It's frightening to think that you mark your children merely by being yourself. It seems unfair. You can't assume the read more

It's frightening to think that you mark your children merely by being yourself. It seems unfair. You can't assume the responsibility for everything you do --or don't do.

All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child.

All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child.

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.

A child is a curly, dimpled lunatic.

A child is a curly, dimpled lunatic.

The soul is healed by being with children.

The soul is healed by being with children.

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

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

Cosmic upheaval is not so moving as a little child pondering the death of a sparrow in the corner of read more

Cosmic upheaval is not so moving as a little child pondering the death of a sparrow in the corner of a barn. -Tom Savage.

The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible, and achieve it, generation after read more

The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible, and achieve it, generation after generation. -Pearl S. Buck.

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

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