Jane Kaczmarek Quotes

Kids have been let down by adults - we've tried to give them too much, we've tried not to impose discipline. We've tried to make their lives easier and, in doing so, we've taken something away from them. Kids like boundaries, they also like to be pushed, need to learn what failure is all about, need guidance.

Leadership is the other side of the coin of loneliness, and he who is a leader must always act alone. And acting alone, accept everything alone.

They are amazing kids so we let them make decisions but also have discipline.

A wise parent humors the desire for independent action, so as to become the friend and advisor when his absolute rule shall cease.

The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence.

Parents must lay down ground rules for their children to help them to grow up and to learn responsibility for their actions. They must learn to stand on their own two feet.

Children should have enough freedom to be themselves - once they've learned the rules.

As a child, I had to get up early for school or work. I'd get ready by myself. I'd set my alarm to wake me up very early in the morning, and be off to work, the family driver driving me every morning. I did it alone, my parents never coming in to wake me up.

Living alone makes it harder to find someone to blame.

A leader does not deserve the name unless he is willing occasionally to stand alone.

Grown men do not need leaders.

One thing I think kids need to do is more chores, and take care of their own rooms. Responsibilities are really important to start them with. If they have animals, they have to feed them and care for them. That's the only way I think I could do it.

The sooner you treat your son as a man, the sooner he will be one.

I think it is important to say that though, of course, it is wonderful to have children, it is a disservice to others not to also say how hard it is to do it alone.

I am not a father who wants to give his kids everything. They have to earn it.

I think self-reliance and self-responsibility and self-accountability will help you as a parent, a teacher, as a citizen as a friend.

Those who cannot think or take responsibility for themselves need, and clamor for, a leader.

All the things that most kids hated, I loved. I loved that things were asked of me and that, much to my surprise, I was able to do them. I loved the 10 o'clock bedtime. I loved the responsibility.

But I was the most unashamed lone parent you were ever going to meet.

Leaders often find themselves temporarily alone.

Because my parents had given me tremendous respect, trust, and freedom as a child, I knew how to take responsibility for myself. If you're constantly being told "No, don't do that" or "We don't trust you," you can't develop that responsibility.

A parent does not do everything for their kid. A parent that does everything for their kid produces a kid with no self-confidence. If our parents fixed everything for us and did not allow us to do anything on our own, or intervened every single time, we would all grow up to be completely dependent. The reason we grow up to be healthy adults is because our parents played this game of giving us responsibility, disciplining us when necessary, letting us try, letting us fail.

Sometimes you have to trust grownups, perhaps more so when they are not there to actually supervise you.

In the discharge of the duties of this office, there is one rule of action more important than all others. It consists in never doing anything that someone else can do for you.

The children whom nobody leads by the hand are the children who know they are children.