Category Archives: Parenting

Fun with Children

Don’t get so involved in the duties of your life and your children that you forget the pleasure. Remember why you had children.
— Lois Wyse

We’d jump my dad the minute he came in the mud room, and we’d start wrestling. And he loved to wrestle as much as we did. I think all fathers and sons like to do that.
— Roy Rogers, Jr.

Whether it involves a sport, dolls, a hobby or just unhurried, unguarded conversation, play builds bridges of mutual interest and experiences that last a lifetime. Aren’t many of your fondest memories the spontaneous times of wrestling with your dad on the floor or just acting silly?
— Paul Lewis

My father was a master storyteller. He could tell a fine old story that made me hold my sides with rolling laughter and sent happy tears down my cheeks, or a story of stark reality that made me shiver and be grateful for my own warm, secure surroundings.
— Mildred Taylor

My son is especially ticklish under both arms; my daughter, on the bottoms of her feet. Whenever I touch either of them there, they become a bundle of giggles. They want me to stop, but not really. I promise I will, but not soon. Their squirming delight delights me, and I laugh almost as hard as they do, until we both collapse on the floor breathless and happy and ready to do it again.
— Joe Kita

Confident Children

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I don’t believe children can develop in a healthy way unless they feel they have value apart from anything they own or any skill they learn. They need to feel they enhance the life of someone else, that they are needed.
— Fred Rogers

We can help our children accept themselves for who they are by showing them that we accept ourselves – with our unique qualities, and our weaknesses as well as our strengths.
— Dorothy Nolte

Nurturing competence, the food of self-esteem, comes from acknowledging and appreciating the positive contributions your children make. By catching our kids doing things right, we bring out the good that is already there.
— Stephanie Marston

Parents need to fill a child’s bucket of self-esteem so high that the rest of the world can’t poke enough holes to drain it dry.
— Alvin Price

When I had progressed in my piano lessons far enough to play simple hymns, Father would sometimes allow me the fun of being the pianist in a small church meeting. Therefore, early, I was given a sure sense of self-worth, the recognition of my individuality, and the assurance of being loved and cherished. These are securities that parents can give their children only through their actions.
— Catherine Marshall

The Power of Example

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There is just one way to bring up a child in the way he should go and that is to travel that way yourself.
— Abraham Lincoln

Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.
— Robert Fulgham

Dad’s heritage to his children wasn’t words or possessions, but an unspoken treasure, the treasure of his example as a man and as a father. More than anything I have, I’m trying to pass that on to my children.
— Will Rogers, Jr.

Talking and reasoning does not even have one thousandth the influence a true example has. All lessons about how to behave are worthless when children see the opposite in real life.
— Leo Tolstoy

The greatest part of each day, each year, each lifetime is made up of small, seemingly insignificant moments. Those moments may be cooking dinner, playing catch with a child before dinner, speaking out against a distasteful joke. But they are not insignificant, especially when these moments are models for kids.
— Barbara Coloroso

Loving Your Child

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My kids are in their late 40s now. Recently I grabbed my oldest son Billy and told him, “I love you. I think you’re terrific, and I’m so proud you’re mine.” His eyes filled with tears and he said, “Thanks, I really needed that, Dad.”
— Bill Glass

Too much love never spoils children. Children become spoiled when we substitute “presents” for “presence.”
— Dr. Anthony Witham

My mom started writing me little notes and cards from the time I was just a little girl. I would keep them in a shoebox under my bed. As the years have gone by, the shoeboxes have become bigger boxes – and I have many of them.
— Jane Clayson

Love – real love – demands that you do what is best for your child, not necessarily what your child wants you to do, or what is easiest for you.
— Zig Ziglar

One of the great legacies my father left us, as well as countless friends and neighbors, was never failing to say “I love you” each day to every member of his family. His example even now touches many others as I’m told by them time and again how watching him with his family motivated them to be more open and tender about expressing love for their families.
— Karl Engemann

Children Helping Others

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With your preschooler, volunteer at a soup kitchen or homeless shelter so your child can see people who don’t have as much as your family has. It’s helpful to choose projects that actually put you face-to-face with the recipient.
— Jolene Roetlkepartain

I think God’s clearest memory of my dad will be the same as mine – looking after the least of God’s children.
— Patricia Heaton

Teach your children that God owns everything by allowing them to see this principle in your lives. Demonstrate that you’re willing to put aside your own indulgences to meet needs in other people’s lives.
— Larry Burkett

When you consider the types of activities you want your children to be involved in, keep volunteer projects in mind. Children by their very nature live self-centered lives. You want to expand their world beyond their own needs – otherwise, demanding and selfish children grow up to be demanding and selfish adults.
— Elaine St. James

Time with Children

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Time is a product of one’s desires and priorities. If your priority is your child, you will find time.
— Earl Woods

If you have a habit of being attentive and expressing interest, your children will not confuse your loving instruction with rejection.
— Charles Stanley

In the summer, when the days were long, I would say, “How about throwing the ball?” He never was the one to say, “Enough! Let’s quit.” The arc of the baseball from father to son formed the invisible cord that binds us still.
— Arnold Fink

Every night I’m home, when it’s bedtime, I lie down next to each of my two young kids until they’re asleep. I didn’t have enough of those moments with my other kids.
— Lee Trevino

My father spent time with me, and did so happily, which made me feel incredibly special. He took me horseback riding and ice-skating, and taught me about art – how to draw, paint with watercolors, sketch with charcoal. He even took piano lessons with me to keep me company since I wasn’t too happy taking them by myself. That takes a special father.
— Susan Lucci

Children Enrich Our Lives

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A child’s hand in yours – what tenderness it arouses, what power it conjures. You are instantly the very touchstone of wisdom and strength.
— Marjorie Holmes

Children add texture to your life. They will save you from becoming old fogies before you’re middle-aged. They will teach you humility.
— Russell Baker

Children carry you back to other things. As a parent you find yourself taking neighborhood walks after dinner and bike rides to the park. You rediscover pinwheels that spin in the wind, soap bubbles that pop just out of reach, and the feel of wet grass beneath your toes as you run through the sprinkler.
— Teryl Zarnow

We begin by imagining that we are giving to our children; we end by realizing that they have enriched us.
— Pope John Paul II

Cornelia, the mother of Gracchi, once entertained a woman from Campaniaat her house. Since the woman made a great show of her jewels, which were among the most beautiful of the time, Cornelia detained her conversation until her children came home from school. Then, pointing to her children, she said, “These are my jewels.”
— Valerius Maximus