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L.R. Knost QUOTES

L.R. Knost QUOTES

1 " It's not our job to toughen our children up to face a cruel and heartless world. It's our job to raise children who will make the world a little less cruel and heartless. "

― L.R. Knost , Two Thousand Kisses a Day: Gentle Parenting Through the Ages and Stages

2 " Taking care of yourself doesn't mean me first, it means me too. "

― L.R. Knost

3 " 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

4 " For a child, it is in the simplicity of play that the complexity of life is sorted like puzzle pieces joined together to make sense of the world. "

― L.R. Knost , Two Thousand Kisses a Day: Gentle Parenting Through the Ages and Stages

5 " Forgiveness empties the past of its power to empty the present of its peace. "

― L.R. Knost

6 " Forgiving ourselves and learning from our inevitable mistakes transforms failure from a stumbling block into a stepping stone. "

― L.R. Knost

7 " It is time for a return to childhood, to simplicity, to running and climbing and laughing in the sunshine, to experiencing happiness instead of being trained for a lifetime of pursuing happiness. It is time to let children be children again. "

― L.R. Knost

8 " Some say they get lost in books, but I find myself, again and again, in the pages of a good book. Humanly speaking, there is no greater teacher, no greater therapist, no greater healer of the soul, than a well-stocked library. "

― L.R. Knost

9 " Fairy tales in childhood are stepping stones throughout life, leading the way through trouble and trial. The value of fairy tales lies not in a brief literary escape from reality, but in the gift of hope that goodness truly is more powerful than evil and that even the darkest reality can lead to a Happily Ever After. Do not take that gift of hope lightly. It has the power to conquer despair in the midst of sorrow, to light the darkness in the valleys of life, to whisper “One more time” in the face of failure. Hope is what gives life to dreams, making the fairy tale the reality. "

― L.R. Knost

10 " Books on the bookshelves
And stacked on the floor
Books kept in baskets
And propped by the door
Books in neat piles
And in disarray
Books tucked in closets
And books on display
Books filling crannies
And books packed in nooks
Books massed in windows
And mounded in crooks
Libraries beckon
And bookstores invite
But book-filled rooms welcome
Us back home at night! "

― L.R. Knost

11 " YELLING silences your message. Speak quietly so your children can hear your words instead of just your voice. "

― L.R. Knost

12 " When you see a dandelion do you see a wish or a weed? When you hear a child cry do you hear a need or a demand? When you wash a sticky face do you feel blessed or burdened? As parents, our perspective determines our response, and our response determines our children's reality. So let's wish wishes, meet needs, and count blessings to make childhood a magical, peaceful, joy-filled reality for both our children and ourselves. "

― L.R. Knost

13 " Don't make yourself small.
Not for anyone.
If someone tells you
you're too much...
too loud, too sensitive,
too fierce, too caring,
too intellectual, too optimistic,
too realistic, too logical, too emotional...
just smile and move on, my friend.
Clearly, they aren't enough for you. "

― L.R. Knost

14 " Taking care of myself doesn't mean 'me first.' It means 'me, too. "

― L.R. Knost

15 " Respecting a child teaches them that even the smallest, most powerless, most vulnerable person is worthy of respect. And that is a lesson our world desperately needs to learn. "

― L.R. Knost

16 " Leave a trail of light behind you
Everywhere you go.
Whose darkness you'll illuminate
You may never know. "

― L.R. Knost

17 " Namaste
means that my soul
acknowledges yours -
not just your light,
your wisdom,
your goodness,
but also your darkness,
your suffering,
your imperfections.
It is a recognition
and acceptance of
the inexplicable
divine absurdity,
the miraculous woven
into the ordinary,
light and darkness
intimately entwined
in magical, messy
humanity.
It means that I honor
all that you are
with all that I am.
So, namaste,
my fellow travelers.
I'm so glad we're on
this trek through
the universe together. "

― L.R. Knost

18 " One day your child will make a mistake or a bad choice and run to you instead of away from you and in that moment you will know the immense value of peaceful, positive, respectful parenting. "

― L.R. Knost

19 " 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

20 " New mothers are often told that once they've fed, burped, and changed their baby they should leave their baby alone to self-soothe if they cry because all of their needs have been met. One day I hope all new mothers will smile confidently and say, "I gave birth to a baby, not just a digestive system. My baby as a brain that needs to learn trust and a heart that needs love. I will meet all of my baby's needs, emotional, mental, and physical, and I'll respond to every cry because crying is communication, not manipulation. "

― L.R. Knost , Two Thousand Kisses a Day: Gentle Parenting Through the Ages and Stages