Happiness is mostly a by-product of doing what makes us feel fulfilled.
All the time a person is a child he is both a child and learning to be a parent. After he becomes a parent he becomes predominantly a parent reliving childhood.
Physical punishment teaches children that the larger, stronger person has the power to get his way, whether or not he is in the right, and they may resent this in the parent-for life.
To win in Vietnam, we will have to exterminate a nation.
Don’t take too seriously all that the neighbors say. Don’t be overawed by what the experts say. Don’t be afraid to trust your own common sense.
I’m not a pacifist. I was very much for the war against Hitler and I also supported the intervention in Korea, but in this war we went in there to steal Vietnam.
Boys and girls need chances to be around their father, to be enjoyed by him and if possible to do things with him. Better to play fifteen minutes enjoyably and then say, ‘Now I’m going to read my paper’ than to spend all day at the zoo crossly.
It’s not the words but the music that counts.
There are only two things a child will share willingly; communicable diseases and its mother’s age.
The fact is that child rearing is a long, hard job, the rewards are not always immediately obvious, the work is undervalued, and parents are just as human and almost as vulnerable as their children.
Don’t worry about trying to do a perfect job. There is no perfect job. There is no one way of raising your children.
I was so afraid of being bad and being caught at it.
Parental trust is extremely important in the guidance of adolescent children as they get further and further away from the direct supervision of their parents and teachers. I don’t mean that trust without clear guidance is enough, but guidance without trust is worthless.
Our greatest hope is to bring up children inspired by their opportunities for being helpful and loving.
The main source of good discipline is growing up in a loving family, being loved and learning to love in return.
People have said, “You’ve turned your back on pediatrics.” I said, “No. It took me until I was in my 60s to realize that politics was a part of pediatrics.”
Most middle-class whites have no idea what it feels like to be subjected to police who are routinely suspicious, rude, belligerent, and brutal.
What good mothers and fathers instinctively feel like doing for their babies is usually best after all.
I really learned it all from mothers.
If I could make only one wish for a child, I’d wish him the quality of lovingness.