Being a parent is dirty and scary and beautiful and hard and miraculous and exhausting and thankless and joyful and frustrating all at once. It’s everything. (Confessions of a Scary Mommy, Gallery Books 2012).

Never forget,Each day that we have together is a precious gift.In the web of daily living, we are creating character.Let’s take the time to create memories, listen and observe.Time flees, and it does not return.If...

I was delighted to see him growing more cautious and skeptical about what he heard, especially when he heard it from someone in apparent authority. I think that is fundamental to a good education. And...

Patty believed that parents have a duty to teach their children how to recognize reality when they see it.

You try as a parent. You love beyond reason. You fight beyond endurance. You hope beyond despair.You never think, until the very last moment, that it still might not be enough.

The danger of motherhood. you relive your early self, through the eyes of your mother.

It’s hard to trust your child to find his or her own path, especially when we’re told everyday by professionals that children must fit into rigid boxes. We all want to give our kids the...

I didn’t know how I could live with that knowledge, without it eating me up, without it poisoning every happy memory I had of growing up. Without it ruining everything Beck and I had.I didn’t...

Don’t even think about it.””Well, when can I walk by myself?””When you get your driver’s license.””You always, always say that.” Dillie scowled at him. “That’s when everything happens.””It’s going to be a busy day,” Phin...

Helicopter parents. Before I started at Pirriwee Public, I thought it was an exaggeration, this thing about parents being overly involved with their kids. I mean, my mum and dad loved me, they were, like,...

We can walk to town.”How do mothers manage to bring everything a child could need?

There’s a lot of talk these days about giving children self-esteem. It’s not something you can give; it’s something they have to build.

We can easily teach our kids hot to be kind, compassionate and respectful when we are kind, compassionate and respectful to them.

The reason any person yaks excessively is because his communication is not being adequately acknowledged. He just keeps trying to be heard.

I’ve always believed phone calls from kids must be allowed if mothers are to feel welcome in the workplace, as anyone who has worked in my chambers can attest.

Keeping secrets from your father will only lead to trouble.

Readers who have owned animals will appreciate how difficult it would be to train a dog to play exclusively in his own yard, to fetch his sweater whenever he sees it is raining outside, or...

We all need a cheering committee and parents are a child’s most important fans!

The sages advise us to study Torah lishma-“for its own sake” rather than to impress others with our scholarship. A paradox of parenting is that if we love our children for their own sake rather...

You can’t predict the outcome. You can’t raise a child and then tell them what to think.

When we talk with our children about sexual abuse, we are not only taking a proactive step toward protecting them, we are building our relationship with them–grounded in honesty and trust. It’s a win-win situation.

Doctor Copeland belt old evil anger in him. The words rose inchoately to his throat and he could not speak them. They would listen to the old man. Yet to word the reason they will...

The fact is that Chinese parents can do things that would seem unimaginable-even legally actionable-to Westerners. Chinese mothers can say to their daughters, “Hey fatty-lose some weight.” By contrast, Western parents have to tiptoe around...

Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.

[I] never talk about gratitude and joy separately, for this reason. In 12 years, I’ve never interviewed a single person who would describe their lives as joyful, who would describe themselves as joyous, who was...

If we never have headaches through rebuking our children, we shall have plenty of heartaches when they grow up.

We can only afford two children’ is a squalid argument, but more acceptable in our society than ‘we don’t like children’.

Education is our path to change. Minds and hearts are brightened via learning.

I wanted her to have the full, long life that every parent promises his or her child by the simple act of bringing that child into the world.

Did children want sports cars for parents? No. They wanted Hondas. They wanted to know that the car would start in all seasons.

Take any two-year-old through a car wash and their skulls are blown. FLAPS! FOAM! ROLLING THINGS! It’s the closest they’ll ever get to being inside a working spaceship.

The problem is that the media rarely discusses the real reasons behind why women leave their jobs. We hear a lot about the desire to be closer to the children, the love of crafting and...

The Children’s HourBetween the dark and the daylight,When the night is beginning to lower,Comes a pause in the day’s occupations,That is known as the Children’s Hour.I hear in the chamber above meThe patter of little...

A good mother loves fiercely but ultimately brings up her children to thrive without her. They must be the most important thing in her life, but if she is the most important thing in theirs,...

What the world really needs is courageous parenting from mothers and fathers who are not afraid to speak up and take a stand.

If a child cannot place implicit confidence in his parent, most assuredly no confidence can be reposed in the child.

I go to all the appointments. All the meetings. I sit with the team of inclusion teachers, occupational therapists, doctors, social workers, remedial teachers, and the cab driver that gets him from appointment to appointment,...

We can surely no longer pretend that our children are growing up into a peaceful, secure, and civilized world. We’ve come to the point where it’s irresponsible to try to protect them from the irrational...

That was the tricky part. You poured inordinate amounts of time and attention and affection into your kids, but the result was indirect. You didn’t point out a cat to your one-year-old and then watch...

Asking a parent not to be a parent is like asking the sun not to be hot or snow not to be cold.

For me, adoption was grief in reverse.

Everybody knows how to raise children, except the people who have them.

80There is no greater influence in the lives of your children than the words you speak over them. The blessing of the father is incredibly potent and powerful. Your words give your children potential. As...

Make no mistake, every child has his own light, no matter how difficult or defiant or unlikeable he or she might seem.

Some of the best friends you’ll ever meet in your life, you’ll meet though your children–mothers and fathers of their friends, parents from school. You’ll see. That’s the way it was for Bill and me....

Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.

I wasn’t anything special as a father. But I loved them and they knew it.

We are born, we grow up, we live our lives as best we can. If we are thoughtful we are good parents and good partners. If we are wise we strive for integrity and intimacy....

Science and discovery, especially in the field of non-abnormal pediatric mysteries, is built on the work of those who have been sneezed on before us. Causation and rationale may someday be reached, but until then...

Medication, surgery, and medical tests are all focused on disease, not on health. Prevention is the act of moving away from the disease. Proactivity in health is seeking a high level of wellness and acting...