Orson Scott Card Quotes

I have made a lot of mistakes raising the four Jenner kids.

Andrew said you were the best person he ever knew." "He reached that conclusion before he saw me raise three barbarian children to adulthood. I understand your mother has six." "Right." "And you're the oldest." "Yes." "That's too bad. Parents always make their worst mistakes with the oldest children. That's when parents know the least and care the most, so they're more likely to be wrong and also more likely to insist that they're right.

I'm a mother of three children, and we do make mistakes.

Since civilizing children takes the better part of two decades--some twenty years of nonstop thinking, nurturing, teaching, coaxing, rewarding, forgiving, warning, punishing, sympathizing, apologizing, reminding, and repeating, not to mention deciding what to do when--I now understand that one wrong move is invariably followed by hundreds of opportunities to be wrong again.

I’ve noticed that one thing about parents is that no matter what stage your child is in, the parents who have older children always tell you the next stage is worse.

Each generation has been an education for us in different ways. The first child-with-bloody-nose was rushed to the emergency room. The fifth child-with-bloody-nose was told to go to the yard immediately and stop bleeding on the carpet.

There may be some doubt as to who are the best people to have charge of children, but there can be no doubt that parents are the worst.

"What is the greatest mistake a parent can make?" she asked. "To believe that your children will be just like you."

I would love to have kids one day. In fact, I'm pretty good with them. I grew up with five half-siblings, the youngest of whom is 11 years younger than me, so I think I learned some pretty cool parenting skills quite early on in life.

As a father of five, I sometimes feel I've spent a lifetime watching Disney musicals.

My childhood should have taught me lessons for my own fatherhood, but it didn't because parenting can only be learned by people who have no children.

I said I would get better with each baby, and I have.

Parents are the last people on earth who ought to have children.

Everybody knows how to raise children, except the people who have them.

Before I married, I had three theories about raising children and no children. Now, I have three children and no theories.

I have never had a nanny with any of my children.

We put so much pressure on ourselves as parents to be able to do everything, but children are very grateful and understanding. I always find that quality time, even if you just get a little bit, really has a deep impact. But you also need them to know that they can make mistakes, and if they do make a mistake it's OK for them to tell you and that they'll get a second chance.

Most business mistakes are irreversible setbacks, but you get another chance. There are two things in life that you don't get another chance at - marrying the wrong person and what you do with your children.

I'm much more concerned with being a good dad than a good actor, being there for my children, educating them and hopefully helping them avoid some of the mistakes that I've made.

As marriage produces children, so children produce care and disputes; and wrangling.

Having children is like living in a frat house - nobody sleeps, everything's broken, and there's a lot of throwing up.

I am endlessly fascinated that playing football is considered a training ground for leadership, but raising children isn't.

The best time to give advice to your children is while they're still young enough to believe you know what you're talking about.

It's especially hard to admit that you made a mistake to your parents, because, of course, you know so much more than they do.

Rearing three children is like growing a cactus, a gardenia, and a tubful of impatiens. Each needs varying amounts of water, sunlight and pruning. Were I to be absolutely fair, I would have to treat each child as if he or she were absolutely identical to the other siblings, and there would be no profit for anyone in that.