The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

As the twig is bent, so grows the branch.

Great oaks from little acorns grow.

Sayings

Americans simply do not want their children overly involved with them. In other cultures parents site things like becoming a good spouse and parent, good citizenship, or kindness and sensitivity as their goals for their children. What do Americans want for their children? In every study, one stark answer predominates: independence.

Kay S Hymowitz, Ready or Not

Fathers and mothers must bow their heads in the dust before the exalted nature of the child. Until they see that the word "child" is only another expression for the conception of majesty; until they feel that it is the future which in the form of a child sleeps in their arms, and history which plays at their feet, they will not understand that they have as little power or right to prescribe laws for this new being as they possess the power or might to lay down paths for the stars.

Ellen Key, The Education of the Child

A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove. But the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.

Forest Witcraft

It is . . . sometimes easier to head an institute for the study of child guidance than it is to turn one brat into a decent human being.

Joseph Wood Krutch (1893-1970) If You Don't Mind Me Saying

Any system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind of a child, cannot be true.

Thomas Paine

Let thy child's first lesson be obedience, and the second may be what thou wilt.

Thomas Fuller (17th Century)

Developing the mind is important, but developing a conscience is the most precious gift parents can give their children.

Joyhn Gray

And they all play on the golf course,
and drink their martini's dry
And they all have pretty children,
and the children go to school,
And the children go to summer camp,
and then to the university,
Where they put them all in boxes,
and they all come out the same.

Malvina Reynolds in her song "Little Boxes"

The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult; the day he forgives himself, he becomes wise.

Alden Nowlan

Parents think their children should keep their innocence as long as possible. The world doesn't work that way.

Grace Hechinger

You see much more of your children once they leave home.

Lucille Ball

Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child as it is to the caterpillar.

Bradley Miller