Lorraine Toussaint Quotes

They are amazing kids so we let them make decisions but also have discipline.

I say to my kids all the time - and this is absolutely true - I always say, 'Who's the boss?' and they go, 'You are.'

Nowadays, you cannot tell your kids what to do. In fact, you have to listen to them. As a parent, give them great education and values and they will decide what to do in life.

Do not make decisions for your kid. It's not going to turn out well.

If my daughter says she doesn't like something, I don't do it. It's up to Sophia.

I hope all the kids out there who don't like listening to their mothers, who yell and scream at them, that moms are always right just so you guys know.

It's very important that we instill some respect for the parents. In America especially, the kids are unruly, screaming at Mommy and Daddy, running the show.

Parents are trying to be friends with their kids rather than draw the line and tell them what proper public behavior would be.

Dad was a strict disciplinarian and would give us a wallop with a wooden spoon if we were out of order. But we really respected him - he didn't try to be our best friend.

I think with motherhood and child-rearing in general, everyone's going to tell you how to do it and why. I've always said to other mothers and women when they've asked me, that you have to find your own way and find out what works for your family, at all costs.

One father is enough to govern one hundred sons, but not a hundred sons one father.

My parents never really lecture me.

A wise parent humors the desire for independent action, so as to become the friend and advisor when his absolute rule shall cease.

I think all kids think their parents are strict. My parents aren't superstrict, but they seem to be stricter than most. But even though it's like, 'Oh, gosh, I've gotta be in at this time,' they know what they're doing. I have great parents.

Parents should have perfect control over their own spirits, and with mildness and yet firmness bend the will of the child until it shall expect nothing else but to yield to their wishes.

The challenge for me as a parent of two girls is to establish enough structure in the house so that things don't go haywire... but at the same time, as a dominant male figure in their life, let them know they can topple the king.

I do discuss things with him, but as a father, not a friend.

My mom was the organized enforcer. When someone crossed the line, mom was pretty clear-minded about how to... correct that error. But my dad led by his example, so we never wanted to do anything wrong that would, that would upset him or disturb him.

I think the biggest problem is parents are so concerned with being friends with their kids. You're not their friend. You're their parent.

That was a judicious mother who said, "I obey my children for the first year of their lives, but ever after I expect them to obey me.

The most assiduous task of parenting is to divine the difference between boundaries and bondage.

Be a father first. Don't put a priority of being a friend with your wife first, or a friend with your kids first.

Allowing children to spew forth whatever is on their minds in the name of openness only creates an illusion of family closeness.

I think you have to be a little bit strict. You can't be friend and their parent in a lot of situations, especially in this day and age where it's so dangerous for kids. So there's a bit of sternness, I guess, in the way I raise my kids.

When I was a kid, my mother's parenting style teetered between benign neglect and intense bouts of violence.