Nick Harkaway Quotes

When I travel with my kids abroad, I am not myself, but I'm more a father who wants to protect them. Sometimes, I am even aggressive about certain things and get surprised seeing myself like that: for instance, when people want to take pictures of them. I am fine if they want to take my pictures, but they are not public property.

I was a mother who worked ridiculously hard to keep catastrophe at bay. I didn't allow my kids to eat hamburgers for fear of E. coli. I didn't allow them to play with rope, string, balloons - anything that might strangle them. They had to bite grapes in half, avoid lollipops, eat only when I could watch them.

As a father, safety is always a top of mind issue for me.

I don't go around straightening pictures or anything like that, but I do obsess about the safety of those I love, particularly the kids.

I think everybody knows they have to be vigilant with their children. I don't have anything profound to say on that subject. We all know that we have to watch the children. The question is when does it become absolute paranoia?

But, in fact, there is nothing that can bring you closer to fearlessness about everything else in the world than being a parent - because everyday fears - like not being approved of - pale by comparison to the fears you have about your children.

I never knew how protective I was until I had my own child. I'm already thinking about intruders coming into the house and what our escape route would be.

We have three daughters, our own. And, of course, there's nothing more frightening than something bad happening to them. And also, the thought of our children turning bad in some ways is another frightening thought.

I wasn't afraid of anything until I had a kid. Then I was terrified because immediately I could imagine a hundred ways in which I could not protect him.

Once you have kids, you think like a parent. You get a lot more protective.

Parenthood has made me more cautious.

When you have a child, you have to have a hawk eye. You have to be with the child all the time.

When you have responsible children, half the battle is over. So, you don't have to worry. But you are concerned. The concern will never go, and you'll always be conscious about them.

It's so important to look out for your child and protect them.

As a mom, the minute your baby is born, you all of a sudden have these fears. People always say, 'Don't let your fears get you.' But for me, my fears educated me.

As a parent you protect your kids as much as possible.

I think because I was a mother, it helped me feel comfortable that really my primary goal there was to save my kids.

All parents are concerned about their children's well-being. As a parent of three kids, I'm very concerned about their well-being.

You're working on being a father, so that is something that when you experience it you'll understand the profundity of wanting to protect something dear to you.

Nobody is going to take my kids away from me and I will fight to the death for that.

I don't know, maybe I'm overly paranoid that they're going to be spoiled, but I want to keep them going as kids for as long as I can. I want to keep them innocent and free.

A mortal parent may appreciate, in some small way, the feelings of a loving Heavenly Father. When our children come to the age when they must leave our direct care, we feel anxiety for their safety and concern that those who are to help them will not fail them.

I have to keep reminding myself that I am their mother. Sometimes we are sitting at home and I feel like we are waiting for our mom to come home.

I think that being a parent has expanded my writing, expanded my understanding of my characters, and has added a depth and richness to my work. Having kids deepened my idea of parenting and all the anxieties that come along with it.

Motherhood is like a big sleeping bag of guilt.