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When it comes to parenting, every mom and dad will tell you that the struggle is real. Sure you love your children more than life itself, but this gig sure is hard! From the challenges of potty training (all parents went through it!) to practicing gentle parenting, it seems that every move you make as a parent needs to be intentional if you want to instill positive habits in your kids as early as now. With all that gentle discipline and active parenting involved, it’s no wonder that we’re always tired!
To give you that much needed breathing space, we’ve put together a list of some inspirational parenting quotes that get you—some are quotes for the hard times, some are “parenting is not easy” quotes, while some are just to make you laugh, because no one needs a good hearty laugh more than a hardworking parent!
In this article, we’ll talk about:
For when gentle parenting becomes difficult and you’re wondering if you should go back to authoritarian ways, Jane Nelson shares this: "Where did we ever get the crazy idea that in order to make children do better, first, we have to make them feel worse? Think of the last time you felt humiliated or treated unfairly. Did you feel like cooperating or doing better?”
When you feel like you’re not providing for your kids enough, or when you’re comparing what your kids have to what their friends have, Nishan Panwar gets you: "I may not be able to give my kids everything they want, but I give them what they need: love, time, and attention. You can't buy those things.”
Need help centering on what to focus on as a parent right now? Get a little help from this quote: “Be the parent today that you want your kids to remember tomorrow.”
There are many ways on how to raise children nowadays, but parents only have one goal: Raise a happy child. How do you ensure their happiness, safety, and success in this world? Brian Tracy has this to say. “If you raise your children to feel that they can accomplish any goal or task they decide upon, you will have succeeded as a parent, and you will have given your children the greatest of all blessings.”
Parents constantly worry about the future of their children, from what college they’re going to attend to if climate change will make the world uninhabitable in the future (yes you’re not alone—other parents go that far down the rabbit hole!). What matters is to raise resilient, happy individuals who can weather any storms that life will give them: “We may not be able to prepare the future for our children, but we can at least prepare our children for the future.”
Everything passes, both the good and the bad times. What matters, as Paulo Coelho puts it, is to know what is within your control and what isn’t. Let go of what you can control and do something with what you can. “I have seen many storms in my life. Most storms have caught me by surprise, so I had to learn very quickly to look further and understand that I am not capable of controlling the weather, to exercise the art of patience and to respect the fury of nature.”
When nothing you do seems to work, you and your child can take time off from the matter to self-reflect.
When you’re exhausted from trying your hardest to be a better parent and raise your kids differently than you were raised, listen in on what Kristen Crockett has to say: “The reality is that most of us communicate the same way that we grew up. That communication style becomes our normal way of dealing with issues, our blueprint for communication. It’s what we know and pass on to our own children. We either become our childhood or we make a conscious choice to change it.”
When your kids just won’t let working remotely work for you, remember these wise words Carolyn Webster-Stratton has to say about “Play with me!” moments with your kid: “Play helps build a warm relationship between family members and create a bank of positive feelings and experiences that can be drawn upon in times of conflict. Through play, you can help your children solve problems, test out ideas, and explore their imaginations.”
There’s no such thing as the perfect parent. Repeat this 100 times until it gets through. Or, repeat this quote from Sue Atkins: “There is no such thing as a perfect parent. So just be a real one.”
If you are your child’s number one fan, then you’ve done more than enough as a parent. Here’s your reassurance from Matthew Jacobson: “Behind every young child who believes in himself is a parent who believed first.”
This latest parental slip up will not be your last, so there’s no use beating yourself up about it. St. Francis de Sales gets it. “Have patience with all things. But, first of all, with yourself.”
Dust yourself off and try again, but with more patience and love for yourself and your child. This quote from Terence will guide you to a better path: “It is better to bind your children to you by a feeling of respect and by gentleness than by fear.”
Even if you make mistakes, your children will always see you as their hero, anchor, and rock.
Sometimes the reason behind the stress of parents is how daunting it is to be in charge of someone else. But rather than feeling crushed under the weight of expectations, take a breather and realize how blessed and irreplaceable you are. Nicholas Sparks puts it beautifully: “What it’s like to be a parent: It’s one of the hardest things you’ll ever do, but in exchange, it teaches you the meaning of unconditional love.”
If you’re wondering if you’re getting through to your kids, remember this: They’re always watching, always listening. They do what they see, not what you tell them to do. You’re that important that who they are is intertwined with you. Virginia Satir knows it, likely from firsthand experience: “Every word, facial expression, gesture, or action on the part of a parent gives the child some message about self-worth.”
There will be days when you, or even your child, will get distracted and forget that even parent-child relationships need work. Your relationship will outlast everything—remember this quote from James E. Faust the next time you feel unappreciated: “The depth of the love of parents for their children cannot be measured. It is like no other relationship. It exceeds concern for life itself. The love of a parent for a child is continuous and transcends heartbreak and disappointment.”
Words matter, and what you say to a child can make or break them—or any adult, for that matter. This reminder from Gary Smalley shows that what we tell our kids that they are—smart, beautiful, kind, or sadly, the opposite of those—will be who they will be. “Affirming words from moms and dads are like light switches. Speak a word of affirmation at the right moment in a child’s life, and it’s like lighting up a whole roomful of possibilities.”
You may not see it but you mean the world to them, and you're a shining beacon in their little lives.
There wasn’t even a thank you or anything! “It’s like no one in my family appreciates that I stayed up all night overthinking for them.”
Lane Olinghouse spitting out truths out here! "The quickest way for a parent to get a child's attention is to sit down and look comfortable."
All parents, all the time, can relate to this anonymous quote: “90% of parenting is just thinking about when you can lie down again.”
It's not exclusively when you’re washing dishes, it’s when you’re in the bathroom, doing laundry… or anytime you’re doing something not fun! “I love when my kids tell me they're bored. As if the lady standing in front of a full sink of dirty dishes is where you go to get ideas about how to have a good time.”
Not just that, half of your purse isn’t even your stuff. Right, Nia Vardalos? “Becoming a mom to me means that you have accepted that for the next 16 years of your life, you will have a sticky purse.”
So the unspoken rule is… the messier the house, the more sanity the parent keeps. Take it from Phyllis Diller: "Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the sidewalk before it stops snowing."
Ask Ivan Turgenev: What’s boredom? Parents don’t know her! “That’s what children are for—that their parents may not be bored.”
Parenthood is an amazing journey, and with all its ups and downs, it’s definitely not for the fainthearted. We hope you found these quotesuseful, either finding them inspiring, uplifting, or at the very least, made you crack a smile or laugh a little. Here’s to being a parent—if you feel like you’re not doing it right, it means you’re actually doing well, because it shows you care enough to wonder how else to improve. All your actions are rooted in love, and that will always be enough for your kids.
Spend quality time with your kids on a Piico Playground during nightly tooth routines:
