Penelope Spheeris Quotes

I always feel like the odd mom out, because trust me when I tell you I'm on my girls. And every time I am, I know from the outside it looks like I'm an overbearing, controlling parent. But I don't think we have any responsibility to anybody else but our kids and ourselves.

It's difficult to keep that perspective, I think, as a parent: to know your boundaries as to what's good parenting or just projecting your own expectations on your kids. That's the hardest.

I think all kinds of parents are different in what they're seeking.

You can become very serious as a parent. That's got to be fought against.

Parents, you know, can be terrible.

Most children turn out badly because they have the wrong parental image. This doesn't mean their parents are criminal. It means they are boring and cruel.

And part of that is, what is the point of having children if you don't have the privilege of bringing them up?

If you've never been hated by your child, you've never been a parent.

When you have children, your perspective on the parent-child relationship alters.

What I continue to learn as a parent is to be mindful of the fact that I am responsible for being the parent that my children need me to be and not necessarily the parent I want to be.

It's interesting as a mom to reflect on your own parenting skills. The core of our beliefs may stay the same, but our perspective changes over the years and evolves with each child that comes through us.

You learn that there's no right way to do it, no wrong way to do it. It's just what you feel comfortable with, to trust that, and don't let anybody box you in to a certain style of parenting or make you feel a certain way about what your kids do.

Things parents say to children are oftentimes not heard, but in some cases you pick up on things that your parent would like to see you have done.

While having two biological parents at home is, the statistics tell us, best for children, a single-parent household is almost as good.

Not that we didn't have close relationships with our parents - I'm very close to my mom - but parents didn't think anything of going off for a few weeks and leaving their kids.

If you're the parent, be a parent. You know what I mean? I'm a parent. I have daughters.

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

I am basically in awe of every family's ability to make decisions for their kids.

Parents are the designated caregivers and are best suited for being able to raise children.

Because we believe ourselves to be better parents than our parents, we expect to produce better children than they produced.

There is no job more important than parenting. This I believe.

If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do matters very much.

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.

When I wrote 'Runaways,' I was a naive kid who thought that all parents were evil. Now that I'm a wise old man with children of my own, I am certain that all parents are evil.

This whole head of the home thing has been blown way out of proportion. Some guys just take it way too far. Some parents take it way too far. Yet children need guidance. They need a parent to help and guide them. They also need a friend. They need a confidant.