It's a sad moment, really, when parents first become a bit frightened of their children.

It's a sad moment, really, when parents first become a bit frightened of their children.

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.

A child is a curly, dimpled lunatic.

A child is a curly, dimpled lunatic.

Young people are fitter to invent than to judge; fitter for execution than for counsel; and more fit for new read more

Young people are fitter to invent than to judge; fitter for execution than for counsel; and more fit for new projects than for settled business.

I'm old enough to know better, but still too young to care.

I'm old enough to know better, but still too young to care.

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.

I don't know any parents that look into the eyes of a newborn baby and say, How can we screw read more

I don't know any parents that look into the eyes of a newborn baby and say, How can we screw this kid up.

Behold, I was shapened in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. [Psalms 51:5].

Behold, I was shapened in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. [Psalms 51:5].

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.