This post is all about best parenting quotes.
50 Best Parenting Quotes
That Will Change The Way You Parent
You’ve got a long list of parenting books you meant to wanted but haven’t found the time just yet? I’ve got you. Before you sit down to study some of the books in detail, you can get some gems already. Here are the best parenting quotes from must-read positive parenting books.
I’m all for following your heart and gut when it comes to parenting. However, most of us grew up exposed to quite negative parenting. And now we want to do better than our parents did and with that, we do need help. You don’t? Well, I’m sure you still need some support at times. A word of encouragement, some practical tools, or any other sort of advice. You’ll find just that in one of the best parenting quotes listed below.
There are several must-read books when it comes to positive parenting that any parent (and their child) will benefit from reading.
What is positive parenting?
Positive parenting is supposed to be fair, firm, and friendly. It basically means making kindness, communication, love, and guidance the focus and foundation of parenting rather than harsh punishment and using “because I said so” ten times a day as our default answer.
Best Positive Parenting Books
There are many parenting books worth reading. The best parenting quotes in this post come inter alia from three of my favorite parenting books, which are The Whole Brained Child, How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk, as well as, Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids.
Why read parenting books or at least some of the best parenting quotes?
- To know how to speak to your children and understand how our words affect them
- To be calmer
- To know how a child’s brain works
- To get practical tools on how to for instance stop yelling at your kids
- To learn how to deal with temper tantrums in a loving yet effective way
- To find out how to deeply connect with our children
- To help your child grow into a confident, kind, and strong individual
50 Best Parenting Quotes
#1 “Parenting isn’t about what our child does, but about how we respond.”- Laura Markham, Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids
#2 “Don’t lecture. Children, and particularly adolescents, will tune out the moment you start. Take it from a teacher. If your communication style tends toward the lecture, you are going to have to change your style, because you won’t be able to force your child to start listening.”- Jessica Lahey, The Gift of Failure
#3 “Parents who speak with their children about their feelings have children who develop emotional intelligence and can understand their own and other people’s feelings more fully.”- Daniel J. Siegel, The Whole-Brain Child
#4 “Perfection is not what holds a family together. Bond forged through shared struggle is what endures over the long haul.”- Jessica Lahey, The Gift of Failure
#5 “It’s a bittersweet road we parents travel. We start with total commitment to a small, helpless human being. Over the years we worry, plan, comfort, and try to understand. We give our love, our labor, our knowledge, and our experience—so that one day he or she will have the inner strength and confidence to leave us.”- Adele Faber, How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk
#6 “Your goal in disciplining your child is actually to help him develop self-discipline, meaning to assume responsibility for his actions, including making amends and avoiding a repeat, whether the authority figure is present or not.”- Laura Markham, Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids
#7 “Children are particularly vulnerable to becoming the targets of the projection of our nonconscious emotions and unresolved issues.”- Daniel J. Siegel, Parenting from the Inside Out
#8 “Toddlers test limits in order to be reassured that nothing has changed and that their world—including their parents and the rules they impose—can be relied upon. They test, we reassure, they relax, and the cycle repeats ad nauseam until that toddler finally gets shipped off to Siberia or enters kindergarten.”- Jessica Lahey, The Gift of Failure
#9 “When a child is upset, logic often won’t work until we have responded to the right brain’s emotional needs. ”- Daniel J. Siegel, The Whole-Brain Child
#10 “As children develop, their brains “mirror” their parent’s brain. In other words, the parent’s own growth and development, or lack of those, impact the child’s brain. As parents become more aware and emotionally healthy, their children reap the rewards and move toward health as well.” – Daniel J. Siegel, The Whole-Brain Child
#11 “Because no matter how bad your child’s behavior, it’s a cry for help. Sometimes the behavior requires a firm limit, but it never requires us to be mean. And you can’t help your child while you’re shouting.”- Laura Markham, Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids
#12 “Once you accept your children’s basic nature, you can contour your style to meet their temperament. To do so means letting go of your fantasies of yourself as a certain kind of parent and instead evolving into the parent you need to be for the particular child in front of you.”- Shefali Tsabary, The Conscious Parent
