Jeffrey Kluger Quotes

My parents called me their wise little baby. I was mature when I was 4 or 5. My brother and sister were older, so I was raised by four adults.

In large families, it seems it is hardest to be either the first or the last child. That was certainly true in ours.

Maybe the perceived fact that smart, rich parents tended to have smart, rich kids was largely due to the fact that they also tended to have stay-at-home moms or nannies who read to their kids, held them, put mobiles over their cribs, playing those annoying ditties, and sent them off for SAT training at six months.

My parents told me I'd point to a bed of flowers and say 'Pink. Pretty,' before I knew any other words.

Well, when you're the youngest of five, parents kind of lose interest more and more through the children. I think my eldest brother was under loads of pressure to do something amazing with his life, but by the time I came around they were like, 'Well, let's hope he doesn't kill a guy.'

I think when you are an only child, parents are more protective and fearful because they've only got one of you. I was not allowed to do a lot of things that, if I'd been, say, number three, I would have.

I happened to the be the fifth child of my family, so everybody was already grown and had left home already.

I'm the youngest of seven kids.

My parents were definitely on the incentive side of parenting. Like, they told me that my father had learned to read when he was three. So, of course, I thought I had to, too.

I grew up as an only child, so inherently, most of my life was centered around me. My parents taught me to play well with others and to share my toys, but I was still an only child who didn't have to share my parent's attention with siblings. As great as my childhood was, I always wanted brothers and sisters.

I'm the middle child.

I am the youngest of three boys, and I was super-informed by what the older ones were into.

Poor parenting may be reflected in poor sibling relationships.

I'm the youngest of five boys.

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.

My sister and I never engaged in sibling rivalry. Our parents weren't that crazy about either one of us.

A child in its greed for love does not enjoy having to share the affection of its parents with its brothers and sisters; and it notices that the whole of their affection is lavished upon it once more whenever it arouses their anxiety by falling ill. It has now discovered a means of enticing out its parents' love and will make use of that means as soon as it has the necessary psychical material at its disposal for producing an illness.

How competitive am I? A healthy amount. I have four siblings. It was competitive just eating dinner, like, "Everyone, get what you want from the chicken." Plus competing for your parents' attention.

I may be the baby of the family, but that doesn't mean I don't get to boss people around.

Donald Trump's mother, who said, Donnie! Stop playing Monopoly and get in that barber's chair! Never got a dinner!

I can't remember a single time [my parents] ever told me not to do something I wanted to do.

You speak of beginning the education of your son. The moment he was able to form an idea his education was already begun. . . .

I have four daughters, with the two youngest being four years old and a year and a half. When one of my older daughters was in sixth grade, a classmate brought in their talking Winnie the Pooh doll for show and tell, so the next week my daughter one upped her classmates and brought me to school in for show and tell.

When I was a kid I got no respect. When I went on the roller coaster, my old man told me to stand up straight.

Certainly my parents were Dr. [Benjamin] Spock-driven parents. So they were tolerant.