Quotes and parenting

A number of weeks ago, my wife was asked to supply her favourite quote for a woman's group she belongs to. She was at a loss to come up with one immediately. In fact she searched the internet to come up with something that was meaningful to her. As she was going through the process I too was not able to come up with one in an instant.

It did get me thinking that there are some great quotes out there—not that I can remember most or any of them—that can help us get through a difficult patch or give us some food for thought.

At work we receive many books for review in the magazine. One such book that we didn't review but is in the staff washroom and I look at almost daily is “The Little Book of Bathroom Meditations” by Michelle Heller. Packed with lots of quotable quotes that give you some pause for reflection.

As parents we often need a pause for reflection. A time to think of what's going on in our lives with our various relationships—spouse, partner, children, colleagues, strangers, etc.—and how we deal with issues confronting us.

So here are a few quotes that I've read and think are helpful in some of our daily dealings.

I often think that we as parents protect our children to the extent that they do not really learn from some experience with failure. Thomas Edison said “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” Look at the positive spin on that. Often when we or our children fail (or at least do not live up to our expectations about something), we often blame others—the referee, the teacher, some other person or group—and do not look at what we've done and learn from it. It is interesting Thomas Edison (a successful inventor) is that way because he doesn't see failures but keeps on looking for the answers and uses those set backs as opportunities.

As parents, we need to show our children how to take some risks to help them grow and flourish. We must step back at times and let them “fail” and learn from the failure.