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.

Children are poor men's riches.

Children are poor men's riches.

It is dangerous to confuse children with angels.

It is dangerous to confuse children with angels.

If a child annoys you, quiet him by brushing his hair. If this doesn't work, use the other side of read more

If a child annoys you, quiet him by brushing his hair. If this doesn't work, use the other side of the brush on the other end of the child.

Children have more need of models than of critics.

Children have more need of models than of critics.

Better to be driven out from among men than to be disliked of children.

Better to be driven out from among men than to be disliked of children.

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.

The best way to make children good is to make them happy.

The best way to make children good is to make them happy.

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.