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“Strong-willed children often grow into strong-willed adults who become world leaders, world shapers, and world changers. Parenting them peacefully is not only possible, it’s imperative because sowing peace in their hearts now while they’re in our care will grow a future of peace later when the world is in their care.”
― L.R. Knost

“We are imperfect humans growing imperfect humans in an imperfect world, and that's perfectly okay.”
― L.R. Knost

“You're going to make mistakes as a parent. It's literally inevitable. You're human, and mistakes are just part of being human. It's how you handle your mistakes that matters most. Acknowledge them. Apologize for them. Make them as right as possible. Learn something from them. And then let them go. It's okay. I promise. After all, how else will our little humans learn that it's okay to be human.”
― L.R. Knost

“Wars are waged by people
who were parented by someone.
Crimes are committed by people
who were parented by someone.
Brutality is inflicted by people
who were parented by someone.
Nations are led by people
who were parented by someone.
Hope, help, and healing are all
shared by people who were
parented by someone.
We, the parents of today, are
that someone for our children,
and our children will one day be
that someone for their children.
We may not be able to eliminate
all war, end all crime, or stop all
brutality, but sowing peace,
kindness, compassion, and
empathy into our children
is the single most powerful
way we can each be someone who
changes the world for the better.”
― L.R. Knost

“Becoming a parent doesn't make you less of a woman. You matter. Your happiness matters. Your health matters. Your dreams matter. Today do at least one thing for you. Take a walk in the rain. Meet a friend for coffee. Write in your journal. Read a book. Plan a trip. Hug a tree. Help a stranger. Create something. Grow something. Sing something. Learn something. Whatever it is that makes you smile, do a little of it each day. Your children are watching. Let them see you happy.”
― L.R. Knost

“We don't lose ourselves in parenthood. We find parts of ourselves we never knew existed.”
― L.R. Knost

“Instant obedience and mindless compliance are poor goals, indeed, when raising children. A thoughtfully questioning, passionately curious, and humorously resourceful child who delights in inventing ‘compromisesâ€� and who endlessly pushes the boundaries tends to become a thoughtful, passionate, resourceful adult who will change the world rather than being changed by the world.”
― L.R. Knost

“Telling a child that something that matters to them isn't important doesn't convince them it doesn't matter. It just convinces them that it doesn't matter to you and often makes them feel like they don't matter, either. Remember, caring about the little things that matter to little people creates big connections.”
― L.R. Knost

“And the fetus hears music, as was recently discovered by Alexandra LaMont of Keele University in the U.K. She found that children recognize and prefer music they were exposed to in the womb, a year after they are born.”
― Daniel J. Levitin, This Is Your Brain on Music

“Our lives are our stories,
each day a fresh new page,
each season a whole new chapter.
Our parenting chapters become
the beginning of our children's stories
in glorious, dog-eared, mud-stained,
daisy-chain pages of sunshine-filled
days and wish-on-a-star nights and
shared struggles and triumphs
and tears and laughter.
Where their stories go from
there is up to them,
but where they begin is up to us.”
― L.R. Knost

“Take some time to tell your child you like them today and list the reasons why. Then watch in wonder as they blossom before your eyes. Words of recognition and appreciation to a child are like sunshine and rain to a flower.”
― L.R. Knost

“Don't ask yourself at the end of the day if you did everything right. Ask yourself how well you loved and then grow from your answer. Repeat for a lifetime.”
― L.R. Knost

“Many believe that parenting is about controlling children's behavior and training them to act like adults. I believe that parenting is about controlling my own behavior and acting like an adult myself. Children learn what they live and live what they learn.”
― L.R. Knost

“You know that moment right after your child says or does something that pushes your buttons? That oh-so-brief moment before you say or do something in response? That is the moment you have a choice...

to react or relate,
to command or communicate,
to belittle or to be an adult.

