This post will cover 50 inspirational parenting quotes to keep you positive.
There is no such thing as a perfect mother. We all have bad days. Motherhood can be overwhelming at times. I’ll be the first to admit that, more often than not, when I lay my head down at night, I rehearse everything I should have said and done differently in my role as a mom that day. Being a mom is one of the hardest things, but also one of the most important things. That’s why we are so hard on ourselves.
But we won’t do ourselves any good continuing to rehearse where we feel we’ve fallen short. So instead, we will focus on the truths of parenting with 50 inspirational quotes. I encourage you to read them out loud, write them on a bathroom mirror, put them on a sticky note, and place them where you can see their messages throughout the day.
Why Should You Incorporate These 50 Inspirational Parenting Quotes to Keep You Positive?
With five teenagers 18 months apart, I’ve always found sitting down and reading parenting books challenging. That’s why I love quotes. They bring me hope, cast vision, remind me of my true motherhood goal, and always leave me encouraged.
Whether you have a young child or a young adult, the parenting journey never stops. It’s important to remember your unconditional love for your children and never doubt the simplest ways you can impact their life.
50 Inspirational Parenting Quotes to Keep You Positive
- “Having a baby is a life-changer. It gives you a whole other perspective on why you wake up every day.” — Taylor Hanson
- “To be in your children’s memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives today.” — Barbara Johnson
- “Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person’s character lies in their hands.” — Anne Frank
- “Any child in his right mind will test the limits. That’s his job. He’s pretty new on the planet and figuring out the rules. The most common reason that children test the limits is that they really want to find out where those limits are. Children need the security of knowing that someone more experienced and knowledgeable is looking out for them. They don’t feel safe when we don’t guide and nurture them. That’s why we often say that children will keep pushing until they find our limits.” — Dr. Laura Markham
- “Parents, choose your words wisely, carefully, thoughtfully. In the same way that violence begets violence and anger begets anger, kindness begets kindness and peace begets peace. Sow words of peace, words that build, words that show respect and belief and support.” — L.R. Knost
- “So often, children are punished for being human. Children 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, and we must stop holding our children to a higher standard of perfection than we can attain ourselves.” — Rebecca Eanes
- “Encourage and support your kids because children are apt to live up to what you believe of them.” — Lady Bird Johnson
- “Most things are good, and they are the strongest things, but there are evil things too, and you are not doing a child a favor by trying to shield her from reality. The important thing is to teach a child that good can always triumph over evil.” — Walt Disney
- “Kids don’t stay with you if you do it right. It’s the one job where, the better you are, the more surely you won’t be needed in the long run.” — Barbara Kingsolver
- “You can’t teach children to behave better by making them feel worse. When children feel better they behave better. “— Pam Lee
- “The sign of great parenting is not the child’s behavior. The sign of truly great parenting is the parent’s behavior.” — Andy Smithson
- “What it’s like to be a parent: It’s one of the hardest things you’ll ever do, but in exchange, it teaches you the meaning of unconditional love.” — Nicholas Sparks
- “It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them successful human beings.” — Ann Landers
- “Home is where you are loved the most and act the worst.” — Marjorie Pay Hinckley
- “I often worry about the safety of my child, especially the one rolling their eyes at me and talking back.” — Unknown
- “I NEVER want to NOT parent the way I’m called to because I’m tired. If I’m too tired to hold the line with my kids, raise their standards, invest in them, show them God’s beauty, train them how to be grateful (not entitled), not let them make the final decision because …. Well, because I’m just too lazy to be the PARENT…. Then something needs to give.” — Jennifer Johnson
- “Making a decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside of your body.” — Elizabeth Stone
- ” Being a mother has been a master class in letting go. Try as we might, there’s only so much we can control. And, boy, have I tried – especially at first. As mothers, we just don’t want anything or anyone to hurt our babies. But life has other plans. Bruised knees, bumpy roads and broken hearts are part of the deal. What’s both humbled and heartened me is seeing the resiliency of my daughters.” — Michelle Obama
- “The example we set for our kids – how to act when things don’t go our way-is much, much more important than the rules we set for them.” — Leo Babauta
- “The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice.” — Peggy O’Mara
- “The real test of a parenting model is how well-equipped the children are to move into adulthood as vital members of the human race.” —Dr. Tim Kimmel
- “In bringing up children, spend on them half as much money and twice as much time.” — Author Unknown
- “Don’t let yourself become so concerned with raising a good kid that you forget you already have one.” — Glennon Melton
- “There is no such thing as a perfect parent. So just be a real one. “— Sue Atkins
- “Hight-control parenting is a manipulation against our children’s weaknesses to get them to meet our selfish agenda.” — Dr. Tim Kimmel
- “Some think that love is all flowers and good times, but I think that love is more than just that. Love is the bad, as well as the better, not lived alone, but a journey together. Something that only the closest can share, with communication, respect.” — Maya Angelou
