Parental Guilt Quotes

One night I went over to get some dope from some Hollywood tough guy. After I left, my son Scott, who was only fifteen, went over with a baseball bat to kill him. I was laughing out of one eye and crying out of the other. I thought, Who am I kidding?

I was a terrible father. The most I ever did for my children was to teach them chess. At least they got that.

I feel bad for my parents for having to raise me. I was crazy.

When evidence emerged that Clinton was a devoted mother, Margaret Carlson writing in 'TIME' found her guilty of 'yuppie overdoting on her daughter.'

You can't live your life through your children.

Sometimes I think I've been a bad father.

A Sunday school is a prison in which children do penance for the evil conscience of their parents.

We routinely leave our small children in day care among strangers. At the same time, in our guilt we evince paranoia about strangers and foster fear in children.

No one I know is actually so rude as to tell me I've become duller since having children. But I'm sure they think it.

Tereza's mother never stopped reminding her that being a mother meant sacrificing everything. Her words had the ring of truth, backed as they were by the experience of a woman who had lost everything because of her child. Tereza would listen and believe that being a mother was the highest value in life and that being a mother was a great sacrifice. If a mother was Sacrifice personified, then a daughter was Guilt, with no possibility of redress.

There were times I should have been completely emotionally available to my kids and I wasn't there, even for reading a book with them or watching TV or tucking my daughter into bed.

Sometimes I feel very guilty, so I don't know if I am a clear example of a perfect father, because sometimes I also just punish myself, saying I'm not doing probably the right thing at this particular moment. It's a secret.

It's sad that my daughter will get attention because of her daddy. I'm already watching her run around the house and pick up microphones. It's scary.

Before I had my first child, I thought women had to decide between being a mom and a fulfilling, successful professional life. I was wrong. Very wrong.

I remember my daughter coming back from school one day and saying that the teacher had asked anybody whose parents were divorced to put their hands up. I felt angry but also guilty. And you feel sort of terribly responsible in that sort of situation.

I think the hardest part of being a working mom is that I miss my kids a lot.

I work too much to be an appropriate parent. I feel like a bad mom to my dog some days because I'm just not here enough. I just feel like I would do a bad job if I took the time to literally give birth to a kid right now and try and juggle everything I'm doing.

Being a working mother means that you are always disappointing somebody.

There is, I think, far too much guilt generally in society around parenthood, about whether or not you breastfeed or whether or not you bottle feed. We know the evidence is very strong in favour of breastfeeding and the benefits of that, but it shouldn't mean we make people feel bad if they can't do that for some reason.

The uncertainty of parenting can bring up feelings in us that range from frustration to terror.

This whole generation of parents - I'm guilty of it too - does too much for their kids.

When Courtney's mother and I first separated I tried to be Disney Dad, showering her with gifts, trips and then I snapped out of it. You don't have to try to impress your kids. If they're not getting what they need from you, they will let you know.

I'm scared of screwing up my kids.

I have barely seen my son since he came into the world. Even though I hear his voice on the phone almost every day, it is very tough to not be present while he is growing up.

I think every parent, every generation has wanted their children to do better and have a higher standard of living. But I think there's too much guilt.