Parenting Uncertainty Quotes

It's a very telling thing when you have children. You have to be there for them, you've got to set an example, when you're not sure what your example is, and anyway the world is changing so fast you don't know what is appropriate anymore.

Our need for certainty in an endeavor as uncertain as raising children makes explicit 'how-to-parent' strategies both seductive and dangerous.

You don't know your child until they get here; you don't know their personality.

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

Ironically, parenting is a shame and judgment minefield precisely because most of us are wading through uncertainty and self-doubt when it comes to raising our children.

The uncertainty of parenting can bring up feelings in us that range from frustration to terror.

Raising a child is like taking care of someone who's on way too many shrooms, while you yourself are on a moderate amount of shrooms. I am not confident in my decisions, but I know you should not be eating a mousepad.

I don't know if I'm a strict parent or a pushover.

I learned a lot from my Mom. My favorite lesson: remember there is no such thing as a certain way to parent and to remember that you are learning along with your child - it's ok to make mistakes.

My point here, young couples, is that baby-having is extremely serious business, and you probably don't have the vaguest idea what you're doing, as is evidenced by the fact that you're reading a very sloppy and poorly researched book.

We're [parents]) always bluffing, pretending we know best, when most of the time we're just praying we won't screw up too badly.

I don't know what the f--k I'm talking about with parenting.

I have two kids, and when my oldest was first born, it was the most vulnerable feeling in the world. I remember taking him to his first doctor's appointment, and on the sheet, it said "mother," and I put my mom's name. I was like, "Oh, right, I ... I'm the mother!" You just feel so vulnerable.

I think, along with the great joy and excitement of having a child, it seems to be that the common themes are also a lot of doubt and fear and uncertainty about being a parent - and about how you might not live up to those expectations.

I think that parents ought to get some idea of how the so- called "experts" have changed their advice over the decades, so that they won't take them deadly seriously, and so that if the parent has the strong feeling, "I don't like this advice," the parent won't feel compelled to follow it. . . . So don't worry about trying to do a perfect job. There is no perfect job. There is no one way of raising your children.

My mother is a realist, and she's had biological and adoptive children, and she said it's no different: No matter what, they're putting a stranger into your arms. You don't know them yet.

Does any new parent, even if you're not a first-time parent, ever really know what to do?

I found out that I'm a pretty bad father. I make a lot of mistakes and I don't know what I'm doing. But my kids love me. Go figure.

The thing about parenting rules is there aren't any. That's what makes it so difficult.

I don't know what type of music my son will want. By the time he starts listening to music, really, at like, 15, 16, I'll probably have 10 albums out by that time.

I have a lot of mermaid stuff. I did start collecting a lot before I had children because I didn't know if I would have a boy or a girl. So I saved everything.

I do feel a lot of times like I'm out of my league with my kids in terms of what my responsibility is.

We go into parenting, and we discover that we don't have the answers. We are at a loss.

I don't know what's more exhausting about parenting: the getting up early, or acting like you know what you're doing.

The average parent may, for example, plant an artist or fertilize a ballet dancer and end up with a certified public accountant. We cannot train children along chicken wire to make them grow in the right direction. Tying them to stakes is frowned upon, even in Massachusetts.