#13 “Connection means that we give our kids our attention, that we respect them enough to listen to them, that we value their contribution to problem solving, and that we communicate to them that we’re on their side—whether we like the way they’re acting or not.”- Daniel J. Siegel, No-Drama Discipline
#14 “Kids raised from birth on to feel safe expressing their emotions, who feel their parents are on their side, aren’t perfect. They’re easier to parent, though, because they’re better at managing their emotions, and therefore their behavior. They’re more willing to accept our guidance.”- Laura Markham, Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids
#15 “A toddler acting out is not shameful, nor is it behavior that needs punishing. It’s a cry for attention, a shout-out for sleep, or a call to action for firmer, more consistent limits.”- Janet Lansbury, No Bad Kids
#16 “One reason big feelings can be so uncomfortable for small children is that they don’t view those emotions as temporary.”- Daniel J. Siegel, The Whole-Brain Child
#17 “Out of love and desire to protect our children’s self-esteem, we have bulldozed every uncomfortable bump and obstacle out of the way, clearing the manicured path we hoped would lead to success and happiness. Unfortunately, in doing so we have deprived our children of the most important lessons of childhood. The setbacks, mistakes, miscalculations, and failures we have shoved out of our children’s way are the very experiences that teach them how to be resourceful, persistent, innovative and resilient citizens of this world.” – Jessica Lahey, The Gift of Failure
Best Parenting Quotes
#18 “Too often we forget that “discipline” really means “to teach”—not “to punish.” A disciple is a student, not a recipient of behavioral consequences. When we teach mindsight, we take moments of conflict and transform them into opportunities for learning, skill building, and brain development.”- Daniel J. Siegel, The Whole-Brain Child
#19 “What matters most: Stay connected and never withdraw your love, even for a moment. The deepest reason kids cooperate is that they love you and want to please you. Above all, safeguard your relationship with your child. That’s your only leverage to have any influence on your child. It’s what your child needs most. And that closeness is what makes all the sacrifices of parenting worth it.”- Laura Markham, Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids
#20 “When we give children advice or instant solutions, we deprive them of the experience that comes from wrestling with their own problems.”- Adele Faber, How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk
#21 “When parents continue to dress their children after the age of three, they are robbing them of developing a sense of responsibility, self-sufficiency, and self-confidence. They are less likely to develop the belief that they are capable. Instead they feel a sense of belonging when others do things for them.”- Jane Nelsen, Positive Discipline
#22 “Remember, there are plenty of ways to spoil children—by giving them too many things, by rescuing them from every challenge, by never allowing them to deal with defeat and disappointment—but we can never spoil them by giving them too much of our love and attention. That’s what the connection”- Daniel J. Siegel, No-Drama Discipline
#23 “When you parent, it’s crucial you realize you aren’t raising a “mini me,” but a spirit throbbing with its own signature. For this reason, it’s important to separate who you are from who each of your children is. Children aren’t ours to possess or own in any way. When we know this in the depths of our soul, we tailor our raising of them to their needs, rather than molding them to fit our needs.” – Shefali Tsabary, The Conscious Parent
#24 “Parents who speak with their children about their feelings have children who develop emotional intelligence and can understand their own and other people’s feelings more fully.”- Daniel J. Siegel, The Whole-Brain Child
#25 “As parents become more aware and emotionally healthy, their children reap the rewards and move toward health as well. That means that integrating and cultivating your own brain is one of the most loving and generous gifts you can give your children. Another”- Daniel J. Siegel, The Whole-Brain Child
#26 “A toddler learns discipline best when he experiences natural consequences for his behavior, rather than a disconnected punishment like time-out. If a child throws food, his mealtime is over. If a child refuses to get dressed, we won’t be able to go to the park today. These parental responses appeal to a child’s sense of fairness.”- Janet Lansbury, No Bad Kids
#27 “It is confusing to children if their reality of an experience is denied or misunderstood by their parent or another significant adult, because those are the very people with whom they most need to connect.”- Daniel J. Siegel, Parenting from the Inside Out
#28 “Any time your child pushes your buttons, he’s showing you an unresolved issue from your own childhood.”- Laura Markham, Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids
#29 “Rule #1: Never, ever take a child’s limit-pushing behavior personally.”- Janet Lansbury, No Bad Kids
#30 “Sometimes parents avoid talking about upsetting experiences, thinking that doing so will reinforce their children’s pain or make things worse. Actually, telling the story is often exactly what children need, both to make sense of the event and to move on to a place where they can feel better about what happened.”- Daniel J. Siegel, The Whole-Brain Child
