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Quotes about Children

    “If your children lie to you, who has made them afraid to tell the truth?”

    Unknown, via No Excuses! (Page 255)

      “Your children are not your children.
      They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
      They come through you but not from you,
      And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
      You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
      For they have their own thoughts.
      You may house their bodies but not their souls,
      For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
      You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
      You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.”

      Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet (Page 15)

        “Adults whose childhood were focused mainly on happiness, are not only unprepared for tough moments, they experience more discomfort in those tough moments because deep down, they think they’re doing something wrong if they can’t ‘find the happy’ and get themselves to a ‘better place.’”

        Dr. Becky Kennedy

          “As long as we feel safely held in the hearts and minds of the people who love us, we will climb mountains and cross deserts and stay up all night to finish projects. Children and adults will do anything for people they trust and whose opinion they value. But if we feel abandoned, worthless, or invisible, nothing seems to matter. Fear destroys curiosity and playfulness. In order to have a healthy society we must raise children who can safely play and learn. There can be no growth without curiosity and no adaptability without being able to explore, through trial and error, who you are and what matters to you.”

          Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps The Score (Page 352) | ★ Featured on this book list.

            “For the best results with children, spend half the money you think you should, and double the time.”

            Kevin Kelly

              “Childhood is blessed by heaven because it brings a piece of paradise into the cruelties of life. All these thousands of everyday births are fresh additions of innocence and purity, which fight against the end of mankind, and against our spoiled nature, and against our complete immersion into sin.”

              Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 264)

                “Scoff at the need for attention and approval—they will lead you astray. Feel some anger and resentment at the parental forces that want to foist upon you an alien vocation. It is a healthy part of your development to follow a path independent of your parents and to establish your own identity. Let your sense of rebellion fill you with energy and purpose.”

                Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 26)

                  “If there is anything that we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.”

                  Carl Jung, via Sunbeams (Page 156)

                    “It is a good thing, it is even salutary, for a child to have periods of boredom, for him to learn to know the dialectics of exaggerated play and causeless, pure boredom.”

                    Gaston Bachelard, via Sunbeams (Page 117)