Pope Francis Quotes

A father is a thousand schoolmasters.

Children have more need of models than of critics.

When you're a kid, you're just not equipped to deal with some of the stuff that life brings you. It's why you have parents. And then, when you don't, there better be somebody who fills in that gap, or you're going to be rudderless for a while.

Every child needs both parents.

The mother's and father's attitudes toward the child correspond to the child's own needs.... Mother has the function of making himsecure in life, father has the function of teaching him, guiding him to cope with those problems with which the particular society the child has been born into confronts him.

When we look at our children, I think a lot of the troubles we're having as a society is because we don't have strong fathers in these families that can tell their kids that they can do more.

There is but one way to eliminate juvenile delinquency - that is by providing each child in America with competent parents.

The U.S. is becoming an increasingly fatherless society. A generation ago, an American child could reasonably expect to grow up with his or her father. Today an American child can reasonably expect not to. Fatherlessness is now approaching a rough parity with fatherhood as a defining feature of American childhood.

When I was a child at sixteen, I was just a child. All sixteen year-olds are just children. As much as we like them to be adults, they are just children. And like all children, they need their mother, and they need their father. All children need their mother and their father. All children are entitled to their mother and their father.

Without the support from religion--remember, we talked about it--no father, using only his own resources, would be able to bring up a child.

Fathers are very, very important in building the foundations and self-esteem of children. For me, the way that I was raised, consideration, courtesy and manners are really key and I think the father plays a big role in setting an example to children in how to behave out in the world and how to treat people. It's a little bit different when it comes from the dad rather than the mum somehow.

Role modeling is the most basic responsibility of parents. Parents are handing life's scripts to their children, scripts that in all likelihood will be acted out for the rest of the children's lives.

What I do say is, yes, children may be resilient and they have been able to deal with all sorts of difficulties they have faced, but the bottom line is this: I believe very strongly children need a mother and a father in the home.

Some people don't need parental commitment, they will still come out great, but for others, parents can be critical in providing moral and academic guidance.

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

My daughter is, of course, perfect. Everyone's child is, but mine really is perfect. But I could not have raised her without my parents. From the time she was seven months until now, I have been a single parent.

Children need models rather than critics.

We got babies raising babies, and its important for us as responsible adults to go out and do what we can to make sure that our kids are steered in the right direction.

If you look at any superior athlete, you will find a strong parental influence. Parents introduce their children to a sport, and then they support them.

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

Kids need a mom and a dad, and people understand that. Marriage between a mom and a dad is most important for kids.

What kind of influence did my parents have on my life? Well, they had the most influence. These are the people who are closest to me. My parents are very positive people. They've been supportive. They're always there.

You have kids growing up in some of the worst circumstances financially, living in some of the worst ghettos, and they succeed. They succeed because an adult figure, typically a mother, maybe a grandmother, nourishes the kid, supports the kid, protects the kid, encourages the kid to succeed. It's as if the environment never happened.

Children learn a lot from what their parents say. But they learn a lot more from what their parents do.

If my son wants a boxing career, I won't stop him, but I definitely won't push him. It's bad for a kid to be pressured.