T. Berry Brazelton Quotes

Everybody thinks they have the answer to how to be a good parent. Here's mine: Everybody's gonna make mistakes.

Being a parent is such a difficult business; you don't always get things right. And also, you don't want to be a perfect parent... You need people to be human, and part of it is imperfection.

I can easily tap into the feeling of being a mother and the feeling of, you always want what's best for your kids. And that's where most parents come from.

I was not an ideal parent, and there were things that I did right and things I did wrong.

When it comes down to it, I believe that, having made the decision to bring children into the world, I owe it to them to be as present as I can in their daily lives and to try my best to stay alive until they've made it through to adulthood.

You can become very serious as a parent. That's got to be fought against.

Parents like the idea of kids, they just don't like their kids.

Fatherhood, both times for me, was a choice.

No matter what, it is very tricky and difficult just to be a good parent at all. I have a lot of help. And for that I'm very grateful.

My father once said about being a parent that it is the only thing you do that requires a very long period of learning, and at about the time that you are becoming competent, you don't need the skills anymore. Notwithstanding this modest assessment of their parenting skills, they were wonderful parents.

I regret not having had more time with my kids when they were growing up.

There is no greater name for a leader than mother or father. There is no leadership more important than parenthood.

As a nonparent, I stand in awe of parents.

I know how sobering and exhausting parenthood is. But the reality is that our children's future depends on us as parents. Because we know that the first years truly last forever.

I married an excellent parent, but I'm not sure that I've made a great parent.

Being a parent is not a reasonable thing. It is a very hard thing. I am a parent and I know.

And part of that is, what is the point of having children if you don't have the privilege of bringing them up?

Having children makes you see the world in a completely different way. When you're responsible for those little lives, you can't slough it off or forget about it until later.

In my experience (I am the lone father of an eight-year-old boy who lost his mother when he was one year old), parenting is the most difficult of all jobs: forget your chief executives, editors, prime ministers and the like - parenting is far more challenging.

I think if you give your best as a parent, then that's all you can do.

At the end of the day, the most overwhelming key to a child's success is the positive involvement of parents.

As a parent, I'd - I'd be a better father.

As a rule, I try to steer clear of opinions pertaining to your parenting. I assume you're doing the best you can, and God bless.

If you bring a child into this world, whether it's planned or an accident, you'd better make sure you can care for it. You have to be around. You make time. It's as simple as that.

If you have a child, I said, you have a responsibility at least to stay alive.