Parenting Quotes: There is no better way to show your love for your kids than by being a good example for them. These quotes will help you do just that.
The quotes below are some of the most inspiring quotes that can help parents navigate the challenging journey of raising children.
Parenting Quotes
“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, author of Love Walked In
“I came to parenting the way most of us do — knowing nothing and trying to learn everything.” — Mayim Bialik, actress and neuroscientist
“Everyone should have kids. They are the greatest joy in the world. But they are also terrorists. You’ll realize this as soon as they’re born, and they start using sleep deprivation to break you.” — Ray Romano, actor and comedian
“The beauty of motherhood is not in the freshly pressed shirts and smiling photos we show the world. The beauty of motherhood is in the folds and creases of our lives, the grimaces and tantrums, the moments when we have to grit our teeth to get through, when we pound on windows and yell and scream and demand better of each other and ourselves.” — Robyn Passante, blogger
“Encourage and support your kids because children are apt to live up to what you believe of them.” — Lady Bird Johnson, former First Lady of the United States
“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, actress
“Parenting without a sense of humor is like being an accountant who sucks at math.” — Amber Dusick, blogger
“Parenting is not for sissies. You have to sacrifice and grow up.” — Jillian Michaels, trainer and TV personality
“Pregnancy and motherhood are the most beautiful and significantly life-altering events that I have ever experienced.” — Elisabeth Hasselbeck, TV personality
“Having a baby dragged me, kicking and screaming, from the world of self-absorption.” — Paul Reiser, comedian
“I don’t think it matters how many parents you’ve got, as long as those who are around make their presence a good one.” ― Elizabeth Wurtzel, author of Prozac Nation
“Behind every young child who believes in himself is a parent who believed first.” — Matthew Jacobson, blogger
“Affirming words from moms and dads are like light switches. Speak a word of affirmation at the right moment in a child’s life and it’s like lighting up a whole roomful of possibilities.” — Gary Smalley, family therapist
“The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice.” — Peggy O’Mara, blogger
“Motherhood has completely changed me. It’s just about like the most completely humbling experience that I’ve ever had. I think that it puts you in your place because it really forces you to address the issues that you claim to believe in and if you can’t stand up to those principles when you’re raising a child, forget it.” — Diane Keaton, actress
“You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance.” ― Franklin P. Adams, newspaper columnist
“Dad needs to show an incredible amount of respect and humor and friendship toward his mate so the kids understand their parents are sexy, they’re fun, they do things together, they’re best friends. Kids learn by example. If I respect Mom, they’re going to respect Mom.” — Tim Allen, actor
“Motherhood was the great equalizer for me; I started to identify with everybody… as a mother, you have that impulse to wish that no child should ever be hurt, or abused, or go hungry, or not have opportunities in life.” — Annie Lennox, singer
“Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother.” — Oprah Winfrey, TV host, actress, and philanthropist
“People expect you to change when you become a mother, and of course my priorities changed when I had Violet. She’s number one in my life and the best thing that ever happened to me, but I still have fun. I am still myself, but that is made out to seem like I am rebelling against motherhood.” — Imelda May, musician
“The thing about parenting rules is there aren’t any. That’s what makes it so difficult.” — Ewan McGregor, actor
“No matter how much time you spend reading books or following your intuition, you’re gonna screw it up. Fifty times. You can’t do parenting right.” — Alan Arkin, actor
“I don’t know what’s more exhausting about parenting: the getting up early, or acting like you know what you’re doing.” ― Jim Gaffigan, actor and comedian
“My doctors told me I would never walk again. My mother told me I would. I believed my mother.” — Wilma Rudolph, Olympian
“There are so many quiet times you spend as a mother that aren’t glorified but are a foundation for your kids. No matter what, there was always a thick safety net under this trapeze.” — Tina Fey, actress and comedian
“Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.” ― Benjamin Spock, pediatrician
“My worst parenting moments, the ones I am least proud of, happened because I was trying to impress a bunch of strangers I’ll probably never see again.” — Janel Mills, blogger
“Being a mother is learning about strengths you didn’t know you had, and dealing with fears you didn’t know existed.” — Linda Wooten, writer
