I'm the parent of a queer child, and for my kid to know that they can always come to me and I'm going to love them no matter what is the biggest gift.
I met with my lawyers. They gave me all the wrong advice. For a long time I refused to accept the child was mine. I should have met her, arranged a DNA test and accepted my responsibility.
If some glorious angel suddenly descended through my living room ceiling and offered to take away the children I have and give me other, better children — more polite, funnier, nicer, smarter — I would cling to the children I have and pray away that atrocious spectacle.
If my kids came to me and said, 'I'm gay,' I'd say, 'Son, I love you.' That's never at stake. Never, never, never at stake.
You’re not supposed to dislike your own child. You were supposed to like them no matter what, even if they were not what you wanted.
We cannot fashion our children after our desires, we must have them and love them as God has given them to us.
I felt like all of the work was training for just one central idea: Accept your child for who he is. I'm not saying that I've done a brilliant job with that. But I've done my best.
Parents like the idea of kids, they just don't like their kids.
Marrying, founding a family, accepting all the children that come, supporting them in this insecure world, and perhaps even guiding them a little, is, I am convinced, the utmost a human being can succeed in doing at all.
When people ask, Do you like children? I always say, I like some children, yes. Some children I don't like.
If the day ever came when we were able to accept ourselves and our children exactly as we and they are, then, I believe, we would have come very close to an ultimate understanding of what 'good' parenting means.
I believe that if you are bringing a child into the world, you should be willing to accept them in any reality. Whether they are Black, White, Asian, have four fingers, are disabled, gay….that the only wish should be for a happy and healthy baby.
Hopefully, more and more people will come to understand that a child who's "different from" is not one who is "lesser than."
We can't form our children on our own concepts; we must take them and love them as God gives them to us.
I see some artists who disown songs they love when they don't chart well. Would you do that to your children? Trust me, children ain't gonna do all the right things, so are you gonna disown them or embrace them and say, 'No, you're still my child. You didn't go out and do the right thing, but I'll still love you in the same way?'
Anyone who has ever been a mother or father and is at all honest knows from experience how difficult it can be for parents to accept certain aspects of their children. It is especially painful to have to admit this if we really love our child and want to respect his or her individuality yet are unable to do so.
I like all my children, even the squat and ugly ones.
I wouldn't believe there was something 'wrong' with my son.
Italy is good in the sense that when you bring a child to a restaurant in Italy, they're happy to see it. The waiters will say "complimenti" and welcome you and dote after the kid. They don't treat you like you just brought in this horrible probably soon-to-be-squealing creature who's going to be difficult.
