100+ Inspirational Parent Quotes to Uplift and Guide Your Parenting Journey

"Children need love, especially when they do not deserve it."

- Harold Hulbert

"There are no bad children. There are bad choices. There are bad moments. There are bad days. There are bad situations. But there are no bad children. Period."

- L.R. Knost

"It’s not only children who grow. Parents do, too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can’t tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it myself."

- Joyce Maynard

"To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is."

- Fred Rogers

"Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you."

- Robert Fulghum

"The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice."

- Peggy O’Mara

"Parents are the ultimate role models for children. Every word, movement, and action has an effect. No other person or outside force has a greater influence on a child than the parent."

- Bob Keeshan

"Your children need your presence more than your presents."

- Jesse Jackson

"Your kids require you most of all to love them for who they are, not to spend your whole time trying to correct them."

- Bill Ayers

"Children are great imitators, so give them something great to imitate."

- John Wooden

"Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you."

- Robert Fulghum

"Children learn more from what you are than what you teach."

- W.E.B. Du Bois

"The best way to raise positive children in a negative world is to have positive parents who love them unconditionally and serve as excellent role models."

- Zig Ziglar

"The best thing to spend on your children is time."

- Louise Hart

"Children are the anchors that hold a mother to life."

- Sophocles

"Parenting is not a perfect journey, but a perfect opportunity to love and guide your child."

- Peter Krause

"The greatest gift a father can give his children is to love their mother."

- John Wooden

"Parenting is about guiding the next generation, and forgiving the last."

- Peter Krause

"Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression."

- Dr. Haim Ginott

"A child's mind is not a container to be filled but rather a fire to be kindled."

- Dorothea Brande

"There’s no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one."

- Jill Churchill

"A baby is born with a need to be loved — and never outgrows it."

- Frank A. Clark

"The art of mothering is to teach the art of living to children."

- Elaine Heffner

"It's not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves, that will make them successful human beings."

- Ann Landers

"Parenting is about guiding your children to discover their own paths, not paving the way for them."

- Lisa Wingate

"It is one thing to show your child the way, and a harder thing to then stand out of it."

- Robert Brault

"Children do not need us to shape them. They need us to respond to who they are."

- Naomi Aldort

"When your child is in the midst of a meltdown, remember that they are not giving you a hard time, they are having a hard time."

- Dr. Laura Markham

"Children are not things to be molded, but are people to be unfolded."

- Jess Lair

"The best kind of parent you can be is to lead by example."

- Drew Barrymore

"The most important thing that parents can teach their children is how to get along without them."

- Frank A. Clark

"The way you help heal the world is you start with your own family."

- Mother Teresa

"The most precious jewels you'll ever have around your neck are the arms of your children."

- Cardinal Mermillod

"Being a parent means loving your children more than you've ever loved yourself."

- Drew Barrymore

"The best part about being a parent is the moment you realize you wouldn't want your life any other way."

- John Wooden

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."

- Elizabeth Stone

"Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands."

- Anne Frank

"My message is very simple. Love your kids. Just love them. Love, appreciate, show that you value them, remind them of their greatness, encourage them, respect, honor, trust, and treat them with dignity."

- Eric D. Greene

"It’s time we stop buying the lie that we need to be hard on kids because “the world is hard”. Love them as hard as you can. That’s what they need."

- Tara Vogler

"Parenting is the easiest thing in the world to have an opinion about, but the hardest thing in the world to do."

- Matt Walsh

"Your children will become who you are, so be who you want them to be."

- David Bly

"The best way to make children good is to make them happy."

- Oscar Wilde

"A mother's love is patient and forgiving when all others are forsaking. It never fails or falters, even though the heart is breaking."

- Helen Rice

"The most beautiful thing in the world is to see your children smiling, and knowing that you are the reason behind that smile."

- John Wooden

"The best parenting advice I can give: Do less. Seriously. Just stop — right now — and don't do a thing."

- Heather Wittenberg

"Parenting is the art of guiding a child to discover the world while rediscovering it through their innocent eyes, and in doing so, finding the magic in everyday moments."

- Diane Loomans

"It's not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours."

- Joyce Maynard

"The beauty of parenthood lies in the ability to witness your child's firsts and be a part of their every moment, creating a tapestry of memories that lasts a lifetime."

- Sharon Jaynes

"A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on."

- Carl Sandburg

"Parenting is a grand adventure, a journey of self-discovery, resilience, and the pure joy of witnessing a little soul blossom into its unique brilliance."

- Sarah Ban Breathnach

"There is no friendship, no love, like that of the parent for the child."

- Henry Ward Beecher

"Parenting is a dance between making memories and letting go, a delicate balance of holding on and encouraging your child to soar to new heights."

