#parenting

We all know that parents do not make children but that children make parents…Authentic parenting is one long sacrificial act…parenting reveals the way that sacrifice at once diminishes our life as we knew it…while at the same time revealing to us larger and infinitely more fascinating forms of life…Parents know experientially that the very process which makes them suffer also makes them grow. ↗

— Luke Timothy Johnson

#life

The only power that can effect transformations of the order (of Jesus) is love. It remained for the 20th century to discover that locked within the atom is the energy of the sun itself. For this energy to be released, the atom must be bombarded from without. So too, locked in every human being is a store of love that partakes of the divine- the imago dei, image of god…And it too can be activated only through bombardment, in its case, love’s bombardment. The process begins in infancy, where a mother’s initially unilateral loving smile awakens love in her baby and as coordination develops, elicits its answering smile… A loving human being is not produced by exhortations, rules and threats. Love can only take root in children when it comes to them- initially and most importantly from nurturing parents. Ontogenetically speaking, love is an answering phenomenon. It is literally a response. ↗

— Huston Smith

#parenting #religion #spirituality #love

Single moms: You are a doctor, a teacher, a nurse, a maid, a cook, a referee, a heroine, a provider, a defender, a protector, a true Superwoman. Wear your cape proudly. ↗

— Mandy Hale

#children #moms #mothers #mothers-love #parenting

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. ↗

— Ben Stein

#bit #child #child abuse #children #crushing

Having children makes you no more a parent than having a piano makes you a pianist. ↗

— Michael Levine

#parenting

Most American children suffer too much mother and too little father. ↗

— Gloria Steinem

#american #american children #children #father #little

The last time Assistant Principal Parker called, a girl in the school's locker room had accused Julie of being a whore during the two years she'd spent on the street. My kid took exception to that and decided to communicate that by applying a chair to the offending party's head. I'd told her to go for the gut next time- it left less evidence. ↗

— Ilona Andrews

#parenting #communication

The value of marriage is not that adults produce children, but that children produce adults. ↗

— Peter De Vries

#aging #children #marriage #maturity #parenting

Why would a vampire create a younger vampire if there was a possibility the young one might end up destroying the old one?' Stephin stared. 'If you can explain to me how this is different from parenting in general I might know how to answer that. ↗

— Adam Rex

#vampires #age

When faced with first time fatherhood at the age of 49, I didn’t know whether to celebrate with champagne… or hemlock. ↗

— Len Filppu

#parenting #age