Parenting for me has been one of the most rewarding and eye-opening times of my life. It’s challenging of course, because it has required me to change for good, but what keeps me moving is my child right in front of me, growing and becoming a better person every day.
To keep myself moving, I’ve been reading a lot of great parenting quotes lately, so I decided to compile the best ones. Some are wise, some are funny, and some are just plain logical. I hope you enjoy them! Let me know if I missed any good ones.
1. Be the parent today that you want your kids to remember tomorrow. – Unknown
2. I take my children everywhere, but they always find their way back home. – Robert Orben
3. We are apt to forget that children watch examples better than they listen to preaching. – Roy L. Smith
4. Listen earnestly to anything your children want to tell you, no matter what. If you don’t listen eagerly to the little stuff when they are little, they won’t tell you the big stuff when they are big, because to them all of it has always been big stuff. – Catherine M. Wallace
5. If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much time with them, and half as much money. – Abigail Van Buren
6. Parenting without a sense of humor is like being an accountant who sucks at math. – Anonymous
7. A lot of parents will do anything for their kids expect let them be themselves. – Banksy
8. It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them successful human beings. – Ann Landers
9. Your children will become who you are, so be who you want them to be. – David Bly
10. You know your life has changed when going to the grocery store by yourself is a vacation. – Anonymous
11. A child who is allowed to be disrespectful to his parents will not have true respect for anyone. – Billy Graham
12. If parents pass enthusiasm along to their children, they will leave them an estate of incalculable value. – Thomas Edison
13. There is no way to be a perfect mother, but a million ways to be a great one. – Jill Churchill
14. Children are apt to live up to what you believe of them. – Lady Bird Johnson
15. Prepare the child for the path, not the path for the child. – Native American Proverb
16. The attitude you have as a parent is what your kids will learn from more than what you tell them. They don’t remember what you try to teach them. They remember what you are. – Jim Henson
17. Don’t handicap your children by making their lives easy. – Robert A. Heinlein
18. Insanity is hereditary – you get it from your kids. – Sam Levenson
19. To be in your children’s memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives today. – Unknown
20. No one is ever quite ready; everyone is always caught off guard. Parenthood chooses you. And you open your eyes, look at what you’ve got, say “Oh, my gosh, and recognize that of all the balls there ever were, this is the one you should not drop. It’s not a question of choice.” – Marisa de los Santos, Love Walked in
21. Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children. – Charles R. Swindoll
22. Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them. – James Baldwin
23. Parents are like God because you wanna know they’re out there, and you want them to think well of you, but you really only call when you need something. – Chuck Palahniuk (Invisible Monsters)
24. Let children read whatever they want and then talk about it with them. If parents and kids can talk together, we won’t have as much censorship because we won’t have as much fear. – Judy Blume
25. Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you – Robert Fulghum
26. Childhood is a short season – Helen Hayes
27. Nobody ever becomes an expert parent. But I think good parenting is about consistency. It’s about being there at big moments, but it’s also just the consistency of decision making. And it’s routine. – Sebastian Coe
28. Parenting is not giving your child everything they want. Parenting is not being your child’s friend. Parenting is about preparing your child to be a useful and respectful person in society. – GloZell
29. Listen to the desires of your children. Encourage them and then give them the autonomy to make their own decision. – Denis Waitley
30. Hugs can do great amounts of good – especially for children. – Princess Diana
31. Parenting now is a two-way relationship where you learn from each other. – Juhi Chawla
32. Your children are the greatest gift God will give to you and their souls the heaviest responsibility He will place in your hands. Take time with them; teach them to have faith in God. Be a person in whom they can have faith. When you are old, nothing else you’ve done will have mattered as much. – Lisa Wingate
33. What it’s like to be a parent: It’s one of the hardest things you’ll ever do but in exchange it teaches you the meaning of unconditional love. – Nicholas Sparks (The Wedding (The Notebook, #2))
34. The Golden Rule of Parenting is; do unto your children as you wish your parents had done unto you! – Louise Hart
35. Parenting involves two separate activities. You have to change your child in that you need to educate your child and instill moral values in them. But you also need to celebrate your child for who he or she is and make them feel really good. – Andrew Solomon
Conclusion:
Whenever I’m down with confusion or frustration, all these above quotes work magically. These keep me motivated, focused and most importantly tell me every now and then where I am going wrong. I hope they help you too in becoming a better parent.