Quotes

More Quotes

• "The child wants simple things. It wants to be listened to. It wants to be loved.… It may not even know the words, but it wants its rights protected and its self-respect unviolated. It needs you to be there."

  — Ron Kurtz

  As cited in Homecoming: Reclaiming and Championing Your Inner Child

• "Just as too much physical force can break a child’s bones, too much control can break a child’s spirit and fracture his psyche. It can cause a splintering of self, causing a child to disown some parts of himself and to inflate others."

  — Beverly Engel

  Healing The Emotional Self

• "Our ability as parents to be open and present for our children enables them to be both differentiated from our own expectations and desires for how they should be and linked to us through compassionate, respectful communication, enabling the integrative circuitry of their brains to develop well."

  — Daniel J. Siegel, MD

  Aware

• "The best way to help a child through a challenging moment is to give them a story about it, whether they’re being bullied, have fallen in love for the first time, or the tooth-fairy failed to show up."

  — Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin

  The Story Cure

• "If you want your child to reach her potential, one of the most important traits to nurture is tenacity—the “I’ll stick with it” approach to challenges."

  — Kenneth R. Ginsburg, Martha M. Jablow

  Building Resilience in Children and Teens

• "If we want our children to experience the world as fully as possible—unfortunately with all its pain, and thankfully with all its joy—our goal will have to be resilience."

  — Kenneth R. Ginsburg, Martha M. Jablow

  Building Resilience in Children and Teens

• "Our challenge is to recognize the gifts in every child and, more importantly, create the circumstances in which young people will discover their own strengths, so they can ultimately determine those areas in which they can make their greatest contributions."

  — Kenneth R. Ginsburg, Martha M. Jablow

  Building Resilience in Children and Teens

• "We must prepare our children to thrive and succeed far into the future. We need to bear in mind that our goal in raising children is to prepare them to be successful at 35, 40, or 50 years of age."

  — Kenneth R. Ginsburg, Martha M. Jablow

  Building Resilience in Children and Teens

• "Our love is the most protective, enduring force we offer our children… The genuine sense that they are worth being cared for offers the bedrock of self-regard that will affect their behaviors and emotional well-being during childhood and adolescence, as well as the security from which they will launch into adulthood."

  — Kenneth R. Ginsburg, Martha M. Jablow

  Building Resilience in Children and Teens

• "We must gently help our children be exposed to the injured heart of another so they can consider the impact of their unkind behavior."

  — Susan Stiffelman

  Parenting with Presence

• "If we want our children to discover their passion and purpose, we must stay open to what they drift toward rather than pushing them in directions we prefer they follow but that do not call to them."

  — Susan Stiffelman

  Parenting with Presence

• "Kids whose boundaries are respected have a much easier time setting them appropriately with their peers."

  — Susan Stiffelman

  Parenting with Presence

• "It is our challenge and opportunity to foster in our children the living, breathing knowledge that they are worthy — as is — of being loved."

  — Susan Stiffelman

  Parenting with Presence

• "We need to raise our children to know they are inherently worthy of love and happiness so that they will be able to absorb all the good that comes their way."

  — Susan Stiffelman

  Parenting with Presence

• "Establishing boundaries helps us raise children who know how to handle disappointment and who are therefore strong, adaptable, and self-reliant."

  — Susan Stiffelman

  Parenting with Presence

• "Parental neglect and rejection in childhood can adversely affect self-confidence and relationships in adulthood, as people repeat old, frustrating patterns and then blame themselves for not being happy."

  — Lindsay C. Gibson

  Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents

• "Attentive and reliable emotional relationships are the basis of a child’s sense of security. Unfortunately, emotionally immature parents are usually too uncomfortable with closeness to give their children the deep emotional connection they need."

  — Lindsay C. Gibson

  Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents