Leila Slimani Quotes

My kids are my life and the thought of someone taking them away from me is my worst nightmare.

As a parent, you experience the most of everything. The most love, the most fear, the most hurt and the most tired, the most of every emotion.

Being a parent is not for the faint of heart. I may joke about knowing fear, but the fact is, the first time I ever knew real fear was the day Charlotte, my first child, was born. Suddenly there is someone in the world you care about more than anything.

I don't want him to hurt himself. I don't want him to choke on something. You're just so concerned for them, and it hurts you. It's so alarming, man. I feel it for the people around me, but it's deeper for my son. Only a parent would understand.

I think it is since I became a parent that I am much more afraid.

People who have babies tell me I will know a love that is beyond anything I can imagine, and a joy that is indescribable. Love and joy? That sounds horrifying. I have no way of knowing whether I can handle either of those. I'm much better with need and fear. They are what ground me.

Children change you. You have this overwhelming feeling of responsibility, of love - they're everything. They're yours. You know when you're cuddling them, cradling them, and you can smell their hair. I love that.

I have three sons, and I think we're both fierce protectors of our children.

The first time you hold your baby in your arms, I mean, a sense of strength and love washes over you. It washed over me and I never thought that possible.

I think you really have to become a parent to understand what you will endure to be there for your kids.

Little children are still the symbol of the eternal marriage between love and duty.

My mother goes crazy over babies. Some people just do. They love 'em! I never have. Babies scare me more than anything. They're tiny and fragile and impressionable - and someone else's! As much as I hate borrowing stuff, that is how much I hate holding other people's babies. It's too much responsibility.

The joy and happiness it gives you or the emotions you go through when you hold your child in your arms for the first time are indescribable! I really thought that there was going be this moment when a ray of light from heaven would come pouring in, background music would start playing with angels singing, but none of that happens!

This baby comes out of you and there's no handbook. They hand you this child and say, 'Don't kill it. Feed it, clothe it and shelter it.' I never knew what that kind of love was. I remember looking at my daughter for the first time and wondering if that's the way my father looked at me.

Billy is a funny, cheeky, lovely boy and I love being with him. Parenthood is terrifying though. I can barely walk past a building without panicking that it's going to collapse on his head.

Being a father taught me patience. And it taught me vulnerability. You don't realize how vulnerable you are when you love something else more far more than yourself.

But everything changed when I saw my son for the first time and today, I love my son, who is 18 months, the most in the world.

I've said many times that there only two things to write about: love and death. And when you have children, you remember that the world is full of sharp corners and dangerous things, and suddenly you have these small, soft creatures, which you love in almost painful way.

I can't deny the impact of, obviously, becoming a father and having my son come into this world, and even becoming a husband. The irony is that, when people think that in certain ways it softens you, in many ways, I'm more defensive and more on guard and more frightened and more angry at everything in this world now that I have them to worry about.

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.

I really think that parenthood cracks you open, which sounds so vague, but it is a different type of vulnerability. That's the bottom line. There isn't a second that I'm with my daughter that I don't appreciate every moment we have. All you want to do is protect her and create the best bubble possible for her to view the world.

Now I know I'll never be numb again. A mother is condemned to feel everything forever. And I'm finally afraid, condemned to fear everything forever. But that makes sense: feel someone else's pain, feel someone else's everything.And he's my baby, so everything's okay.

This is motherhood for you,' said my own mother. 'Going through life with your heart outside your body.

It was easy to run around barefoot in oblivion in Costa Rica. But once I gave birth to my child, I didn't want to be oblivious to the obvious.

I look for the safety of my child. I don't really care about me.