Everyone needs to have access both to grandparents and grandchildren in order to be a full human being.
I have an enormous family because I'm from Montreal and my family's Catholic, so my dad has eight siblings and they all have kids and we all grew up in the same property on weekends and summers.
Immigrant parents dream that their children will find a place in their new home, and they willingly suffer hardships in service to that dream. That was certainly true of my parents.
I was a nursery school teacher, and I worked with youth groups. I loved that job. It was exhausting, but you got a lot back - all their purity and insight and innocence is so on the surface, and they're so unrepressed; they'd really scream at you and then give you a massive kiss.
I think it's irresponsible when celebrities imply they're doing it all themselves. My son has aunties and uncles around all the time, and my husband is my hero. He's really full-on. I couldn't do it any other way.
I want to feel I have the energy I will need as an older mother having a younger baby. It's really important that when I'm 51, and my daughter is 10, that I feel I can still run around and do things with her, and feel the energy of a slightly younger woman having their kids at school.
I have a great relationship with my mother-in-law. We're both Leos, we understand each other.
My mom, grandma, great-grandma - we're all named Mary, and we all play piano and sing.
I have a role now that I think becomes me. I am a grandmother.
My mum is quite young, so we actually have similar taste in music.
I am a daughter. My father is an example for me.
It's a humbling thing, having kids. One of my sons came to rehearsals, and now he says Daddy's job is 'go play loud music.'
From birth to death, anyone can fish. I just think it's fantastic to see old people going fishing with young people and teaching them things. I'm very, very critical.
My parents and my grandmother inspire me every day and, every day, in my work and personal life.
I worked at an old folks' home once in Harlem, and I was an activities volunteer. I used to do all these plays with the old people. I did 'The Wizard of Oz;' it was adapted. There was a guy there who played the harmonica, so we had an overture, and The Wizard was 96.
I think my husband and dad were both very happy that I had a baby boy, to get some testosterone in the family, because there are a lot of girls. It's not a perfect family, but it's a strong family. The nice thing is how the different ages interact.
Young Asian people who come up to me have a certain vibration, and I receive it, and I understand it, and I feel emotional just talking about it. I'm here for you. And I'll continue doing everything I can to fill something that I know you need right now that we don't yet have as a community.
I always came away thinking "I'd like to see her more," you know? And then when [Parental Guidance] was ready to be cast, we thought - Bette [Midler]. So we called her.
When it comes to children, my mom doesn't believe in borders. She loves all children, and that's a good example of mothering the world. I need to do that, but before I can, I need to get over my fear of kids in the first place.
I've always hung out with people older than me, with my parents' friends, because I appreciated the conversation.
When I was a child, I loved old people. My New Hampshire grandfather was my model human being.
Why can't we build orphanages next to homes for the elderly? If someone were sitting in a rocker, it wouldn't be long before a kid will be in his lap.
My granddaddy on my momma's side, he was a romantic. He loved love songs. Every Valentine's Day, I remember him buying a red carnation for my grandmomma, my momma and my sister. That was something you could count on every year.
Sometimes with my children, I remember exactly how I felt as the child in this situation, not just how it feels to be me.
I did want a boy child because I had this romantic idea that a boy child when he's 16 takes his mother out for dinner.
