades, especially to the point of the child's tears, is child abuse, pure and simple. It's not funny and it's not good parenting. It is a crushing, scarring, disastrous experience for the child. It isn't the least bit funny." - Ben Stein
We were never yelled at (4 of us). We did get the “over the eyeglasses look from our Dad, but we were asked how they (parents) could help us understand the subject matter to help bring the grades up.
"Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president, but they don't want them to become politicians in the process." - John F. Kennedy
"If you're asking your kids to exercise, then you better do it, too. Practice what you preach." - Caitlyn Jenner
"Nothing you do for children is ever wasted. They seem not to notice us, hovering, averting our eyes, and they seldom offer thanks, but what we do for them is never wasted." - Garrison Keillor
"Loving a child doesn't mean giving in to all his whims; to love him is to bring out the best in him, to teach him to love what is difficult." - Nadia Boulanger
"All children will do things that you may not want them to. That's part of parenting." - Carl Hart
My mom's always told me that I'd never do anything that she hadn't already done better.
"A baby is born with a need to be loved - and never outgrows it." - Frank A. Clark
Unfortunately, they do. The idea that a grown up person can be taught love is for movies and fairy tales; it never works in real life, no matter what somebody might tell you. It's like building a house without the basement and trying to fit it in after the house is done: it's never really a genuine part of the house.
"We never know the love of a parent till we become parents ourselves." - Henry Ward Beecher
That is quite a loaded statement. The pendulum could swing either way; but either way, the truth is revealed.
"A child who is allowed to be disrespectful to his parents will not have true respect for anyone." - Billy Graham
"We are apt to forget that children watch examples better than they listen to preaching." - Roy L. Smith
And thus my attitude about politics, religion (esp American Christianity) is well summed up. I've heard their words but I've also seen their actions.
"Too many people treat parenting like it's the 20th item on their to-do list." - John Kennedy
"My mom and dad gave their kids the greatest gift of all - the gift of unconditional love. They cared deeply about who we would be, and much less about what we would do." - Mitt Romney
"Children are our second chance to have a great parent-child relationship." - Laura Schlessinger
"My father was a farmer and my mother was a farmer, but, my childhood was very good. I am very grateful for my childhood, because it was full of gladness and good humanity." - Roberto Benigni
"Listen to the desires of your children. Encourage them and then give them the autonomy to make their own decision." - Denis Waitley
"The thing about parenting rules is there aren't any. That's what makes it so difficult." - Ewan McGregor
"Children should have enough freedom to be themselves - once they've learned the rules." - Anna Quindlen
“A two-year-old is kind of like having a blender, but you don't have a top for it.” - Jerry Seinfeld
"When you hold your baby in your arms the first time, and you think of all the things you can say and do to influence him, it's a tremendous responsibility. What you do with him can influence not only him, but everyone he meets and not for a day or a month or a year but for time and eternity." - Rose Kennedy
"Parenting girls makes you quite gender-conscious - it's almost impossible to fight the power of pink. It's not such a terrible thing to want to be a princess when you're five, but it would be nice if there were some other options." - Robert Webb
I noticed how exaggerated the gendered clothing is for both boys and girls... When my son was a toddler, it was often challenge to just find my son a shirt without words and pictures on it.
"Parenting advice is mostly useless because every family is uniquely its own; artistic advice is mostly useless because every artist works in their own way. Thus, figuring out how to balance the two has an intense specificity." - Rumaan Alam
“Having children is like living in a frat house - nobody sleeps, everything's broken, and there's a lot of throwing up.” - Ray Romano
"Parents were invented to make children happy by giving them something to ignore." - Ogden Nash
"Even as kids reach adolescence, they need more than ever for us to watch over them. Adolescence is not about letting go. It's about hanging on during a very bumpy ride." - Ron Taffel
"Always kiss your children goodnight, even if they're already asleep." - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
"Every word, facial expression, gesture, or action on the part of a parent gives the child some message about self-worth. It is sad that so many parents don't realize what messages they are sending." - Virginia Satir
"I think a dad has to make his daughter feel that he's genuinely interested in what she's going through." - Harry Connick, Jr.
Or... just BE genuinely interested. Actions speak louder than words.
