Taika Waititi Quotes

Like with me, I just see my mum and dad as parents - I don't see my dad individually as a man, my mum individually as a woman.

My kids still think that, you know, other kids' parents are cooler than I am.

The problem with children is that you have to put up with their parents.

A kid never listens to what his parents tell him to do. The parents actually act as an example of what their kids themselves do.

As kids, we grow up thinking our parents are perfect and flawless - well, some of us - but they're trying to do the best they can.

It gets to you as a father when your kids don't react to you in the way you imagine.

If a parent keeps on saying that, 'my kid is not understanding me at all,' he or she needs to look inside and ask, what wrong am I doing that my child is unable to understand me?

Well, I don't know if this is true of everyone, but I have this relationship with my parents where, despite however mature or articulate or grown-up I think I've become, as soon as I go home, I turn into this petulant 13-year-old, especially with the tone of my voice.

One of the things that I really like about young adult fiction is that you can explore the relationships between teens and their parents. I definitely think that teens are a product of their parents. You either end up just like them or you consciously make the decision to be unlike them.

My kids are not that interested in my movie career, by the way. My son, in particular, never talks about it. He just wants me as his dad.

Children wish fathers looked but with their eyes; fathers that children with their judgment looked; and either may be wrong.

Countries are either mothers or fathers, and engender the emotional bristle secretly reserved for either sire.

I'll be honest with you. My kids don't watch my movies and never have. I can maybe name a film one hand that they've seen, actually, all the way through.

My sons are a hell of a lot easier to get through to than my daughter is. She seems to have my number. She can just run through the buttons.

Parents know how to push your buttons because, hey, they sewed them on.

Since the beginning of time, every child on the planet has endeavored to please their parents.

I have frequently gained my first real insight into the character of parents by studying their children.

A father's disappointment can be a very powerful tool.

As a father, you immediately become uncool, especially the older they get. The older you get, it's inevitable that, as cool as you think you are, you're probably just as lame in your kids' eyes.

My father made with me one serious mistake which I see parents about me making. He got himself somehow into the awkward position of an authority; I thought he knew and was right on everything - for a while.

We're living in a time when parenting is not at all mirroring the way I was parented. For me, I just followed my parents around on their errands; when they were busy on the phone, I was quiet. It's a different kettle of fish these days: They run the house, and you listen to their music, and you go to their appointments.

You don't want your children to look at you like you are anything special other than their dad.

My parents were pretty liberal, but they were still parents. I definitely had my teenage rebellion.

Father or stepfather - those are just titles to me. They don't mean anything.

I've had three of my own children and spent my professional life thinking about children. And yet I still find my relation to my children deeply puzzling.