- Karen Salmansohn

"A mother's love is endless; it goes beyond words, time, and distance."

- Preeti Shenoy

"Parenthood is a sacred privilege, a profound responsibility, and a boundless wellspring of unconditional love that knows no bounds."

- Michael Josephson

"There is no such thing as a perfect parent. So just be a real one."

- Sue Atkins

"Sometimes the strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws."

- Barbara Kingsolver

"Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work."

- C.S. Lewis

"Parenting is about raising and celebrating the child you have, not the child you thought you’d have."

- Brené Brown

"Parenthood. It's about guiding the next generation and forgiving the last."

- Peter Krause

"One day your child will make a mistake or a bad choice and run to you instead of away from you and at that moment you will know the immense value of peaceful, positive, respectful parenting."

- L.R. Knost

"Parenthood…It's about guiding the next generation, and forgiving the last."

- Peter Krause

"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?"

- Jane Nelson

"Sometimes, kids want you to hurt the way they hurt."

- Mitch Albom

"If I had to make a general rule for living and working with children, it might be this: Be wary of saying or doing anything to a child that you would not do to another adult, whose good opinion and affection you valued."

- John Holt

"My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person: He believed in me."

- Jim Valvano

"I’m always amazed when adults say that children “just did that to get attention”. Naturally, children who need attention will do all kinds of things to get it. Why not just give it to them?"

- Lawrence J. Cohen

"Children do well if they can, if they can’t we need to figure out why so we can help."

- Dr. Ross Greene

"But kids don't stay with you if you do it right. It's the one job where, the better you are, the more surely you won't be needed in the long run."

- Barbara Kingsolver

"If we don’t shape our kids, they will be shaped by outside forces that don’t care what shape our kids are in."

- Louise Hart

"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."

- Kristen Crockett

"Too much love never spoils children. Children become spoiled when we substitute presents for presence."

- Dr. Anthony Withman

"It is ironic that adults want children to control their own behavior when the adults have difficulty controlling their own behavior."

- Jane Nelson

"Children harbor a great many doubts and sorrows that could be eased by a loving hug from a parent."

- Richelle E. Goodrich

"If we are wonderful parents and family members, then there’s really nothing else to prove."

- Ron Baratono

"Every day our children spread their dreams beneath our feet. We should tread softly."

- Ken Robinson

"If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn."

- Ignacio Estrada

"I wish children could grow according to their natural pace: sleep when sleepy, wake up when rested, eat when hungry, cry when upset, play and explore without being unnecessarily interrupted; in other words, be allowed to grow and blossom as each was meant to."

- Magda Gerber

"Feeling heard and understood allows children to release their feelings, let go and move on."

- Janet Lansbury

"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."

- Nishan Panwar

"By loving them for more than their abilities, we show our children that they are much more than the sum of their accomplishments."

- Eileen Kennedy-Moore

"A child seldom needs a good talking to as a good listening to."

- Robert Brault

"Encourage and support your kids, because children are apt to live up to what you believe of them."

- Lady Bird Johnson

"As your kids grow up, they may forget what you said, but they won't forget how you made them feel."

- Kevin Heath

"But kids don’t stay with you if you do it right. It’s the one job where, the better you are, the more surely you won’t be needed in the long run."

- Barbara Kingsolver

"Making the decision to have a child — it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."

- Elizabeth Stone

"Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder."

- Rumi

"When little people are overwhelmed by big emotions, it’s our job to share our calm, not join their chaos."

- L.R. Knost

"Speak to your children as if they are the wisest, kindest, most beautiful and magical humans on earth, for what they believe is what they will become."

- Brooke Hampton

"Don’t tell your kids, ‘I’m proud of you.’ tell them, ‘You should be proud of yourself’."

- Kristen Welch

"I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less."

- Anna Quindlen

"The moment you begin to actively discover the amazing personhood of your child, parenting starts to feel like less of a burden and more of an adventure."

- Angela Pruess

"It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them successful human beings."

- Ann Landers

"It’s right to talk about motherhood as a wonderful thing, but we also need to talk about its stresses and strains. It’s OK not to find it easy. Asking for help should not be seen as a sign of weakness."

- Kate Middleton

"The golden rule of parenting is do unto your children as you wish your parents had done unto you!"

- Louise Hart

"By loving them for more than their abilities we show our children that they are much more than the sum of their accomplishments."

- Eileen Kennedy-Moore

"You must first teach a child he is loved. Only then is he ready to learn everything else."

- Amanda Morgan

"Meltdowns and tantrums can be valuable moments for parents to strengthen their bond with their child. Approach them with compassion, patience, and a willingness to understand."

- Dr. Ross Greene

"The most powerful way to change the world is to live in front of our children the way we would like the world to be."

