I went to Catholic school throughout my whole academic life. In fact, my children - my husband and I and our children in my own family now have over 100 years of Catholic education among us.
I had intelligent, high-minded, liberal parents who wanted to make sure my values were just like theirs.
The one thing I want to leave my children is an honorable name.
Parents are not interested in justice, they're interested in peace and quiet.
I was blessed to grow up with parents who weren't enamored of show business.
Parents tend to value their lives more highly than people without kids, but they're different in lots of ways: They're richer. They're better educated. They're healthier.
We grew up in the South, but in a very liberal household - both our parents are from the Northeast.
I didn't raise my kids with the fear of God.
It's very tempting to have a nanny and live in a gated community and have a chef - I'd love to have a few dinners cooked for me. But I don't want that for my children. When they're older, if people say to them, 'Did you have a chef?' I want them to be shocked by the question.
There are parents with wealth who just want their kids to be wealthy, and then there are other parents with money who want to teach their kids how they got it. That's what my dad was like.
Education is very important to my parents and to me.
Public service has allowed me to put values my parents taught me into action.
My mom and dad's friends were gay, and so I was raised with the acknowledgement to love one another, no matter one's sexual orientation.
When you hire a nanny, the question you ask yourself is, 'What's best for my precious child?' And do you really want someone who feels that your motive in life is to minimize the amount you spend on your child?
I think both of my parents are unique in the way they don't live their lives as celebrities. They're both artists, first and foremost. My mom lives a very private life. So does my father. You don't really see them in the tabloids or anything like that. I think that's definitely a decision you can make.
To Western parents that want to adopt a child, I would say to people that money is not everything, wealth does not matter.
I was born to poor because of honest parents.
My parents adopted me, and then, by the age of four or five, I was asking all sorts of questions, and they found themselves with a son who was interested in the sorts of things that they valued but weren't natural to them.
The most important thing in my father's life? World peace. Me and my brother. My mom.
I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things. I wasn't raised that way, and I'm not going to raise a child to do that.
Did I really want to teach my children that a list of successes is the most valuable legacy to leave behind? I absolutely did not.
[My parents] were very interested in social justice issues, and there was a time, very early on, where my mother, I think, actually went to some demonstrations for integrating housing.
All decent parents want to do what's best for their children. The Chinese just have a totally different idea of how to do that.
It's interesting as a mom to reflect on your own parenting skills. The core of our beliefs may stay the same, but our perspective changes over the years and evolves with each child that comes through us.
Getting a good education was of immense importance to my parents.
