Eric Greitens Quotes

I've often said that the most important thing you can give your children is wings. Because, you're not gonna always be able to bring food to the nest. You're... sometimes... they're gonna have to be able to fly by themselves.

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

A mother is not a person to lean on but a person to make leaning unnessary.

I believe in being a mother who gives wings, not clips them.

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.

In the end, it's not what you do for your children but what you've taught them to do for themselves.

Raising children is an enormously important part of life. I think one of the most important, or the most important, period.

My kids learned to be independent.

Parents, raise your kids. Young men and women, raise your kids.

There's a level of protection you need to give to your kids, and then sometimes you need to just let them figure out things on their own.

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

Is it important to have a crew behind me? No, it's important to have me behind them. That's how I look at it. You can't just roll with a situation like you're depending on somebody to help you. You're supposed to help the situation, whatever the situation is that you're in.

When my son first started to take the subway, my husband and I used to follow him to make sure he was all right, and then we had to stop following him and let him do it by himself.

My children keep me real and keep me honest.

My own eight children all march to the beat of their inner music, and in some cases, it is definitely far away from what I hear. I've had to honor their instincts and their choices, and merely guided them out of harm's way until they could be their own guides.

Thirteen, 13 children, and I love - I love them all. And I think I've been a good father to all of them.

I would say my greatest achievement in life right now - my greatest achievement period is - and I'm still trying to achieve it - is to be a wonderful father to my kids.

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.

I know that I have raised my sons to be big, strong, independent men who love God, themselves and care for others. I have to learn to let them have space and learn without me.

Listen to the desires of your children. Encourage them and then give them the autonomy to make their own decision.

It's a hard call, but I've no desire to live my children's lives. I think my job as a father is to protect them, to allow them a safe place to grow up and to teach them what I've learned.

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

I think our job as parents is to give our kids roots to grow and wings to fly.

I tried to stay with things until I thought they were on their feet and they learned to walk and talk.

Work made me more streetwise because you can be so sheltered at home. I'd definitely encourage my kids Lillie and Karl, who are nine and seven, to get Saturday jobs in the future.