150 Best Parenting Quotes of All Time

By Tian C | Updated: 14/02/2025

Parenthood is a life-altering experience. It is a journey filled with love, patience, and learning, where both parents and children grow together. It is an immense responsibility yet a delightful and rewarding experience. Throughout history, wise words from authors, philosophers, and parents themselves have captured the essence of raising children. These timeless quotes offer inspiration, guidance, and comfort, reminding us of the impact parenting has on shaping future generations. This article lists the top quotations on parenting that will uplift and motivate every parent. It includes positive parenting quotes, funny parenting quotes, quotes by famous personalities, and sayings about parenting from around the world.

Good Parenting Quotes

The journey of parenthood is an emotional roller-coaster, filled with happiness, sadness, worries, frustration, pride, excitement and much more. Parenting is an amazing adventure which is the process of nurturing a child from infancy to adulthood. Here are some parenthood quotes to make every parent feel encouraged and motivated.

“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
“Encourage and support your kids because children are apt to live up to what you believe of them.” – Lady Bird Johnson
“Most things are good, and they are the strongest things, but there are evil things too, and you are not doing a child a favour by trying to shield her from reality. The important thing is to teach a child that good can always triumph over evil.” – Walt Disney
“The sign of great parenting is not the child’s behaviour. The sign of truly great parenting is the parent’s behaviour.” – Andy Smithson
“Being a mother is learning about the strengths you didn’t know you had and dealing with fears you didn’t know existed.” – totspot.me
“Making a decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside of your body.” – Elizabeth Stone
“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
“To be in your children’s memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives today.” – Barbara Johnson
“The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice.” – Peggy O’Mara
“Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.” – Robert Fulghum
“Parenting isn’t a practice. It’s a daily learning experience.” – Quotepix.com
“There is no such thing as a perfect parent. So just be a real one. “ – Sue Atkins
“Remember – The kids who need the most love will ask for it in the most unloving ways.” – Russel Barkley
“At the end of the day, the most overwhelming key to a child’s success is the positive involvement of the parents.” – Jane D. Hull
“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” – Frederick Douglass
“My children are the reason I want to laugh, smile, and want to get up every morning.” – Gena Lee Nolin
“Having a baby is a life-changer. It gives you a whole other perspective on why you wake up every day.” – Taylor Hanson
“To be a good father and mother requires that the parents defer many of their own needs and desires in favour of the needs of their children. As a consequence of this sacrifice, conscientious parents develop a nobility of character and learn to put into practice the selfless truths taught by the Saviour Himself.” – James E. Faust
“When you hold your baby in your arms the first time, and you think of all the things you can say and do to influence him, it’s a tremendous responsibility. What you do with him can influence not only him but everyone he meets and not for a day or a month or a year but for time and eternity.” – Rose Kennedy
“I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father’s protection.” – Sigmund Freud
“Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.” – Benjamin Spock
“Your children are not your children. They are sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you. And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the make upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness. For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He also loves the bow that is stable.” – Kahlil Gibran
“Your children are the greatest gift God will give to you, and their souls the heaviest responsibility He will place in your hands. Take time with them; teach them to have faith in God. Be a person in whom they can have faith. When you are old, nothing else you’ve done will have mattered as much.” ― Lisa Wingate
“Through the blur, I wondered if I was alone or if other parents felt the same way I did – that everything involving our children was painful in some way. The emotions, whether they were joy, sorrow, love or pride, were so deep and sharp that in the end they left you raw, exposed and yes, in pain. The human heart was not designed to beat outside the human body and yet, each child represented just that – a parent’s heart bared, beating forever outside its chest.” ― Debra Ginsberg
“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.” ― Nicholas Sparks
“I think that the best thing we can do for our children is to allow them to do things for themselves, allow them to be strong, allow them to experience life on their own terms, allow them to take the subway. Let them be better people, let them believe more in themselves.” ― C. JoyBell
“There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has one.” – Chinese proverb
“I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside.” – Whitney Houston
“Whatever you would have your children become, strive to exhibit in your own lives and conversation.” — Lydia Sigourney
“Remember: You are not managing an inconvenience. You are raising a human being.” — Kittie Frantz
“Always kiss your children goodnight, even if they’re already asleep.” — Jackson Brown Jr.
“A father has to be a provider, a teacher, a role model, but most importantly, a distant authority figure who can never be pleased. Otherwise, how will children ever understand the concept of God?” ― Stephen Colbert
“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 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
“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.” – Nia Vardalos
“Mom Pro Tip: If you’re old enough to critique what I put in your lunch, you’re old enough to make it yourself.” – @SarcasticMommy4
“The quickest way for a parent to get a child’s attention is to sit down and look comfortable.” – Lane Olinghouse
“Kids are like a mirror; what they see and hear, they do. Be a good reflection for them.” – K. Heath
“If I had my child to raise all over again, I’d build self-esteem first, and the house later. I’d finger-paint more, and point the finger less. I would do less correcting and more connecting. I’d take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes. I’d take more hikes and fly more kites. I’d stop playing serious and seriously play. I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars. I’d do more hugging and less tugging.” – Diane Loomans
“A child can teach an adult three things: to be happy for no reason, to always be busy with something, and to know how to demand with all his might that which he desires.” – Paulo Coelho
“If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.” – Rachel Carson
“24/7 – once you sign on to be a mother, that’s the only shift they offer.” ― Jodi Picoult
“Everyone should have kids. They are the greatest joy in the world. But they are also terrorists. You’ll realise this as soon as they are born, and they start using sleep deprivation to break you.” – Ray Romano
“The beauty of motherhood is not in the freshly pressed shirts and smiling photos we show the world. The beauty of motherhood is in the folds and creases of our lives, the grimaces and tantrums, the moments when we have to grit our teeth and get through when we pound on windows and yell and scream and demand better of each other and ourselves.” – Robyn Passante
“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.” – Gary Smalley
“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.” – Brian Tracy
“That is the nature of being a parent. You’ll love your children far more than you ever loved your parents, and – in the recognition that your own children cannot fathom the depth of your love – you come to understand the tragic, unrequited love of your own parents.” – Ursula Hegi
“If you bungle raising your kids, I don’t think whatever else you do matters very much.” – Jackie Kennedy
“All of us have moments in our lives that test our courage. Taking children into a house with a white carpet is one of them.” — Erma Bombeck
“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
“Being a mother is an attitude, not a biological relation.” ― Robert A. Heinlein

