The uncertainty of parenting can bring up feelings in us that range from frustration to terror.
That’s my parenting style – ‘Go watch the TV.’ I’m one of 11 children, and my mother’s parenting style was, ‘There’s the TV. Go watch it. Mommy’s got 10 other people to take care of.’
In Los Angeles, parenting is a competitive sport. From Beverly Hills baby boutiques to kids’ yoga classes, L.A. fuses high style, industrial-strength materialism, and parental outsourcing into our own unique version of child-rearing.
My dad was not super-intentional in his parenting. He was very self-absorbed. I won’t say mean or selfish per se, but very self-absorbed. I think he was just thinking out loud.
My father was the biggest influence on my own parenting because I became the complete opposite to him. He found it very difficult to show physical love, like cuddling and that kind of stuff, so I went the other way.
There’s no one right way to be a person, we’re all just doing our best. So the same thing should apply to parenting and raising your children and the things you go through.
Parenting is no sport for perfectionists.
I do not think there was anything abusive in my house. Yet, I stand by a lot of my critiques of Western parenting. I think there’s a lot of questions about how you instill true self-esteem.
Parenting is difficult under any circumstances, and in my father’s view, to raise a morally upright and honest child, you sometimes have to lie to him.
I thought that once we were out of the baby stage, parenting would be a breeze.
Parenting is more than a numbers game: it’s a question of whether people are equipped for the toughest job they will ever be asked to do.
As soon as you become a parent, everyone gives you their parenting advice. It’s like an onslaught of information about how other people do it.
My parenting style is probably like that of my parents, because you do how you learn. My mother was very nurturing and loving, but very stern. She was a disciplinary. My dad was also very loving.
The secret to success, to parenting, to life, is to not count up the cost. Don’t focus on all the steps it will take. Don’t stare into the abyss at the giant leap it will take. That view will keep you from taking the next small step.
I believe that at least 70 percent of parenting goes to the mother. In our house, I’m the one who knows about all the school stuff, helps with the homework, organizes the play dates, and remembers the birthday parties.
I’m not a parenting expert by any means, but I’ve been interviewing and writing about kids for almost 20 years.
Attachment parenting demands not just certain actions you take with your baby but also certain emotional states to accompany those actions.
I was emancipated at 15. I went to school and had a full-time job and apartment, and ever since, I’ve been on my own, parenting myself.
Nobody ever becomes an expert parent. But I think good parenting is about consistency. It’s about being there at big moments, but it’s also just the consistency of decision making. And it’s routine.
If I meet a wise person, I think, ‘Yes, tell me more about parenting, about marriage, about how to stay in love. Tell me more about how to be a decent person living in a world that’s filled with chaos.’
I barely have time for my own children. To adopt more children and not have time for them, that would be poor parenting on my part.
My husband’s a pediatrician, so he and I talk about parenting all the time. You can’t raise children who have more shame resilience than you do.
No matter how calmly you try to referee, parenting will eventually produce bizarre behavior, and I’m not talking about the kids. Their behavior is always normal.
My childhood should have taught me lessons for my own fatherhood, but it didn’t because parenting can only be learned by people who have no children.
I grew up with no money. My kids will grow up with a lot of money and so it’s really important to me, and it will always be a part of my parenting, to keep them conscientious and connected socially to other people.
