Joan Crawford Quotes

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

Strange about parents. We have such easy access to them and such daunting problems of communication.

What must it be like for a little boy to read that daddy never loved mummy?

There are many tough conversations, but one of the most difficult is between a parent and an adolescent daughter, partly because as a parent we are almost always attempting to relate to someone who is no longer there.

I love my son, but I was never there for him, so I understand why he hates me.

Anyone who has ever been a mother or father and is at all honest knows from experience how difficult it can be for parents to accept certain aspects of their children. It is especially painful to have to admit this if we really love our child and want to respect his or her individuality yet are unable to do so.

You’re not supposed to dislike your own child. You were supposed to like them no matter what, even if they were not what you wanted.

You will not believe me, but I am proud of your strength. Sometimes. . . sometimes the only way I can care for my children is to keep my distance.

All mothers love their own children as best they can, according to their temperament and circumstances, and all mothers should have done better, in their children's eyes, when the going gets tough for the children.

If you are going through something with one of your parents, you know that there is this feeling inside you constantly that something is wrong. Even if you want to pretend that it doesn't matter to you or you don't care, the truth of the matter is that you do, because they are your parents and you love them.

I can see how the young girls really get hurt when their moms are critical, or vice versa when they're overly critical of their moms. It can be so painful.

My father was this famous heart surgeon, a wonderful man... but there was something about me that drove him crazy.

I'm not saying my mother didn't like me, but she kept looking for loopholes in my birth certificate.

The unjustifiable severity of a parent is loaded with this aggravation, that those whom he injures are always in his sight.

The real demon in my life is my father.

When a mother quarrels with a daughter, she has a double dose of unhappiness hers from the conflict, and empathy with her daughter's from the conflict with her. Throughout her life a mother retains this special need to maintain a good relationship with her daughter.

A very painful part of being a parent is having really negative feelings about your children when you love them so much.

My mother and I never got along, not even when I was a child.

My mother is a very strange woman... She doesn't understand me in the least and doesn't love me much either. If she had either love or understanding she would be prepared to make sacrifices.

My daughter couldn't care less about me being famous. She finds it revolting and, like a lot of teenagers, is virtually allergic to me. That started at 12 and hasn't gone anywhere yet.

Mum's serial misbehavior over the years had driven me, despairing, to write her scolding - occasionally scalding letters.

I have two kids, and anyone who has a kid in order to feel loved is going to be in trouble because kids are first and foremost all about themselves. They'll say they love you, but 10 seconds later they'll turn on you.

I certainly feel sad about the alienation from my son.

My stepfather was fond of letting me know, quote, 'I ain't your... damn daddy.' That was something that was painful, to put it mildly.

My relationship with my dad was a little rocky, sure. The time that I spent with him was basically two hours of Little League practice, six or seven days a week, from the age of five until whenever. If we lost, there was no talking the whole way home. But that seemed normal to me.