“The best advice my mom has ever given me is to never give up. She believes when one door shuts, another door opens. Always, always move forward.” — Melissa Rivers, TV personality
“For me, being a mother made me a better professional, because coming home every night to my girls reminded me what I was working for. And being a professional made me a better mother, because by pursuing my dreams, I was modeling for my girls how to pursue their dreams.” — Michelle Obama,
Positive Parenting Quotes
Every day our children spread their dreams beneath our feet. We should tread softly. -Sir Ken Robinson
Remember you are not managing an inconvenience. You are raising a human being. -Kittie Franz
I wish children could grow according to their natural pace: sleep when sleepy, wake up when rested, eat when hungry, cry when upset, play and explore without being unnecessarily interrupted; in other words, be allowed to grow and blossom as each was meant to. -Magda Gerber
To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is. -Fred Rogers
It’s not only children who grow. Parents do, too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can’t tell me children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it myself. -Joyce Maynard
There is no such thing as a perfect parent. So just be a real one. -Sue Atkins
I’m always amazed when adults say that children “just did that to get attention”. Naturally children who need attention will do all kinds of things to get it. Why not just give it to them? -Lawrence J Cohen
Nothing that grieves us can be called little. By the eternal law of proportions a child’s loss of a doll and a king’s loss of his crown are events of the same size. -Mark Twain
Never fear spoiling children by making them too happy. Happiness is the atmosphere in which all good affections grow. -Thomas Bray
If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn. -Ignacio Estrada
Your kids require you most of all to love them for who they are, not to spend your whole time trying to correct them. -Bill Ayers
The point of parenting isn’t to have all the answers before we start out but instead to figure it out on the go as our children grow, because as they do, so will we. -Bridgett Miller
A child seldom needs a good talking to as much as a good listening to. -Robert Brault
By loving them for more than their abilities we show our children that they are much more than the sum of their accomplishments. -Eileen Kennedy-Moore
If your children fear you, they cannot trust you. If they don’t trust you, they cannot learn from you. -Lori Petro
Children do not need us to shape them; they need us to respond to who they are. -Naomi Aldort
Behind every young child who believes in himself is a parent who believed first. -Mathew L Jacobson
Feeling heard and understood allows children to release the feelings, let go and move on. -Janet Lansbury
It is better to find your children to you by a feeling of respect and by gentleness, than by fear. -Terence
Children must never work for our love, they must rest in it. -Gordon Neufeld
Children do well if they can, if they can’t we need to figure out why so we can help. -Ross Greene
One hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove, but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child. -Forest E Witcraft
It’s time we stop buying the lie that we need to be hard on kids because “the world is hard”. Love them as hard as you can. That’s what they need. -Tara Vogler
The most powerful way to change the world is to live in front of our children the way we would like the world to be. -Graham R White
You must first teach a child he is loved. Only then is he ready to learn everything else. -Amanda Morgan
Being a mom means choosing to show up day after day and love day after day and give day after day and try day after day and not having all the answers and not being perfect but simply doing your best. -Rachel Martin
Counteract conflict by connection and communicating calmly. -Kirsty Lee
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.
Don’t let yourself become so concerned with raising a good kid that you forget that you already have one. -Glennon Melton
Children, after all, are not just adults-in-the-making. They are people whose current needs and rights and experiences must be taken seriously. -Alfie Kohn
There are times as a parent when you realize that your job is not to be the parent you always imagined you’d be, the parent you always wished you had. Your job is to be the parent your child needs, given the particulars of his or her own life and nature. -Ayelet Waldman
Gentle parenting doesn’t involve instantaneous results, but naturally achieved, life-long lasting results. -Kirsty Lee
You can’t teach children to behave better by making them feel worse. When children feel better, they behave better. -Pam Leo
My message is very simple. Love your kids. Just love them. Love, appreciate, show that you value them, remind them of their greatness, encourage them, respect, honor, trust, and treat them with dignity. -Eric D Greene
Co Parenting Quotes
“We do bedtime every day. We felt like as much togetherness as possible would be ideal, and fortunately, we really love each other and are best friends, and so that works.” – Sienna Miller
“I find co-parenting really easy. Scott and I communicate all the time. You have to keep discussing what’s going on because as the children grow older, the rules need to be renegotiated.” – Kourtney Kardashian
“At the end of the day, you’ve got to be a little selfless. You have to say ‘It’s not about us. This didn’t work out quite how we wanted it to, but look at the amazing blessing that we have in these wonderful children.’ So you kinda put everything else to the side and really focus.” – Nick Cannon
“I’m very fortunate because we’re committed to co-parenting our children together.” – Elle Macpherson
“We are both totally committed to raising our son and being in love with our son… It’s a concept that’s fairly new, particularly in the psychology of raising a child in a divorce. And the idea is, it’s really not the child’s fault that you got divorced. It’s your fault, and therefore, it should not be the child’s problem to go back and forth between two different homes.” – Josh Lucas
“We decided as a family it was the right decision for Flynn, so Orlando and I both relocated, and we live five minutes from each other… Everything revolves around my son and his welfare.” – Miranda Kerr
“I’m really fortunate because my ex and I are very good friends and I talk to him every day. Our daughter is growing up, seeing two people who care about each other. We may not be a traditional family on paper, but we are a family, and I tell her that families come in all shapes and sizes, but [a family is] love, and I see her really flourishing because she sees two people treating each other with respect.” – Angela Kinsey
“But at the end of the day, we’ve got a great kid who’s got two parents who love him very much. And we’re finding a way to navigate this while still remaining friends and still being kind to one another.”– Chris Pratt
“I have pictures up of me and Wiz in [our son’s] room so he can always come in and see us being happy together. We try to have family days with him, even though we’re not together. Kids want to see their parents together, and if you can’t be together in a relationship, you’ve got to come together as friends for your baby.” – Amber Rose
“We both realise that we’re parents and we’re in it for our kid, and that’s made it really easy.”– Pete Wentz
Parenting Teenager Quotes
Raising teenagers is like nailing Jell-O to a tree. — Anonymous
Dear Teenagers: We may annoy you, lecture you, embarrass you, drive you crazy and even make you hate us some days. But NO ONE will ever love you like we do. — Moms of Teens Everywhere
Having teenagers is like living with a bowling alley inside your head. — Anonymous
Whatever emotional state you’re in while parenting conveys more to your child than the content of what you’re doing with them, no matter how perfect your intervention looks “on paper.” In other words, to paraphrase Marshall McLuhan, “your emotional state is the message.” — Michael Y. Simon
Sometimes I’m left with the distinct feeling that I am outnumbered by my only child. — Colleen Ferrary Bader
A teenager is always too tired to hold a dishcloth, but never too tired to hold a phone. — Anonymous
Pearl glanced over her shoulder, in the universal reaction of all teenagers confronted by their parents in a public place. — Celeste Ng, L
Having children is like living in a frat house – nobody sleeps, everything’s broken, and there’s a lot of throwing up. — Ray Romano
Raising teenagers is like trying to wrestle slippery pigs with your hands tied behind your back.— Anonymous
Welcome to being the parent of a teenager. Prepare for large amounts of eye-rolling, emotional outbursts, and thoughts of running away. And that’s just the parents!— Anonymous
You know you’re old when you barely do anything all day but still need a nap to continue doing barely anything— Anonymous
Teenagers. Everything is so apocalyptic.— Kami Garcia in Beautiful Creatures
Now, the error which many parents commit in the treatment of the individual at this time(adolescense) is, insisting on the same unreasoning obedience as when all he had to do in the way of duty was, to obey the simple laws of “Come when you’re called,” and “Do as you’re bid!” But a wise parent humours the desire for independent action, so as to become the friend and adviser when his absolute rule shall cease.— Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South
Adolescence is perhaps nature’s way of preparing parents to welcome the empty nest.— Anonymous
My kid is turning out just like me. Well played, karma. Well-played.— Anonymous
When you’re a teenager, ‘No’ is a complete sentence.— Anonymous
Nobody ever feels they’re doing well with teenagers, he said. I think that’s kind of the point of them.— Jojo Moyes, After You
Imagination is something that sits up with dad and mom the first time their teenager stays out late.— Anonymous
Mom Pro Tip: If you’re old enough to critique what I put in your lunch, you’re old enough to make it yourself.
