The best parents acknowledge the needs of their children (as distinct from their own), learn all

they can about those needs and are committed to meeting them whenever possible. And those of us who find it a struggle to do these things most of the time... need to make a point of struggling to do these things most of the time. - Alfie Kohn says in his book, Feel Bad Education

Its difficult to decide whether growing pains are something teenagers have or are. Author unknown

We expect him to take up a lot of space in his gangly experiments with life, and we teach him, through task, work, game, activity, and experience how to use that space. Above all, we give him mentoring and supervision that respects and teaches his gifts, his visions, even his shadowy inner demons. - Michael Gurian, from his book, The Wonder of Boys

Our youth want less adult contact if that contact treats them like boys. They want more adult contact that treats them like young men. Tired as they are of the former, they are hungry for the latter. Michael Gurian, from his book, The Wonder of Boys

Failure in school does not mean failure in life.- Steven J. Cannell (TV producer)

Yet teens gravitate towards peers for another, more powerful reason: to invest in the future rather than the past. We enter a world made by our parents. But we will live most of our lives, and prosper (or not) in a world run and remade by our peers. Knowing, understanding, and building relationships with them bears critically on success. - National Geographic, The New Science Of The Teenage Brain

In scientific terms, teenagers can be a pain in the ass. But they are quite possibly the most fully, crucially adaptive human beings around. - National Geographic, The New Science Of The Teenage Brain

A teacher sent the following note home with a six-year-old boy: He is too stupid to learn. That boy was Thomas A. Edison. - Thomas Edison

The weak or absent father cripples both his daughters and his sons ability to achieve their own gender identity and to relate in an intimate and positive way with members both of their own sex and the opposite sex. - Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette, King Warrior Magician Lover, Rediscovering The Archetypes of The Mature Masculine

And since every child is different, with his own pattern of likes and dislikes, temperament, learning style, cultural background, family affiliation, school setting, peer interactions, and hopes and aspirations, every child requires a different approach. Thomas Armstrong, author of the book, The Myth of the A.D.D. Child

Kids have to see us chugging down blind alleys and shifting into reverse. John Holt lamented that we adults so often present ourselves to children as if we are gods, all-knowing, all-powerful, always rational, always just, always right. This is worse than any lie we could tell about ourselves. In order counteract this tendency, he continued, when I am trying to do something I am no good atI do it in front of [students] so they can see me struggling with it.- From the book, Feel-Bad Education, by Alfie Kohn

The problem is that there is a long term cost. All the unresolved emotional intensity is likely to get played out in another important relationship, such as that with a spouse, a lover, or, if we ourselves are parents, a child. Harriot Learner, The Dance of Anger

The next time youre tempted to talk down to somebody, to belittle your child or degrade him, remember, you cant ever get those words back. Once you speak them, they take on a life of their own. Use your words to speak blessings over people. Quit criticizing your child and start declaring great things in store for their future. Joel Osteen