FAMILY MAN

Being the father of a large family and child-sitting a grandson every week and having taught school as a profession it is surprising that I have never written about children. Perhaps it is because they are so much a part of my everyday life experience and thoughts I have taken them for granted.  I will try to begin to make up for that with a few observations (some my own, some from others) that may be funny, or not, but which I believe and have some or much truth in them that could help others.  

·       At the end there are three things that matter to a man, regardless of who he is; and they are the affection, understanding, and welfare of his family—every person in it. 

·       There are no real difficulties in a home where the children hope to be like their parents one day.

·       You can do anything with children if you only play with them. 

·       Before we had children, I had five theories about bringing up children; now I have five children (plus six step-children) and have no theories.

·     "The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority, they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.  Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households.  They no longer rise when elders enter the room.  They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs and tyrannize their teachers."  (Socrates)                                                               

·     "The thing that impresses me most about America is the way parents obey their children."  (Duke of Windsor)

"I’ve seen kids ride bicycles, run, play ball, set up a camp, swing, fight a war, swim, and race for eight hours . . . yet have to be driven to the garbage can."        Erma Bombeck

·       Ask your child what he wants for dinner only if he’s buying.

·       One cannot see the evil deeds of one’s own children. 

·       Small children give you headache; big children heartache. 

·       Children are often spoiled because you cannot spank two grandmothers. 

·       He who takes the child by the hand takes their mother by the heart.

·       Child psychology is what children manage parents with.

·       The young always have the same problem: how to rebel and how to conform at the same time. They have now solved this by defying their parents and copying one another. 

·       With a child in the house all corners are full.

·       The most influential of all educational factors is the conversation in a child’s home.

·       The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.

·       If a man is fortunate he will, before he dies, gather up as much as he can of his civilized heritage and transmit it to his children.

·       A home is ruled by the sickest or loudest person in it.

·       The most important work you will ever do is within the walls of your own home.