Cool Parenting Quotes

Inspirational Parenting Quotes

Parenting is a journey filled with love, challenges, and countless beautiful moments. Sometimes, a few uplifting words can remind us of the impact we have on our children’s lives. Here are a few motivational positive parenting quotes to encourage and motivate you along the way.

“One of the greatest titles in the world is a parent, and one of the biggest blessings in the world is to have parents to call mom and dad.” – Jim DeMint
“Parenting is the biggest sacrifice one can make. It’s putting your life on hold to fulfill the promise of your children’s tomorrow.”
“Parents need to fill a child’s bucket of self-esteem so high that the rest of the world can’t poke enough holes to drain it dry.”- Alvin Price
“Parents are the ultimate role models for children. Every word, every movement, and action affects. No other person or outside force has a greater influence on a child than a parent.” – Bob Keeshan
“There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings.” – Hodding Carter
“A father’s goodness is higher than the mountain, a mother’s goodness deeper than the sea.”- Japanese proverb
“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
“Children need love, especially when they do not deserve it.” – Harold Hubert
“The thing about parenting rules is there aren’t any. That’s what makes it so difficult.” – Ewan McGregor
“Your children need your presence more than your presents.”- Jesse Jackson
“Every word, facial expression, gesture, or action on the part of a parent gives the child some message about self-worth.”- Virginia Satir
“Praise your children openly, reprehend them secretly.”- W Cecil
“Be the parent today that you want your kids to remember tomorrow.”
“If you have never been hated by your child, you’ve never been a parent.” – Bette Davis
“We may not be able to prepare the future for our children, but we can at least prepare our children for the future.”
“Children learn more from what you are than what you teach them.”- WEB DuBois
When you look at your life, the greatest happiness is family happiness.”- Joyce Brothers
“Love is the chain whereby to bind a child to its parents.”- Abraham Lincoln
“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
“Parenthood…It’s about guiding the next generation, and forgiving the last.” – Peter Krause

Funny Quotes on Parenting

Parenting is a rollercoaster of emotions, and sometimes, the best way to cope is through laughter. From sleepless nights to unexpected messes, every parent has a hilarious story to tell. Below are a few funny parenting quotes that perfectly capture the chaos and joy of raising kids.

