Henry Ward Beecher Quotes

Children are unpredictable. You never know what inconsistency they're going to catch you in next.

All children will do things that you may not want them to. That's part of parenting.

Raising children uses every bit of your being - your heart, your time, your patience, your foresight, your intuition to protect them, and you have to use all of this while trying to figure out how to discipline them.

Fathers like to have children good-natured, well-behaved, and comfortable, but how to put them in that desirable condition is out of their philosophy.

If you have a child, you're improvising with rules all day long, and some of them are total lies.

Even though your kids will consistently do the exact opposite of what you're telling them to do, you have to keep loving them just as much.

There isn't a clear-cut way to be a parent. We will all make mistakes.

Spend enough time wrangling a toddler, and you get good at being kind but firm. Like your child, you must be doggedly single-minded when it matters.

I have been listening to people's advice. Being a parent, you need all the advice you can get.

As a mom I know that raising children is the hardest job there is.

I think being a parent is knowing how to love. Sometimes love is discipline, sometimes it's humor, sometimes it's listening.

I think I'd be a great mom, honestly. I don't think I'll have any problem giving them all the love in the world. Discipline will be the hard part.

My wife tells me I need to learn to be more patient with my son.

Parents walk a fine line between discipline and grace - values have to hold even when circumstances change or call for compromise or compassion. It's the ultimate challenge to be both firm and fluid, soft and strong, yielding yet rock solid.

Kids teach you a lot of patience.

When two kids are being completely berserk, and they're naked and throwing food around, sometimes I just let it go because I can see a future where they're going to be dressed, and they're going to be at school. So I kind of let stuff go sometimes.

Sometimes being a dad is like watching a ping-pong match.

We're trying to raise good humans, and some days, we're better at it than others. You don't always get treats.

Parenting is tough.

Parenting definitely has some challenging moments.

There's no mantra for bringing up a kid.

It's not easy to be a good or wise parent. You do the best you can.

Taking care of children was not something I was good at.

Dealing with kids, you're always going to have to deal with something. I mean, they're kids.

Being a dad, I certainly know what it feels like to give lots of love and understanding, and I also know what it feels like to be antagonized or to have my buttons pushed, at midnight when one of my kids just will not go to sleep. You've gotta just let them be what they are, ultimately.