"Indeed - judicious, consistent parenting is a dream of mine. No judgements, learning space and listening carefully are my goals." - Emma Thompson
"I thought that once we were out of the baby stage, parenting would be a breeze." - Tori Spelling
"As a housewife, I feel that if the kids are still alive when my husband gets home from work, then hey, I've done my job." - Roseanne Barr
"I think I'm going to have to live vicariously through my daughter's rebellion because I certainly never did go through adolescence." - Brooke Shields
"Everybody knows how to raise children, except the people who have them." - P. J. O'Rourke
"The parenting style that is good for grit is also the parenting style good for most other things: Be really, really demanding, and be very, very supportive." - Angela Duckworth
"Poor parenting may be reflected in poor sibling relationships." - Robert J. Waldinger
"Of course, the ideal scenario for parenting is obviously two parents of a mature age." - Jennifer Aniston
“Becoming a mom to me means that you have accepted that for the next 16 years of your life, you will have a sticky purse.” - Nia Vardalos
"Parenting is not for everybody. It changes your life. Especially when they're little." - Tori Amos
"I feel very blessed to have two wonderful, healthy children who keep me completely grounded, sane and throw up on my shoes just before I go to an awards show just so I know to keep it real." - Reese Witherspoon
"Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children." - Charles R. Swindoll
"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection." - Sigmund Freud
"The Internet is just bringing all kinds of information into the home. There's just a lot of distraction, a lot of competition for the parent's voice to resonate in the children's ears." - Phil McGraw
"Girls are the future mothers of our society, and it is important that we focus on their well-being." - Miriam Makeba
"My children are the reason I laugh, smile and want to get up every morning." - Gena Lee Nolin
"There's really no point in having children if you're not going to be home enough to father them." - Anthony Edwards
"The interesting thing about being a mother is that everyone wants pets, but no one but me cleans the kitty litter." - Meryl Streep
"Having a baby changes the way you view your in-laws. I love it when they come to visit now. They can hold the baby and I can go out." - Matthew Broderick
"To me luxury is to be at home with my daughter, and the occasional massage doesn't hurt." - Olivia Newton-John
"I take my children everywhere, but they always find their way back home." - Robert Orben
"It's a huge change for your body. You don't even want to look in the mirror after you've had a baby, because your stomach is just hanging there like a Shar-Pei." - Cindy Crawford
"I want to have children, but my friends scare me. One of my friends told me she was in labor for 36 hours. I don't even want to do anything that feels good for 36 hours." - Rita Rudner
"Mothers - especially single mothers - are heroic in their efforts to raise our nation's children, but men must also take responsibility for their children and recognize the impact they have on their families' well-being." - Evan Bayh
"The parenting bit is much harder than the acting bit. You just never know what to do." - Helena Bonham Carter
"I come from a dysfunctional family, so my views of parents and parenting used to be highly mixed." - Tamora Pierce
"Relationships are complicated no matter what style of parenting you choose." - Mayim Bialik
"Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the sidewalk before it stops snowing." - Phyllis Diller
"Sadness, irritability, fatigue, and distractedness are among the most common side effects of grief while parenting." - Rachel Simmons
"How pleasant it is for a father to sit at his child's board. It is like an aged man reclining under the shadow of an oak which he has planted." - Walter Scott
"I was emancipated at 15. I went to school and had a full-time job and apartment, and ever since, I've been on my own, parenting myself." - Rosa Salazar
"My approach to parenting is the same as my approach to life: it's all about putting in the hours and working hard." - Perez Hilton
"I sort of feel like people are not that honest about their own parenting. Take any teenage household; tell me there is not yelling and conflict." - Amy Chua
"I adore my family. I don't love their politics. I think they're wonderful parents. They were dreadful at parenting." - Alexandra Fuller
“When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice, safe playpen. When they're finished, I climb out.” - Erma Bombeck
"The quickest way for a parent to get a child's attention is to sit down and look comfortable." - Lane Olinghouse
"If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do matters very much." - Jackie Kennedy
"If we had paid no more attention to our plants than we have to our children, we would now be living in a jungle of weed." - Luther Burbank