That moment is a gift of time that can make a lifetime of difference. Use it wisely.”
― L.R. Knost

“I wish you the sweetness of sticky kisses,
the fragrance of muddy bouquets of weeds,
the simplicity of macaroni necklaces,
the warmth of bedtime snuggles,
the promise of beautiful tomorrows.
I wish you the hope to carry your heart
through the hard times,
the grace to forgive your inevitable mistakes,
the strength to start again every morning,
the wisdom to enjoy the journey.
I wish you enough joy and laughter in the present
to fill the silence that comes too soon
when life grows quiet and rooms grow still
and your heart beats in constant prayer
for the once-small feet
that now choose their own path
guided by the whisper of their childhood.”
― L.R. Knost

“Want to raise kind children? Be kind to your children.”
― L.R. Knost, The Gentle Parent: Positive, Practical, Effective Discipline

“The moment you realize that you aren't creating a cut-and-paste version of yourself, but rather nurturing a stunningly unique individual with thoughts and feelings and hopes and fears and opinions and preferences and plans and interests of their own is the moment parenting becomes an adventure instead of a challenge. It's a simple shift in perspective that creates a world of difference.”
― L.R. Knost

“BIG connections are created when BIG people care about the little things that matter to little people.”
― L.R. Knost, Whispers Through Time: Communication Through the Ages and Stages of Childhood

“Protecting our children from the cruelty of the world doesn't mean shielding them from the realities of the world. Tell them the truth. Teach them to care. Give them a voice. Prepare them not to withstand the world, but to change the world.”
― L.R. Knost

“Children need to know that they matter, that someone in this big, scary, beautiful world thinks that they are the sun, moon, and stars all rolled into one lovable little human. The world will hurt and disillusion them at times, no doubt, but knowing that they are loved beyond measure by someone who's got their back, knowing they are not alone, knowing they always have arms to run to when they're hurt or afraid, will help them to pick themselves up and move on, again and again and again.”
― L.R. Knost

“Children are compassionate by nature. Engaging their compassion with communication and connection instead of igniting their self-preservation with threats and punishments is not only more effecting in guiding their behavior, it's also more effective in growing their humanity.”
― L.R. Knost

“Some men die in childbirth.”
― James Anderson, Lullaby Road

“I wondered if I'd ever grow up to become a child like her.”
― James Anderson, Lullaby Road

“It’s a fallacy to think that children are happy. They’re not, they’re unhappy. I never suffered so much as I did when I was a child.”
― Virginia Woolf

“The whole idea of getting married and having children terrifies me. What if becoming a parent doesn’t make me grow up? It could be just a cheap disguise.
It’s not cheap.”
― Michael Robotham, The Secrets She Keeps

“Mbegu ni neno la Mungu. Mfano bora, msamaha, ndoto, tabasamu, uadilifu, uaminifu, uchapakazi na uvumilivu ni maneno ya Mungu. Kwa hiyo mfano bora, msamaha, ndoto, tabasamu, uadilifu, uaminifu, uchapakazi na uvumilivu ni mbegu. Watu ni ardhi. Panda mbegu ya mfano bora kwa watoto wako, msamaha kwa maadui zako, ndoto kwa malengo yako, tabasamu kwa marafiki zako, uadilifu kwa waajiri wako na kwa wafanyakazi wako pia kama unao, uaminifu kwa marafiki zako wa ukweli, uchapakazi kwa kazi zako na uvumilivu kwa wapinzani wako. Kila mbegu irutubishwe kwa imani na upendo kwa watu.”
― Enock Maregesi

“The goal of parenting shouldn't be to prepare children to withstand the world, but to grow children who will change the world.”
― L.R. Knost

“I don't want to stand before God and tell him that I religiously demanded morality from his children. I want to stand beside God and tell him that I religiously demonstrated love for his children.”
― L.R. Knost

“The strength of a nation rests on its future, and its future rests in the hands of its children. True strength is forged in gentleness, guided by wisdom, and steeped in peace. Growing the next generation with gentleness, wisdom, and peace begins by recognizing that we are citizens of the world, that every human matters, and that our children learn how to treat the world by how we treat them. To be a nation at peace, we must treat all humans peacefully and raise peaceful humans. The only path to peace is peace.”
― L.R. Knost

“Broken children grow into broken adults. To create a more peaceful future, we need to create a more peaceful present for our children. Our world needs more heart-whole adults, not more refugees from childhood.”
― L.R. Knost