There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.

There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.

Children are our most valuable natural resource.

Children are our most valuable natural resource.

They mustn't know my despair, I can't let them see the wounds which they have caused, I couldn't bear their read more

They mustn't know my despair, I can't let them see the wounds which they have caused, I couldn't bear their sympathy and their kind-hearted jokes, it would only make me want to scream all the more. If I talk, everyone thinks I'm showing off; when I'm silent they think I'm ridiculous; rude if I answer, sly if I get a good idea, lazy if I'm tired, selfish if I eat a mouthful more than I should, stupid, cowardly, crafty, etc. etc.

A society in which adults are estranged from the world of children, and often from their own childhood, tends to read more

A society in which adults are estranged from the world of children, and often from their own childhood, tends to hear children's speech only as a foreign language, or as a lie. Children have been treated. as congenital fibbers, fakers and fantasisers.

But childhood prolonged, cannot remain a fairyland. It becomes a hell.

But childhood prolonged, cannot remain a fairyland. It becomes a hell.

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.

If you want to recapture your youth, just cut off his allowance.

If you want to recapture your youth, just cut off his allowance.

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.

Parents are often so busy with the physical rearing of children that they miss the glory of parenthood, just as read more

Parents are often so busy with the physical rearing of children that they miss the glory of parenthood, just as the grandeur of the trees is lost when raking leaves.