kids

I was just four when a hired teenage field hand attempted to molest me. Miraculously, I got away, and I told my dad. My father made three important choices that day: He listened to me, he believed me, and he took action. I was one of the fortunate ones--I had a childhood.

For while they'd stayed close during the absurd years of his sharp rise, having children had knocked it all into a different arrangement. The minute you had children you closed ranks. You didn't plan this in advance, but it happened. Families were like individual, discrete, moated island nations. The little group of citizens on the slab of rock gathered together instinctively, almost defensively, and everyone who was outside the walls--even if you'd once been best friends--was now just that, outsiders. Families had their ways. You took note of how other people raised their kids, even other people you loved, and it seemed all wrong. The culture and practices of one's own family were the only way, for better or worse. Who could say why a family decided to have a certain style, to tell the jokes it did, to put up its particular refrigerator magnets?

Sometimes I hesitate to use the term sexual abuse. It conjures up worst-case scenarios in our minds, and we think, "That will never happen to my kids." And we never begin the conversation regarding sexual abuse with our children. But one violation left in secret can cause significant pain.

Asking a parent not to be a parent is like asking the sun not to be hot or snow not to be cold.

A child's imagination can be found in the heart of a good book.

So many people think that they are not gifted because they don__ have an obvious talent that people can recognize because it doesn__ fall under the creative arts category__riting, dancing, music, acting, art or singing. Sadly, they let their real talents go undeveloped, while they chase after fame. I am grateful for the people with obscure unremarked talents because they make our lives easier---inventors, organizers, planners, peacemakers, communicators, activists, scientists, and so forth. However, there is one gift that trumps all other talents__eing an excellent parent. If you can successfully raise a child in this day in age to have integrity then you have left a legacy that future generations will benefit from.

Kids are important. The most important thing.

children betrayed their parents by becoming their own people

I hang around kids so people will assume when I act like one it's because I'm babysitting.

These young people are going to change the world.

I had so much respect for the fact that Father Andrew saw his own sins in my actions. I wished all adults were like Father Andrew.

If you tell an eight-year-old she has a talent for something, she'll never give it a rest.

Netiquette is overdelicate because kids use the internet. Adult content forms are triplicate, ASL. NetworkEtiquette.net

The little kids by the water threw their hands in the air and squealed, chasing each other in circles.It was hard to believe that I__ ever been that small. That young. That happy and clueless. They hadpain ahead. Heartbreak. Loss. They didn__ know and I didn__ want them to _ but at the same time, Ihated that I hadn__ known. I__ taken everything for granted _ my mother, my friends in Alexandria,playing hockey. I dreamed about the future because that__ what people persuade you to do whenyou__e a kid, but that__ the biggest lie of all _ that you can plan. Reality is, you have no fucking cluewhat__ coming and neither do they

Children imitate their parents, employees their managers.

What is childhood without stories? And how will children fall in love with stories without bookstores? You can't get that from a computer.

Racism, Dr. Sam. I worry for my kids about racism. Racism doesn't appear to take holidays or time off. What can I do about this stuff?

We must trust that what we're doing has a purpose. We must realize that we're not here to make kids conform or perform, but that we're here to help them to develop their own unique skills and talents, not the ones we want them to have or the ones we think they should have.