It might sound a paradoxical thing to say --for surely never has a generation of children occupied more sheer hours read more

It might sound a paradoxical thing to say --for surely never has a generation of children occupied more sheer hours of parental time --but the truth is that we neglected you. We allowed you a charade of trivial freedoms in order to avoid making those impositions on you that are in the end both the training ground and proving ground for true independence. We pronounced you strong when you were still weak in order to avoid the struggles with you that would have fed your true strength. We proclaimed you sound when you were foolish in order to avoid taking part in the long, slow, slogging effort that is the only route to genuine maturity of mind and feeling. Thus, it was no small anomaly of your growing up that while you were the most indulged generation, you were also in many ways the most abandoned to your own meager devices by those into whose safe-keeping you had been given.

Let a man turn to his own childhood -- no further -- if he will renew his sense of remoteness, read more

Let a man turn to his own childhood -- no further -- if he will renew his sense of remoteness, and of the mystery of change.

You don't have to suffer to be a poet; adolescence is enough suffering for anyone.

You don't have to suffer to be a poet; adolescence is enough suffering for anyone.

The child is father of the man.

The child is father of the man.

Boys will be boys. And even that wouldn't matter if only we could prevent girls from being girls.

Boys will be boys. And even that wouldn't matter if only we could prevent girls from being girls.

The most important thing that parents can teach their children is how to get along without them.

The most important thing that parents can teach their children is how to get along without them.

The joys of parents are secret, and so are their grieves and fears.

The joys of parents are secret, and so are their grieves and fears.

Flowers are words which even a baby can understand.

Flowers are words which even a baby can understand.

Don't take up a man's time talking about the smartness of your children; he wants to talk to you about read more

Don't take up a man's time talking about the smartness of your children; he wants to talk to you about the smartness of his children.