My mom and dad gave their kids the greatest gift of all - the gift of unconditional love. They cared deeply about who we would be, and much less about what we would do.

I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection.

To me luxury is to be at home with my daughter, and the occasional massage doesn't hurt.

We expect teachers to handle teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, and the failings of the family. Then we expect them to educate our children.

Parents are the bones on which children cut their teeth.

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.

Hugs can do great amounts of good - especially for children.

As a housewife, I feel that if the kids are still alive when my husband gets home from work, then hey, I've done my job.

Screaming at children over their grades, especially to the point of the child's tears, is child abuse, pure and simple. It's not funny and it's not good parenting. It is a crushing, scarring, disastrous experience for the child. It isn't the least bit funny.

Every cliche about kids is true; they grow up so quickly, you blink and they're gone, and you have to spend the time with them now. But that's a joy.

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.

It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.

Having children with someone is the real bond.

It's hard enough to work and raise a family when your kids are all healthy and relatively normal, but when you add on some kind of disability or disease, it can just be such a burden.

Don't try to make children grow up to be like you, or they may do it.

A mother who is really a mother is never free.

The more people have studied different methods of bringing up children the more they have come to the conclusion that what good mothers and fathers instinctively feel like doing for their babies is the best after all.

It is a sad commentary of our times when our young must seek advice and counsel from 'Dear Abby' instead of going to Mom and Dad.

My mother protected me from the world and my father threatened me with it.

Childhood obesity is best tackled at home through improved parental involvement, increased physical exercise, better diet and restraint from eating.

Everybody knows how to raise children, except the people who have them.

Having children is like having a bowling alley installed in your brain.

Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.

It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.

Never raise your hand to your children - it leaves your midsection unprotected.

When a parent shows up with an attitude of entitlement, understand that under it is a boatload of anxiety.

I regret not having had more time with my kids when they were growing up.

The Internet is just bringing all kinds of information into the home. There's just a lot of distraction, a lot of competition for the parent's voice to resonate in the children's ears.

At the end of the day, the most overwhelming key to a child's success is the positive involvement of parents.

I wasn't very good about juggling family and my career. I was interested in who was coming to the children's birthday party, what my son was writing. I was thinking about Legos.

Most children threaten at times to run away from home. This is the only thing that keeps some parents going.

Childhood is a short season.

We never know the love of a parent till we become parents ourselves.

I get whatever placidity I have from my father. But my mother taught me how to take it on the chin.

There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings.

Because of their size, parents may be difficult to discipline properly.

If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do matters very much.

Having a baby is a life-changer. It gives you a whole other perspective on why you wake up every day.

Success for me its to raise happy, healthy human beings.

What feeling is so nice as a child's hand in yours? So small, so soft and warm, like a kitten huddling in the shelter of your clasp.

I feel sure that unborn babies pick their parents.

Parentage is a very important profession, but no test of fitness for it is ever imposed in the interest of the children.

My children are the reason I laugh, smile and want to get up every morning.

The gain is not the having of children; it is the discovery of love and how to be loving.

When you hold your baby in your arms the first time, and you think of all the things you can say and do to influence him, it's a tremendous responsibility. What you do with him can influence not only him, but everyone he meets and not for a day or a month or a year but for time and eternity.

It's a great mistake, I think, to put children off with falsehoods and nonsense, when their growing powers of observation and discrimination excite in them a desire to know about things.

I had no idea that mothering my own child would be so healing to my own sadness from my childhood.

Family life was wonderful. The streets were bleak. The playgrounds were bleak. But home was always warm. My mother and father had a great relationship. I always felt 'safe' there.

Children are our second chance to have a great parent-child relationship.

The child supplies the power but the parents have to do the steering.

Let parents bequeath to their children not riches, but the spirit of reverence.

Even as kids reach adolescence, they need more than ever for us to watch over them. Adolescence is not about letting go. It's about hanging on during a very bumpy ride.

If you're asking your kids to exercise, then you better do it, too. Practice what you preach.

Fathers and mothers have lost the idea that the highest aspiration they might have for their children is for them to be wise... specialized competence and success are all that they can imagine.

Mom and Dad would stay in bed on Sunday morning, but the kids would have to go to church.

My father was a farmer and my mother was a farmer, but, my childhood was very good. I am very grateful for my childhood, because it was full of gladness and good humanity.

Leave part of the yard rough. Don't manicure everything. Small children in particular love to turn over rocks and find bugs, and give them some space to do that. Take your child fishing. Take your child on hikes.

Parenting classes should be mandatory, whether you are adopting or not, and would include an evaluation of your current physical, mental and financial state as well as how ready you are to take on the rigors of parenthood. Our children are our most precious natural resource, and there is absolutely no other way to parent but to put them first.

My mother was the influence in my life. She was strong; she had great faith in the ultimate triumph of justice and hard work. She believed passionately in education.

Parenthood and family come first for me, and when I'm not working I'm cool with the Teletubbies.

You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance.

Dad was a strict disciplinarian and would give us a wallop with a wooden spoon if we were out of order. But we really respected him - he didn't try to be our best friend.

Children should have enough freedom to be themselves - once they've learned the rules.

A child who is allowed to be disrespectful to his parents will not have true respect for anyone.

Always kiss your children goodnight, even if they're already asleep.

I take my children everywhere, but they always find their way back home.

We've had bad luck with our kids - they've all grown up.

I think a dad has to make his daughter feel that he's genuinely interested in what she's going through.

Any kid will run any errand for you, if you ask at bedtime.

Do you want to be an artist and a writer, or a wife and a lover? With kids, your focus changes. I don't want to go to PTA meetings.

Family involvement is a valuable thing and playing together actively can be the '90s version of it. Instead of just watching, you can do it together... something we don't spend enough time on. We can motivate and excite each other about fitness.

Parents were invented to make children happy by giving them something to ignore.

Children that are raised in a home with a married mother and father consistently do better in every measure of well-being than their peers who come from divorced or step-parent, single-parent, cohabiting homes.

Loving a child doesn't mean giving in to all his whims; to love him is to bring out the best in him, to teach him to love what is difficult.

Parents should not smoke in order to discourage their kids from smoking. A child is more likely to smoke when they have been raised in the environment of a smoker.

We are apt to forget that children watch examples better than they listen to preaching.

Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president, but they don't want them to become politicians in the process.

If you're financially responsible, your children have a much better chance to grow up financially responsible.

I think I'm going to have to live vicariously through my daughter's rebellion because I certainly never did go through adolescence.

We criticize mothers for closeness. We criticize fathers for distance. How many of us have expected less from our fathers and appreciated what they gave us more? How many of us always let them off the hook?

The interesting thing about being a mother is that everyone wants pets, but no one but me cleans the kitty litter.

Mama and Daddy King represent the best in manhood and womanhood, the best in a marriage, the kind of people we are trying to become.

No fathers or mothers think their own children ugly.

The unconditional love for you child, it's truly amazing.

Becoming a father, I think it inevitably changes your perspective of life. I don't get nearly enough sleep. And the simplest things in life are completely satisfying. I find you don't have to do as much, like you don't go on as many outings.

Every word, facial expression, gesture, or action on the part of a parent gives the child some message about self-worth. It is sad that so many parents don't realize what messages they are sending.

The relation between parents and children is essentially based on teaching.

Never lend your car to anyone to whom you have given birth.

Listen to the desires of your children. Encourage them and then give them the autonomy to make their own decision.

Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.

Children are educated by what the grown-up is and not by his talk.

Girls are the future mothers of our society, and it is important that we focus on their well-being.

That's my ideal day, time with my boys.

Children are not casual guests in our home. They have been loaned to us temporarily for the purpose of loving them and instilling a foundation of values on which their future lives will be built.

A baby is born with a need to be loved - and never outgrows it.

No one knows his true character until he has run out of gas, purchased something on the installment plan and raised an adolescent.

How pleasant it is for a father to sit at his child's board. It is like an aged man reclining under the shadow of an oak which he has planted.

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.

I want to have children, but my friends scare me. One of my friends told me she was in labor for 36 hours. I don't even want to do anything that feels good for 36 hours.

Nothing you do for children is ever wasted. They seem not to notice us, hovering, averting our eyes, and they seldom offer thanks, but what we do for them is never wasted.