“That’s what children are for—that their parents may not be bored.” ― Ivan Turgenev
“The only thing kids wear out faster than their shoes is their parents.”
“A 2-year-old is kind of like having a blender, but you don’t have a top for it.”- Jerry Seinfeld
“Having children is like living in a frat house- nobody sleeps, everything’s broken, and there’s a lot of throwing up.”- Ray Romano
“My kid is turning out just like me. Well played, karma. Well played.”
“Parents had some kind of sin radar. They always called when you were in the middle of something you just knew they’d consider wrong. Or at least risky.”― Rachel Caine
“Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the sidewalk before it stops snowing.”- Phyllis Diller
“I thought I’d never be the annoying person, but as soon as Winnie was born, I was showing iPhone snaps to a cab driver.” – Jimmy Fallon
“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.”
“My biggest parenting conundrum: why is it so hard to put someone who is already sleepy to sleep.” – Chrissy Teigen
“The perfect time for kids to ask questions, need to go to the bathroom, request more food is bedtime.”
“90% of parenting is about when you can lie down again.”
“Not all who wander are lost. Some are just moms in target, hiding from their kids.”
“Nobody is hungrier than the kid who has been told it’s time for bed.”
“Say ‘no’ only when it really matters. Wear a bright red shirt with bright orange shorts? Sure. Put water in the toy tea set? Okay. Sleep with your head at the foot of the bed? Fine.” —Gretchen Rubin
“Toddlers should come with their own clean-up crew.”
“Having one child makes you a parent; having two makes you a referee.”
“I had six theories about bringing up children; now I have six children and no theories.”
“People who say they sleep like babies usually don’t have them.”
“Anybody out there who is a parent, if your kids want to paint their bedrooms, as a favour to me, let them do it. It’ll be OK.” – Randy Pausch

Positive Parenting Quotes

Positive parenting reminds us that love, patience, and kindness go a long way in shaping a child’s future. Let’s take a look at some powerful positive parenting quotes.

“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
“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, honour, trust, and treat them with dignity.” – Eric D Greene
“Never fear spoiling children by making them too happy. Happiness is the atmosphere in which all good affections grow.” – Thomas Bray
“The point of parenting isn’t 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
“Gentle parenting doesn’t involve instantaneous results but naturally achieved, life-long lasting results.” – Kirsty Lee
“Children, after all, are not just adults-in-the-making. They are people whose current needs and rights and experiences must be taken seriously.” – Alfie Kohn
“Behind every young child who believes in himself is a parent who believed first.” – Mathew L Jacobson
“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
“A child seldom needs a good talking to as much as a good listening to.” – Robert Brault
“Feeling heard and understood allows children to release their feelings, let go and move on.” – Janet Lansbury
“You must first teach a child he is loved. Only then is he ready to learn everything else.” – Amanda Morgan
“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
“If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” – Ignacio Estrada
“If your children fear you, they cannot trust you. If they don’t trust you, they cannot learn from you.” – Lori Petro
“You can’t teach children to behave better by making them feel worse. When children feel better, they behave better.” – Pam Leo
“Children do well if they can, if they can’t we need to figure out why so we can help.” – Ross 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
“A baby is born with the need to be loved, and never outgrows it.” – Frank Clark
“There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.” – Rumi

Quotes on Parent-Child Relationship

The bond between a parent and child is one of the most powerful and unbreakable connections in life. Here are a few meaningful parenting quotes in English that beautifully capture the essence of the parent-child relationship.

