Ann Makosinski Quotes

There's no handbook for parenting. So you walk a very fine line as a parent because you are civilizing these raw things. They will tip the coffee over and finger-paint on the table. At some point, you have to say, 'We're gonna have to clean that up because you don't paint with coffee on a table.'

I think that good parenting should allow children to be children. That naivety and slightly open way of looking at the world is very valuable.

Having kids certainly gets me to ask the question, 'Who is the adult here, and who is the kid?'

I need to raise my kids. It takes a lot of time and a lot of energy to raise kids and make men of them these days. I don't want them to be lazy and just spend their father's money.

You've got to talk to your kids as both a parent and a friend.

When your child comes to you at a young age and declares he or she is passionate about this or that, the natural tendency for many parents, out of love, is to simply support that decision. That's the path of least resistance, but it's not necessarily the best path, in my opinion.

An incredible number of people have raised children who aren't too screwed up. Surely, I won't be the worst at it.

My default answer to most of the questions my kids ask me is 'no.' I just start with 'no.' I let them fight for it a little bit.

One of the things that I learned at a very young age is the power of a parent's words to their children.

I think there's different parenting styles.

People forget how the same children brought up with affection, effort, and love are the ones who later kick their parents.

You chastise children when they are bad, as my parents did me. I'm not opposed to smacking. It is to be used occasionally.

I didn't tell my kids, 'You have to play viola, and you have to play piano.' They chose these things on their own, and I don't think we have to give kids every choice, but we do have to give them some choice because that autonomy is crucial for fostering passion.

Parents can only do what they think is best, with the experience they have. The learning curve for every parent is that there's a limit to how much they can shield children from.

My father very early on had both short and long-term strategies in his approach to raising his children, so my father was disturbed by the extent to which I was interested in both hip-hop and sports.

Kids are an extension of you and it is important to raise them well.

It is very difficult when you grow up without a father because you don't have a man who can give you direction and discipline.

In the same way that I cannot be perfect and need grace for my mistakes, I also need to give my kids grace. I am constantly learning to be patient with them, understanding that they won't do everything right all the time, while still holding them to a high standard, as their heavenly father does.

There is a trend in child-rearing that I find abhorrent: "Whatever the kids want to do is fine." For me, the classic example of this is when someone has a visitor and says, "Go kiss Aunt Gertrude," and Aunt Gertrude says, "She doesn't have to kiss me if she doesn't want to." Well, I think that's wrong.

Discipline is a symbol of caring to a child.He needs guidance.If there is love, there is no such thing as being too tough with a child. A parent must also not be afraid to hang himself. If you have never been hated by your child, you have never been a parent.

It is our continuing love for our children that makes us want them to become all they can be, and their continuing love for us that helps them accept healthy discipline--from us and eventually from themselves.

The word NO, carries a lot more meaning when spoken by a parent who also knows how to say yes.

An infallible way to make your child miserable is to satisfy all his demands. Passion swells by gratification; and the impossibility of satisfying every one of his demands will oblige you to stop short at last, after he has become a little headstrong.

Let the child's first lesson be obedience, and the second will be what thou wilt.

If you would train your children rightly, train them in the way they should go and not in the way they would.