- “Sticks and stones may break bones, but words can shatter souls. Words matter. Choose wisely.” — L.R. Knost
- “Remember – The kids who need the most love will ask for it in the most unloving ways.” — Russel Barkley
- “When you look at your life, the greatest happiness is family happiness.” — Dr. Joyce Brothers
- “Untapped potential is a crime to humanity, an insult to God, and a shame for an individual.” — Dr. Tim Kimmel
- “Children should not be burdened with making us happy, nor blamed for making us sad or angry. Children are not responsible for how we feel. We are.” — Larissa Dann
- “At the end of the day, the most overwhelming key to a child’s success is the positive involvement of the parents.” — Jane D. Hull
- “The greatest gift you can give a child is an imagination.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
- “You will never look back on life and think, “I spent too much time with my kids.” — Unknown
- “One of the worst things we can do for our children is to send them into their adult years as one-dimensional people.” — Dr. Tim Kimmel
- “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” — Frederick Douglass
- “To be a good father and mother requires that the parents defer many of their own needs and desires in favor of the needs of their children. As a consequence of this sacrifice, conscientious parents develop a nobility of character and learn to put into practice the selfless truths taught by the Savior Himself.” — James E. Faust
- “Your children are the greatest gift God will give to you, and their souls the heaviest responsibility He will place in your hands. Take time with them; teach them to have faith in God. Be a person in whom they can have faith. When you are old, nothing else you’ve done will have mattered as much.” ― Lisa Wingate
- “Children develop hope when they have loving parents ready to sacrifice to meet their helpless needs.” — Dr. Tim Kimmel
- “Kids learn from watching adults. SHOW them what you want them to model. Children don’t listen to their parents… they imitate them!” — Jennifer Johnson
- “I think that the best thing we can do for our children is to allow them to do things for themselves, allow them to be strong, allow them to experience life on their own terms, allow them to take the subway… let them be better people, let them believe more in themselves.” — C. JoyBell C.
- “Listen earnestly to anything your children want to tell you. No matter what. If you don’t listen eagerly to the little stuff when they are little, they won’t tell you the big stuff when they are big because to them all of it has always been big stuff.” — Catherine M. Wallace
- “Do you want a bridge or a straw? If you want to get over it, I’ll build you a bridge. If you want to suck it up, I’ll give you a straw.” — Marc Spear
- “The beauty of motherhood is not in the freshly pressed shirts and smiling photos we show the world. The beauty of motherhood is in the folds and creases of our lives, the grimaces and tantrums, the moments when we have to grit our teeth and get through when we pound on windows and yell and scream and demand better of each other and ourselves.” — Robyn Passante
- “Adolescence is perhaps nature’s way of preparing parents to welcome the empty nest.” — Karen Savage and Patricia Adams
- “It’s unloving to keep our children weak or helpless. In fact, strength is one of the natural conclusions of love.” — Dr. Tim Kimmel
- “That is the nature of being a parent. You’ll love your children far more than you ever loved your parents, and – in the recognition that your own children cannot fathom the depth of your love – you come to understand the tragic, unrequited love of your own parents.” — Ursula Hegi
- “To raise a child who is comfortable enough to leave you means you’ve done your job. They are not ours to keep but to teach how to soar on their own.” — Unknown
- “There is no single effort more radical in its potential for saving the world than a transformation of the way we raise our children.“ — Marianne Williamson
- “Teenage boys are tender, sweet, and so brave. They need boundaries, guidelines, toughness, tenderness, and grace. But our job as parents is not to teach endless lessons and harp on what they’re not doing but to listen, love, and not take things personally. Give them time and continue to pray for them daily.” — Jennifer Johnson
- These Are 50 Inspirational Parenting Quotes to Keep You Positive
I’ll close up with a parenting checklist I try to keep in front of me:
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- Pray for them every day
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- Give them a space to be heard without overreacting
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- Trust them to make wise choices
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- Care for yourself
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- Find healthy coping skills
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- Take breaks when you need them
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- Have a life outside of them
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- Teach them what you’d like them to know
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- Follow your own advice
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- Don’t pretend to have it all together
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- Admit when you’re wrong and when you’ve made a mistake…and ask for forgiveness
Kids learn from watching adults. Show them what you want them to model. Children don’t listen to their parents… they imitate them!
Even if you see zero fruit from your labor today… trust the process. You’re laying the foundation now for the rest of their lives. I believe we will still see fruit in decades and generations to come!
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I am a coach, writer, and speaker.