#31 “Sometimes courage looks a lot like failure.”- Jessica Lahey, The Gift of Failure
Best Quotes On Positive Parenting
#32 “The most important parenting skill: Manage yourself. Take care of yourself so you aren’t venting on your child. Intervene before your own feelings get out of hand. Keep your cup full. The more you care for yourself with compassion, the more love and compassion you’ll have for your child. Remember that your child will do every single thing you do, whether that’s yelling or making self-disparaging remarks about your body.”- Laura Markham, Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids
#33 “I was a wonderful parent before I had children.” – Adele Faber, How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk
#34 “Engage, don’t enrage.”- Daniel J. Siegel, No-Drama Discipline
#35 “If we change the way we see our children, the way they see themselves will change. Always look for the good.” – Jessica Joelle Alexander, The Danish Way of Parenting
#36 “Always, always, always encourage your child to express these feelings.”- Janet Lansbury, No Bad Kids
#37 “As parents, we are wired to try to save our children from any harm and hurt, but ultimately we can’t. They’ll fall down, they’ll get their feelings hurt, and they’ll get scared and sad and angry. Actually, it’s often these difficult experiences that allow them to grow and learn about the world. Rather than trying to shelter our children from life’s inevitable difficulties, we can help them integrate those experiences into their understanding of the world and learn from them.”- Daniel J. Siegel, The Whole-Brain Child
#38 “Clarity, please. Children will often push our limits simply because they haven’t received a straight answer to the question, “What will you do if I do such-and-such?”- Janet Lansbury, No Bad Kids
#39 “Most parents think that if our child would just “behave,” we could maintain our composure as parents. The truth is that managing our own emotions and actions is what allows us to feel peaceful as parents. Ultimately we can’t control our children or the hand life deals them—but we can always control our own actions. Parenting isn’t about what our child does, but about how we respond.” – Laura Markham, Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids
#40 “Children appreciate positive instruction and tend to tune out or resist the words “no” and “don’t”. Better to save those words for emergencies.”- Janet Lansbury, No Bad Kids
#41 “As parents become more aware and emotionally healthy, their children reap the rewards and move toward health as well. That means that integrating and cultivating your own brain is one of the most loving and generous gifts you can give your children. Another”- Daniel J. Siegel, The Whole-Brain Child
#42 “Toddlers are definitely capable of cooperating, but they need to be taught through respectful feedback, corrections, and modeling rather than being tricked, manipulated, or coerced.”- Janet Lansbury, No Bad Kids
#43 “Our children don’t need perfection from us. What they need is a parent who embraces growth, makes amends, and opens her heart when it wants to harden.”- Laura Markham, Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids
#44 “Children do not develop responsibility when parents and teachers are too strict and controlling, nor do they develop responsibility when parents and teachers are permissive. Children learn responsibility when they have opportunities to learn valuable social and life skills for good character in an atmosphere of kindness, firmness, dignity, and respect.”- Jane Nelsen, Positive Discipline
#45 “Effective discipline means that we’re not only stopping a bad behavior or promoting a good one, but also teaching skills and nurturing the connections in our children’s brains that will help them make better decisions and handle themselves well in the future.” – Daniel J. Siegel, No-Drama Discipline
#46 “Too often we forget that discipline really means to teach, not to punish. A disciple is a student, not a recipient of behavioural consequences.” – Daniel J. Siegel, The Whole-Brain Child
#47 “Leaving our baby to cry also changes us as parents. We have to turn off our natural empathy for our baby, the same empathy that is so essential to helping our child develop emotional intelligence.”- Laura Markham, Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids
#48 “It’s also crucial to keep in mind that no matter how nonsensical and frustrating our child’s feelings may seem to us, they are real and important to our child. It’s vital that we treat them as such in our response.”- Daniel J. Siegel, The Whole-Brain Child
#49 “What raises great kids is coaching them—to handle their emotions, manage their behavior, and develop mastery—rather than controlling for immediate compliance.”- Laura Markham, Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids
#50 “As children develop, their brains “mirror” their parent’s brain. In other words, the parent’s own growth and development, or lack of those, impact the child’s brain. As parents become more aware and emotionally healthy, their children reap the rewards and move toward health as well.”- Daniel J. Siegel, The Whole-Brain Child
This post was all about best parenting quotes.