@SarcasticMommy4
You try your hardest to raise your teenagers with patience, honesty and good manners, but they still end up being like you.— Anonymous
What’s More Important: Your Ego or Hearing Your Child?— C. Lynn Williams,
Conscious parenting is not about being perfect, it’s about being aware. Aware of what your kids need from you to reach more of their full potential.— Alex Urbina,
I love when my kids tell me they’re bored. As if the lady standing in front of a full sink of dirty dishes is where you go to get ideas about how to have a good time.— Anonymous
Good Parenting Quotes
“Children are educated by what the grown-up is and not by his talk.” –Carl Jung
“Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands.” –Anne Frank
“If you have never been hated by your child, you have never been a parent.” –Bette Davis
“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” –Frederick Douglass
“One thing I had learned from watching chimpanzees with their infants is that having a child should be fun.” –Jane Goodall
“The best way to make children good is to make them happy.” –Oscar Wilde
“When a man dies, if he can pass enthusiasm along to his children, he has left them an estate of incalculable value.” –Thomas Edison
“Children are apt to live up to what you believe of them.” –Lady Bird Johnson
“It is time for parents to teach young people that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” –Maya Angelou
“Most things are good, and they are the strongest things; but there are evil things too, and you are not doing a child a favor by trying to shield him from reality. The important thing is to teach a child that good can always triumph over evil.” –Walt Disney
These historic pieces of wisdom might not help you out of your next parenting jam, they might help you avoid the one after that. So don’t just read these quotes—put them to use!
Funny Parenting Quotes
“Diaper backward spells repaid. Think about it.”- Marshall McLuhan.
“People who say they sleep like a baby usually don’t have one.”- Leo Burke.
“A baby changes your dinner party conversation from politics to poops.”- Maurice Johnston.
“A two-year-old is kind of like having a blender, but you don’t have a top for it.”- Jerry Seinfeld.
“You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance?”- Franklin P. Adams.
“Having one child makes you a parent; having two you are a referee.”- David Frost.
“Never have more children than you have car windows.”- Erma Bombeck.
“If you have never been hated by your child, you have never been a parent.”- Bette Davis.
“Raising kids is part joy and part guerrilla warfare.”- Ed Asner.
“Always be nice to your children because they are the ones who will choose your rest home.”- Phyllis Diller.
“The quickest way for a parent to get a child’s attention is to sit down and look comfortable.”- Lane Olinghouse.
“Mother Nature is providential. She gives us twelve years to develop a love for our children before turning them into teenagers.”- William Galvin.
“Why don’t kids understand their nap is not for them, but for us?”- Alyson Hannigan.
“I have a friend who has no kids but he has tattoos, and he talks about them like they are his kids. He says things like, ‘This is my oldest. It’s my favorite.’ ‘This one was the result of a long night of drinking.’ ‘This one came out a little darker than I expected.’ And so on.”- Keith Alberstadt.
“Be nice to your children. After all, they are going to choose your nursing home.”- Steven Wright.
“Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.”- James Baldwin.
“To be in your children’s memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives today.”- Barbara Johnson.
“Having a child is liking getting a tattoo on your face. You better be committed.”- ‘Eat Pray Love’.
“I would say that the hardest thing about being a parent is these goddamned kids.”- Andy Richter.
“Before I got married, I had six theories about bringing up children, and now I have six children and no theories.”- John Wilmot,
“Parenting Tip: If your child is crying, hold it close and whisper, ‘You don’t have a clue what horrors this world holds.’”- Rob Delaney.
“It’s weird, all those parenting books my wife made me read, and not one ever hinted that I’d have to remind my son not to touch the dog’s butthole.”- Jr. Williams.
“Everyone should have kids. They are the greatest joy in the world, but they are also terrorists. You’ll realize this as soon as they’re born, and they start using sleep deprivation to break you.”- Ray Romano.
“Sending your kids to summer camp teaches them important life lessons… like, ‘You can deal with your problems by sending them to summer camp.’”- Ari Fishbein.