- Graham White

"We must remember that one day our children are going to follow our example instead of our advice."

- Carolina King

"If your children fear you, they cannot trust you. If they don’t trust you, they cannot learn from you."

- Lori Petro

"So often children are punished for being human. Children are not allowed to have grumpy moods, bad days, disrespectful tones, or bad attitudes. Yet, us adults have them all the time. None of us are perfect. We must stop holding our children to a higher standard of perfection than we can attain ourselves."

- Rebecca Eanes

"We never know the love of a parent till we become parents ourselves."

- Henry Ward Beecher

"Toddlers test, and that’s exactly what they are supposed to do. A toddler has failed if he makes life too easy for us."

- Janet Lansbury

"The point of parenting is not to have all the answers before we start out but instead to figure it out on the go as our children grow. Because as they do, so will we."

- Bridgett Miller

"Remember you are not managing an inconvenience. You are raising a human being."

- Kittie Franz

"A child seldom needs a good talking to as much as a good listening to."

- Robert Brault

"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?"

- Jane Nelson

"We are apt to forget that children watch examples better than they listen to preaching."

- Roy L. Smith

"Counteract conflict by connection and communicating calmly."

- Kirsty Lee

"Parents aren’t the people you come from. They’re the people you want to be, when you grow up."

- Jodi Picoult

"A parent’s love is whole no matter how many times divided."

- Robert Brault

"Listen earnestly to anything your children want to tell you, no matter what. If you don’t listen eagerly to the little stuff when they are little, they won’t tell you the big stuff when they are big, because to them all of it has always been big stuff."

- Catherine M. Wallace

"No matter how far we come, our parents are always in us."

- Brad Meltzer

"Many believe parenting is about controlling children’s behavior and training them to act like adults. I believe that parenting is about controlling my own behavior and acting like an adult myself. Children learn what they live and live what they learn."

- L.R. Knost

"If I expect my children to be kind, gentle, compassionate, and respectful, I must be kind, gentle, compassionate, and respectful. Children do not listen to the instruction of hypocrites; it is your actions that guide their actions, not your lectures or punishment."

- Rebecca Eanes

"You do not have to make your children into wonderful people. You just have to remind them that they are wonderful people."

- William Martin

"You can’t teach children to behave better by making them feel worse. When children feel better, they behave better."

- Pam Leo

"The sign of great parenting is not the child’s behavior. The sign of truly great parenting is the parent’s behavior."

- Andy Smithson

"If you really want your children to respect you, let them speak! Give them a safe space to say how they really feel without fear of how your pride will react. It doesn’t matter if they are always right or “good”, it matters that they are allowed to be real with you."

- Brooke Hampton

"At the end of the day, the most overwhelming key to a child’s success is the positive involvement of parents."

- Jane D. Hull

"The way kids learn to make good decisions is by making decisions, not following directions."

- Alfie Kohn

"Children must never work for our love, they must rest in it."

- Gordon Neufeld

"If you’ve told a child a thousand times and he still does not understand, then it is not the child who is the slow learner."

- Walter Barbe

"The more risks you allow your children to make, the better they learn to look after themselves."

- Roald Dahl

"Don’t let yourself become so concerned with raising a good kid that you forget you already have one."

- Glennon Doyle

"Being hard on children does not make them stronger. People are strengthened through compassion and understanding. No matter their age or gender."

- Lella Schott

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken adults."

- F. Douglas

"Empathy with children during a tantrum is not rewarding behavior. It’s meeting a need, the need for connection and understanding."

- Rebecca Eanes

"We change our behavior when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of changing. Consequences give us the pain that motivates us to change."

- Henry Cloud

"You will always be your child’s favorite toy."

- Vicki Lansky

"Nothing that grieves us can be called little. By the eternal law of proportions, a child’s loss of a doll and a king’s loss of his crown are events of the same size."

- Mark Twain

"It is not until you become a mother that your judgment slowly turns to compassion and understanding."

- Erma Bombeck

"My father didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it."

- Clarence Budington Kelland

"If you have never been hated by your child, you have never been a parent."

- Bette Davis

"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."

- Carolyn Webster-Stratton

"When a child hits a child, we call it aggression. When a child hits an adult, we call it hostility. When an adult hits an adult, we call it assault. When an adult hits a child, we call it discipline."

- Haim G. Ginott

"No matter how old a mother is, she watches her middle-aged children for signs of improvement."

- Florida Scott-Maxwell

"Raising a child is like planting a seed and watching it grow into a beautiful flower."

- Lisa Wingate

"In raising my children, I have lost my mind but found my soul."

- Lisa T. Shepherd

"To be in your children's memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives today."