“Let parents bequeath to their children not riches, but the spirit of reverence.”- Plato
“There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it.”
“Romance fails us, and so do friendships, but the relationship of a parent and child, less noisy than all the others, remains indelible and indestructible, the strongest relationship on earth.”- Theodor Reik
“The parenting journey holds the potential to be a spiritually regenerative experience for both the parent and the child, where every moment is a meeting of spirits. And both parent and child appreciate that each dances on a spiritual path that’s unique, holding hands and yet alone”. – Dr. Shefali Tsabary
“The most important thing that parents can teach their children is how to get along without them.”- Frank A. Clark
“It is better to bind your children to you by a feeling of respect and by gentleness than by fear.”- Terence
“Children learn to smile from their parents.”- Shinichi Suzuki
“He that spareth his rod hateth his son; but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.”- Bible
“Children are just different from one another, especially in temperament. Some are shy, others bold; some active, some quiet; some confident, others less so. Respect for individual differences is in my view the cornerstone of good parent-child relationships.”- Sandra Scarr
“Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.”- Charles R. Swindoll

Parenting Quotes on Guidance and Discipline

Guiding and disciplining children is an essential part of parenting, helping them grow into responsible and kind individuals. Below are a few parenting quotes on guidance and discipline to inspire and guide you.

“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
“Don’t look for the big, quick improvement. Seek the small improvement one day at a time. That’s the only way it happens, and when it happens, it lasts.” – Daniel Coyle
“I think of discipline as the continual process of helping child learn self-discipline.” – Fred Rogers
“We change our behaviour 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
“Discipline is helping a child solve a problem. Punishment is making a child suffer for having a problem. To raise problem solvers, focus on solutions, not retribution.” – L.R. Knost
“We may not be able to prepare the future for our children, but we can at least prepare our children for the future.” – President Franklin D. Roosevelt
“Focus on the process instead of the prize.” – John Wooden,
“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
“Everything depends on upbringing.” – Leo Tolstoy
“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
“Small actions, repeated over time, transform us.” – Daniel Coyle
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao Tzu
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” – Benjamin Franklin
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle
“Give the ones you love wings to fly, roots to come back and reasons to stay.” – Dalai Lama
“Set your compass in a chosen direction and then focus your attention and efforts completely on the journey of preparation.” – John Wooden
“Children do not need us to shape them; they need us to respond to who they are.” – Naomi Aldort
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.” – Helen Keller
“Parenting is the easiest thing in the world to have an opinion about, but the hardest thing in the world to do.” – Matt Walsh

New Parenting Quotes

Parenting is constantly evolving, and modern challenges require fresh perspectives and wisdom. Let’s take a look at some new quotes for parenting that reflect the realities of raising children today.

“While we try to teach our children all about life, Our children teach us what life is all about.” – Angela Schwindt
“My heroes are and were my parents. I can’t see having anyone else as my heroes.” – Michael Jordan
“There is no friendship, no love, like that of the parent for the child.” – Henry Ward Beecher
“No matter how far we come, our parents are always in us.” – Brad Meltzer
“All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my mother.” – Abraham Lincoln
“Parents aren’t the people you come from. They’re the people you want to be, when you grow up.” – Jodi Picoult
“Children harbour a great many doubts and sorrows that could be eased by a loving hug from a parent.” – Richelle E. Goodrich
“I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy – I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it.” – Art Williams
“To bring up a child in the way he should go – travel that way yourself.” – Josh Billings
“Your children will become what you are; so be what you want them to be.” – David Bly

FAQs

1. How can inspirational parenting quotes help parents?

Inspirational parenting quotes motivate during tough times and reinforce the importance of love, patience, and resilience. They remind parents of the impact they have on their children’s growth and future.

2. Do quotes about parenting need to be difficult?

Not necessarily. While difficult or hard quotes acknowledge the struggles of parenting, many simple quotes also focus on the joys, love, and rewarding moments. A balance of both perspectives helps parents feel understood and inspired.

3. How can parents use quotes in daily life?

Parents can use quotes as daily affirmations, share them on social media, include them in scrapbooks, or even display them in their homes as gentle reminders of their parenting journey.

Parenthood can be challenging or frustrating at times. These quotations will uplift you when you are down and encourage you when you feel discouraged.

Also Read:

Quotes About Kids Growing Up
Kindness Quotes for Children
Exciting Friendship Quotes for Kids
Best Selfish Parents Quotes & Sayings
Love Quotes From Parents to Their Children

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