parenthood

It takes a tremendous amount of strength to be a single mother. To hold down the forte of a home, a life and your child's entire happiness.

If you have no armsTo hold your crying child but your own armsAnd no legs but your own to run the stairs one more timeTo fetch what was forgottenI bow to youIf you have no vehicleTo tote your wee one but the wheels that you driveAnd no one else to worry, __s my baby okay?__hen you have to say goodbye on the doorsteps of daycareor on that cursed first day of schoolI bow to youIf you have no skill but your own skillTo replenish an ever-emptying bank accountAnd no answers but your own toSatisfy the endless whys, hows, and whens your child asks and asks againI bow to youIf you have no tongue to tell the truthTo keep your beloved on the path without a precipiceAnd no wisdom to impartExcept the wisdom that you__e acquiredI bow to youIf the second chair is emptyAcross the desk from a scornful, judging authority waitingFor your child__ father to appearAnd you straighten your spine where you sitAnd manage to smile and say, __o one else is coming____ it.__h, I bow to youIf your head aches when the spotlight finally shineson your child because your hands are the only hands there to applaudI bow to youIf your heart aches because you__e given until everything in you is goneAnd your kid declares, __t__ not enough.__nd you feel the crack of your own soul as you whisper,__ know, baby. But it__ all mama__ got.__h, how I bow to youIf they are your life while you are their nurse, tutor, maidBread winner and bread baker,Coach, cheerleader and teammate_If you bleed when your child falls downI bow, I bow, I bowIf you__e both punisher and huggerAnd your own tears are drowned out by the running of the bathroom faucetbecause children can__ know that mamas hurt tooOh, mother of mothers, I bow to you.__oni Sorenson

I looked at Lucas with the pang that a parent feels when he knows his child will be hurt and that it's no one's fault and that to try to preempt the rites of passage is an act of contempt for the child's courage.

All of us have moments in out lives that test our courage. Taking children into a house with a white carpet is one of them.

Raising teenage sons and daughters is a long and tiresome journey. With God's help the final outcome will be worthwhile.

I never really grew up until I had kids.

I'm well aware that there is no job more important than that of raising a child, but the problem is that it isn't valued.

Do not expect too much from your child and she will grow in your love... But if you push her too much, you will push her away. A child is not yours to own but to raise. She may not be what you will have her to be, but she will be what she has to be. Remember what they say, that 'Wood may remain twenty years in the water, but it is still not a fish.

No one said parenting was easy,but NO good parent has any right to give up.It is one labyrinth you can never quit because it seems too hard.

The sacred gift of parenthood is inscribe in the universal words __apa_ and __ama_.

The author observes the shift now that children are not a source of labor for the family, that they have gone from employees of the parents to the bosses of the parents.

Millions of deaths would not have happened if it weren__ for the consumption of alcohol. The same can be said about millions of births.

Dinner is a cacophonous exercise of holy sanctification.

If my children think I'm genuine, no one else's opinion matters to me.

Dr. Xia was working as a salaried doctor attached to another man's medicine shop, which did not give him much chance to display his skill. But he worked had, and gradually his reputation began to grow. Soon he was invited to go on his first visit to a patient's home. When he came back that evening he was carrying a package wrapped in a cloth. He winked at my mother and his wife and asked them to guess what was inside the package. My mother's eyes was glued to the steaming bundle, and even before she could shout out "Steamed rolls!" she was already tearing the package open. As she was devouring the rolls, she looked up and met Dr. Xia's twinkling eyes. More than fifty years later she can still remember his look of happiness, and even today she says she can remember any food as delicious as those simple wheat rolls.

I came from as low as one could come, with no mother and no father. So in return I build a family for myself and these fella__ were a part of my family. So I had to look out for them, as if I was looking out for my children. Scrooge, former leader of the Rebellion Raiders street gang that once boasted of having some ten thousand members

Parents are the last people on Earth who ought to have children.

...we're not eighteen anymore. We've lived. We've created things that last _ things of joy, and things of burden.