Parenting Quotes For Hard Times
“But kids don’t stay with you if you do it right. It’s the one job where, the better you are, the more surely you won’t be needed in the long run.”—Barbara Kingsolver
“Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.”—Robert Fulghum
“If we don’t shape our kids, they will be shaped by outside forces that don’t care what shape our kids are in.”—Dr. Louise Hart
“The reality is that most of us communicate the same way that we grew up. That communication style becomes our normal way of dealing with issues, our blueprint for communication. It’s what we know and pass on to our own children. We either become our childhood or we make a conscious choice to change it.”—Kristen Crockett
“Parenthood…It’s about guiding the next generation, and forgiving the last.”—Peter Krause
“Play helps build a warm relationship between family members and create a bank of positive feelings and experiences that can be drawn upon in times of conflict. Through play, you can help your children solve problems, test out ideas, and explore their imaginations.”—Carolyn Webster-Stratton
“When a child hits a child, we call it aggression. When a child hits an adult, we call it hostility. When an adult hits an adult, we call it assault. When an adult hits a child, we call it discipline.”—Haim G. Ginott
“If you have never been hated by your child, you have never been a parent.”—Bette Davis
“We change our behavior when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of changing. Consequences give us the pain that motivates us to change.”—Henry Cloud
“Where did we ever get the crazy idea that in order to make children do better, first, we have to make them feel worse? Think of the last time you felt humiliated or treated unfairly. Did you feel like cooperating or doing better?”—Jane Nelson
“Sometimes, kids want you to hurt the way they hurt.”—Mitch Albom
“If I had to make a general rule for living and working with children, it might be this: Be wary of saying or doing anything to a child that you would not do to another adult, whose good opinion and affection you valued.”—John Holt
“My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person: He believed in me.”—Jim Valvano
“Children need love, especially when they do not deserve it.”—Harold Hulburt
“I may not be able to give my kids everything they want, but I give them what they need: love, time, and attention. You can’t buy those things.”—Nishan Panwar
“Your kids require you most of all to love them for who they are, not to spend your whole time trying to correct them.”—Bill Ayers
“By loving them for more than their abilities, we show our children that they are much more than the sum of their accomplishments.”—Eileen Kennedy-Moore
“A child seldom needs a good talking to as a good listening to.”—Robert Brault
“Encourage and support your kids, because children are apt to live up to what you believe of them.”—Lady Bird Johnson
“As your kids grow up, they may forget what you said, but they won’t forget how you made them feel.”—Kevin Heath
“Having children is like living in a frat house: nobody sleeps, everything is broken, and there’s a lot of throwing up.”—Ray Romano
“Anybody out there who is a parent, if your kids want to paint their bedrooms, as a favor to me, let them do it. It’ll be OK.”—Randy Pausch
“Say ‘no’ only when it really matters. Wear a bright red shirt with bright orange shorts? Sure. Put water in the toy tea set? Okay. Sleep with your head at the foot of the bed? Fine.”—Gretchen Rubin
Quotes About Parenting
“Parents are the ultimate role models for children. Every word, every movement, and action affects. No other person or outside force has a greater influence on a child than a parent.” – Bob Keeshan
“One of the greatest titles in the world is a parent, and one of the biggest blessings in the world is to have parents to call mom and dad.” – Jim DeMint
“Parenting is the biggest sacrifice one can make. It’s putting your life on hold to fulfill the promise of your children’s tomorrow.”
“There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings.” -Hodding Carter
“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
“To be a good father and mother requires that the parents defer many of their own needs and desires in favor of the needs of their children. As a consequence of this sacrifice, conscientious parents develop a nobility of character and learn to put into practice the selfless truths taught by the Savior Himself.”- James E. Faust
“There’s nothing called a perfect parent, so just be a real one.”- Sue Atkins
“The children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside.” – Whitney Houston
“A father’s goodness is higher than the mountain, a mother’s goodness deeper than the sea.”- Japanese proverb
“By loving them for more than their abilities we show our children that they are much more than the sum of their accomplishments.”- Eileen Kennedy-Moore
“Your children need your presence more than your presents.”- Jesse Jackson
“Every word, facial expression, gesture, or action on the part of a parent gives the child some message about self-worth.”- Virginia Satir
“If you have never been hated by your child, you’ve never been a parent.” – Bette Davis
“Children need love, especially when they do not deserve it.” – Harold Hubert
“We may not be able to prepare the future for our children, but we can at least prepare our children for the future.”
“Be the parent today that you want your kids to remember tomorrow.”
“Children learn more from what you are than what you teach them.”- WEB DuBois
“The thing about parenting rules is there aren’t any. That’s what makes it so difficult.” —Ewan McGregor
“When you look at your life, the greatest happiness is family happiness.”- Joyce Brothers
“Love is the chain whereby to bind a child to its parents.”- Abraham Lincoln
“Praise your children openly, reprehend them secretly.”- W Cecil
“If you raise your children to feel that they can accomplish any goal or task they decide upon, you will have succeeded as a parent, and you will have given your children the greatest of all blessings.”- Brian Tracy