When a child is locked in the bathroom with water running and he says he’s doing nothing but the dog is barking, call 911.

One has children in the expectation of dying before them. In fact, you want to make damn sure you die before them, just as you plant a tree or build a house knowing, hoping that it will outlive you. That’s how the human species has done as well as it has.

I think a father is important for everyone. If you don’t have, then maybe not so much. In the world today, it’s possible that you grow up with only one parent in the family.

Only God Himself fully appreciates the influence of a Christian mother in the molding of character in her children.

To make your children capable of honesty is the beginning of education.

I had to make a choice at one point in my life, of missing films or missing my children. It was a very easy decision to make because I missed my children so very much.

I poured spot remover on my dog. Now he’s gone.

Women will only have true equality when men share with them the responsibility of bringing up the next generation.

If you are a parent, you have probably already realized that your children are always watching what you do. And just as children watch their parents and emulate their behavior, so do employees who are watching their bosses.

While I believed deeply in my husband’s vision for this country… and I was certain he would make an extraordinary President… like any mother, I was worried about what it would mean for our girls if he got that chance. How would we keep them grounded under the glare of the national spotlight?

When I take my kid to school, all the parents stop and stare.

Be careful to leave your sons well instructed rather than rich, for the hopes of the instructed are better than the wealth of the ignorant.

When you’re around the kids, you feel like you act the most grown up just because you’re supposed to lead. I say things, like every other parent, that reminds you of your own parents. One thing I do know about being a parent, you understand why your father was in a bad mood a lot.

Even if we give parents all the information they need and we improve school meals and build brand new supermarkets on every corner, none of that matters if when families step into a restaurant, they can’t make a healthy choice.

You learn that there’s no right way to do it, no wrong way to do it. It’s just what you feel comfortable with, to trust that, and don’t let anybody box you in to a certain style of parenting or make you feel a certain way about what your kids do.

We cannot fashion our children after our desires, we must have them and love them as God has given them to us.

We can’t form our children on our own concepts; we must take them and love them as God gives them to us.

A two-year-old is kind of like having a blender, but you don’t have a top for it.

I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.

When you have two busy kids running around the house, returning e-mails is a task, let alone surfing the web.

I had my first baby at twenty-one.

My son complains about headaches. I tell him all the time, when you get out of bed, it’s feet first!

Since the child knew his parents would give in, he tried the same trick again and again.

I’m not feeling very well – I need a doctor immediately. Ring the nearest golf course.

These days, children can text on their cell phone all night long, and no one else is seeing that phone. You don’t know who is calling that child.

My mother insisted that her children read.

The ‚Billionaire‘ song is what my kids tease me with. They sing it to me. It’s funny.

My friend has a baby. I’m recording all the noises he makes so later I can ask him what he meant.

I used to meditate all the time in bed. That was when I was raising my daughter, and I’d get her up and off to school, and then I would go back to bed and meditate. And then I would do the same in the evening, and that was very good for that period because I had so many things to juggle as a single mother.

Plumbers can be masters, the guy who did my patio is a master, some people are masters at raising really great children.

There’s no political point worth my son’s life.

People wonder aloud about whether I am an okay mother. That is obviously painful because it’s so important to me. It’s hard to hear that people think I’m not a capable mother and a good person, that they just think I’m nuts.

It’s true; once you are a father, there’s no turning back. Your heart strings as well as your purse strings are never again the same.

Give a little love to a child, and you get a great deal back.

Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president, but they don’t want them to become politicians in the process.

I look at how my kids view exercise. They have a complete understanding that nutrition and exercise go hand in hand. I didn’t think like that when I was a kid. But they have a real consciousness about it that I’d like to think comes from the years of attention we’ve put into this.

As a father, I always want my son to be perfect. When he was young, I tried to train him in martial arts, but he said, ‚I don’t want to become like Bruce Lee’s son, with everybody telling me how good my father was.‘ I just think my son is too lazy.

Somewhere it is written that parents who are critical of other people’s children and publicly admit they can do better are asking for it.

These technologies can make life easier, can let us touch people we might not otherwise. You may have a child with a birth defect and be able to get in touch with other parents and support groups, get medical information, the latest experimental drugs. These things can profoundly influence life. I’m not downplaying that.

You definitely want your kids to understand their heritage, but I don’t want my kids to just focus on being black. They are people. I don’t want them to judge other people or to be judged. I want them to be good people, so good people will treat them accordingly. I preach that to my kids and everything else falls into place.

I know from having had a child, and from having been a child myself, that children will copy you.

The kids are old enough now – I just want to let them be kids. I don’t want to comment on them too much. They’re at an age where I just want to let them be kids.

The biggest thrill a ballplayer can have is when your son takes after you. That happened when my Bobby was in his championship Little League game. He really showed me something. Struck out three times. Made an error that lost the game. Parents were throwing things at our car and swearing at us as we drove off. Gosh, I was proud.

A child cannot be taught by anyone who despises him, and a child cannot afford to be fooled.

If you want someone to say, ‚She’s so sweet, and she’s so cute, and, honey, point your foot,‘ that’s not my school. You can go to the YMCA and have a nobody teach your kid if that’s what you want to hear.

If you’ve ever hauled a 28-pound two-year-old around New York, you’ll find that men fold at the knees a lot quicker than women.

Be nice to your children. After all, they are going to choose your nursing home.

First and foremost, we need to be the adults we want our children to be. We should watch our own gossiping and anger. We should model the kindness we want to see.

I go to sleep thinking about my kids being spoiled and I wake up thinking about it.

It wasn’t so long ago that I was a working mom myself. And I know that sometimes, much as we all hate to admit it, it’s just easier to park the kids in front of the TV for a few hours, so we can pay the bills or do the laundry or just have some peace and quiet for a change.

When your mother asks, ‚Do you want a piece of advice?‘ it is a mere formality. It doesn’t matter if you answer yes or no. You’re going to get it anyway.

Once you have six children, you’re committed.

There is nothing so strong or safe in an emergency of life as the simple truth.

I always joke that my kids‘ favorite holiday is Father’s Day. They love the way I celebrate the occasion by writing each of them a thank-you letter and a generous check. It’s my way of letting them know how much I appreciate the great pleasure and privilege of being their dad.

I’ve always put everybody else’s child first before my own health, before my own outfit, before my own time frame.

There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings.

How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child!

Which painting in the National Gallery would I save if there was a fire? The one nearest the door of course.

Because I am a mother, I am capable of being shocked: as I never was when I was not one.

The loss of a child is my greatest nightmare.

I actually feel like women in my position, when we have all at our disposal to help us, shouldn’t complain when we consider all of the people who are really struggling and don’t have the means or support. Many people are single, raising children. That’s hard.