Fred Rogers Quotes

I firmly believe, however, that if your children have never hated you, you have failed as a parent.

For me, as much about being a parent as it is about being a child.

May we always care for our children, not counting the cost, so that they may never believe themselves to be mistakes, but always know their infinite worth.

All the time a person is a child he is both a child and learning to be a parent. After he becomes a parent he becomes predominantly a parent reliving childhood.

A sense of worthiness is a child's most important need.

What interests me is what children go through while growing up.

Every word, facial expression, gesture, or action on the part of a parent gives the child some message about self-worth. It is sad that so many parents don't realize what messages they are sending.

For decades, parents were told by so-called parenting 'experts' that offspring would be best raised on the belief each is special and entitled to all life has to offer.

The essence of parenthood is to make children think that they are the most handsome, intelligent, brilliant person in the world.

One of the biggest gifts you can give a child is confidence, because confidence will take you miles - more than talent, more than anything else. So yes, I want my children to have confidence and to be kind.

My mum always told me I was precious, while my dad always told me I was worthless. I think that's a good grounding for a balanced life.

Woory about building a kid who is good, not a kid with good self-esteem.

The first 3 years of a person’s life determines the next 80 years.

We are our children's first teachers.

I embrace who I am. I just want my child to do the same thing.

I read somewhere that your voice towards your children becomes their inner monologue. That was so interesting to me, and I think that pertains to 'Better Things' as well.

So frequently we mistakenly believe that our children need more things, when in reality their silent pleadings are simply for more of our time.

The meaning of self-esteem is to feel lovable and capable. As parents, we must love our children unconditionally and give them a sense of being nurtured. That's the lovable part. Then, we must provide structure - rules, boundaries, daily or weekly household tasks that give them a sense they are making a contribution. That's what helps kids grow up feeling capable.

A child who passes through many hands in turn, can never be well brought up. At every change he makes a secret comparison, which continually tends to lessen his respect for those who control him, and with it their authority over him. If once he thinks there are grown-up people with no more sense than children the authority of age is destroyed and his education is ruined.

You can't teach children to be good. The best you can do for your child is to live a good life yourself. What a parent knows and believes, the child will lean on.

If we view our children as stupid, naughty, disturbed, or guilty of their misdeeds, they will learn to behold themselves as foolish, faulty, or shameful specimens of humanity. They will regard us as judges from whom they wish to hide, and they will interpret everything we say as further proof of their unworthiness. If we view them as innocent, or at least merely ignorant, they will gain understanding from their experiences, and they will continue to regard us as wise partners.

A child embarrassed by his mother,” she said, “is just a child who hasn’t lived long enough.

We have a cultural notion that if children were not engineered, if we did not manipulate them, they would grow up as beasts in the field. This is the wildest fallacy in the world.

A child must learn early to believe that she is somebody worthwhile, and that she can do many praiseworthy things.

If you want to know what you were conditioned to believe as a child, look at how you treat yourself now.