"Mama and Daddy King represent the best in manhood and womanhood, the best in a marriage, the kind of people we are trying to become." - Coretta Scott King
"My mother protected me from the world and my father threatened me with it." - Quentin Crisp
"Every cliché about kids is true; they grow up so quickly, you blink and they're gone, and you have to spend the time with them now. But that's a joy." - Liam Neeson
"We criticize mothers for closeness. We criticize fathers for distance. How many of us have expected less from our fathers and appreciated what they gave us more? How many of us always let them off the hook?" - Ellen Goodman
"Childhood obesity is best tackled at home through improved parental involvement, increased physical exercise, better diet and restraint from eating." - Bob Filner
"Parentage is a very important profession, but no test of fitness for it is ever imposed in the interest of the children." - George Bernard Shaw
"Leave part of the yard rough. Don't manicure everything. Small children in particular love to turn over rocks and find bugs, and give them some space to do that. Take your child fishing. Take your child on hikes." - Richard Louv
"Most children threaten at times to run away from home. This is the only thing that keeps some parents going." - Phyllis Diller
"Fathers and mothers have lost the idea that the highest aspiration they might have for their children is for them to be wise... specialized competence and success are all that they can imagine." - Allan Bloom
"I think parenting is very different now. We're totally governed by our children!" - Andy Serkis
"Ironically, parenting is a shame and judgment minefield precisely because most of us are wading through uncertainty and self-doubt when it comes to raising our children." - Brene Brown
"I hope to find the roles that are age appropriate but not yearning to be younger, or parenting ad nauseam." - Debra Winger
"The government cannot overcome bad parenting. What our leaders can do is publicly condemn irresponsible parental behavior in vivid terms." - Bill O'Reilly
"Parenting is the most important job on the planet next to keeping Gary Busey off the nation's highways." - Dennis Miller
"I think we've moved to thinking of parenting and pregnancy as something in which you should lose yourself." - Emily Oster
"My parents saw their job of parenting as their most important role in life, and I aim to aspire to that." - Andrew Lincoln
"Do remember to pick your battles when you start parenting your stepchildren." - Emily V. Gordon
"No fathers or mothers think their own children ugly." - Miguel de Cervantes
"Parenthood always comes as a shock. Postpartum blues? Postpartum panic is more like it. We set out to have a baby; what we get is a total take-over of our lives." - Polly Berrien Berends
"My mother was the influence in my life. She was strong; she had great faith in the ultimate triumph of justice and hard work. She believed passionately in education." - John H. Johnson
"I get whatever placidity I have from my father. But my mother taught me how to take it on the chin." - Norma Shearer
"Parenthood and family come first for me, and when I'm not working I'm cool with the Teletubbies." - Clive Owen
"Should kids check phones at dinner? I don't know. To me, that's a parenting choice." - Sundar Pichai
If they are on the phone when they eat and otherwise not, that's a small amount of time comparatively. Besides, what else are you going to do while you eat, converse? You're not supposed to talk with food in your mouth.
"If there is any truth to my parenting the dreamwork movement, it comes from the power of the press." - Henry Reed
"The uncertainty of parenting can bring up feelings in us that range from frustration to terror." - Brene Brown
"We go into parenting, and we discover that we don't have the answers. We are at a loss." - Julia Cameron
"I can only speak for my husband and myself, but we don't feel like we could do any of this parenting without our faith." - Jodi Benson
"It's hilarious to me that by writing an obscene fake children's book I am mistaken for a parenting expert." - Adam Mansbach
"Dad was a strict disciplinarian and would give us a wallop with a wooden spoon if we were out of order. But we really respected him - he didn't try to be our best friend." - Stephen Mangan
"What parent has it easy? I just never make the difficulty of it an obstacle. I just do it." - Marlee Matlin
"Modern parents want to nurture so skillfully that Mother Nature will gasp in admiration at the marvels their parenting produces from the soft clay of children." - George Will
"Loving and parenting a dog as a single parent can create all sorts of new and unusual problems, but also new sources of joy." - Jenna Morasca
"Some have said that 'Frankenstein' is a story of a bad parenting giving rise to a troubled child." - Dave Morris
"There are 80 million moms in the United States. Forty million stay at home with their children." - Andrew Shue
"I'm doing a lot of parenting work and acting as a spokesperson. I have a clothing line and a line of toys." - Josie Bissett
