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Previous Quotes of the Month for 2017

January

"A baby's need for his mother's loving presence is as basic as his need for food."

- The La Leche League International,
The Womanly Art of Breast­feeding

February

"The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don't tell you what to see."

- Alexandra K. Trenfor

March

"As long as the child will be trained not by love, but by fear, so long will humanity live not by justice, but by force. As long as the child will be ruled by the educator's threat and by the father's rod, so long will mankind be dominated by the policeman's club, by fear of jail, and by panic of invasion by armies and navies."

- Boris Sidis,
Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1919

April

"For many years I have been asking myself why intelligent children act unintelligently at school. The simple answer is, because they're scared."

- John Holt,
How Children Fail

May

"So often, children are punished for being human. They are not allowed to have grumpy moods, bad days, disrespectful tones, or bad attitudes. Yet, we adults have them all the time. None of us are perfect. We must stop holding our children to a higher standard of perfection than we can attain ourselves."

- Rebecca Eanes,
The Newbie's Guide to Positive Parenting

June

"We ask children to do for most of a day what few adults are able to do for even an hour. How many of us, attending, say, a lecture that doesn't interest us, can keep our minds from wandering? Hardly any."

- John Holt,
How Children Fail

July

"If we are ever to turn toward a kindlier society and a safer world, a revulsion against the physical punishment of children would be a good place to start."

- Dr. Benjamin Spock

August

"Parenting has nothing to do with perfection. Perfection isn't even the goal, not for us, not for our children. Learning together to live well in an imperfect world, loving each other despite or even because of our imperfections, and growing as humans while we grow our little humans, those are the goals of gentle parenting. So don't ask yourself at the end of the day if you did everything right. Ask yourself what you learned and how well you loved, then grow from your answer. That is perfect parenting."

- L.R. Knost,
The Gentle Parent: Positive, Practical, Effective Discipline

September

"A person's a person, no matter how small."

- Dr. Seuss,
Horton Hears a Who!

November

Wild Child

"They caught all the wild children,
and put them in zoos,

They made them do sums
and wear sensible shoes.

They put them to bed
at the wrong time of day,

And made them sit still
when they wanted to play.

They scrubbed them with soap
and they made them eat peas.

They made them behave and
say pardon and please.

They took all their wisdom
and wildness away.

That's why there are none
in the forests today."

- Jeanne Willis,
Wild Child

December

"Children behave as well as they are treated."

- Jan Hunt,
The Natural Child

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