After I became a parent, I started searching for quotes and advice to help get me through a discouraging night or an endless morning.
Eventually, I made some friends who were also parents and over the years we have continued to collect quotes and advice.
I used to print out quotes like these and cut them into strips for new mommies to pull out while nursing or rocking or pumping - a quick little ditty to encourage them through the tough moments...and maybe even squeeze in a laugh or two:
“Children are apt to live up to
what you believe of them.” Lady Bird Johnson
It’s okay to not feel 100% excited
about parenthood and all of its joys.
“… worse than
just about anything else is the agonizing issue of how on earth anyone can
bring a child into this world knowing full well that he or she is eventually
going to have to go through seventh and eight grades.” Operating Instructions, Anne Lamott, p. 10
“People search and search for the meaning of life until they
hold a baby – then they know it.” Christina Talleda
Parenting is hard enough without an audience. Try not to
judge.
“As you conduct your life, be serene and joyful, content and
at peace. This will be your greatest legacy. Nothing nurtures a child like a
parent who takes great pleasure from a simple activity and is content with the
present moment.”
The
Parents’ Tao Te Ching, William Martin
“Having a baby is like suddenly getting the world’s worst
roommate: like having Janis Joplin with a bad hangover and PMS come to stay
with you.” Anne Lamott
“… my personal belief is that thin smooth thighs do not
necessarily speak of a rich inner life.”
Operating
Instructions, Anne Lamott, p. 240
“I’m learning to call people all the time and ask for help,
which is about the hardest things I can think of doing. I’m always suggesting
that other people do it, but it really is awful at first.” Operating Instructions Anne Lamott, p. 97
“I watch Sam be
a baby and crawl backwards, and it’s such an alien concept because it seems so natural
to think that all the action is forward. Actually, backwards is just as rich as
forward if you can appreciate the circle instead of the direction.” Operating Instructions Anne Lamott, p.
163-64
“I’ve documented everything – each tooth, your first
haircut, your first bath in the sink. Later when you claim neglect, I’ve proof
of my side for your husband or your shrink.” Tender Hooks, “Say
Cheese” Beth Ann Fennelly
“Everything
is temporary. This means that it's important to pay attention to the sweet
moments because they are so very fleeting. It also means that you shouldn't get
too focused on the hard stuff (middle of the night feedings, kids whose
favorite word is "no") because by time you figure out how to handle
them, they're onto some new challenge for you!”
– Jessica, mother of 2
“Everything
happens for a reason. You may not understand or like the reason, but it is a
reason. Be practical. Use the resources available to you: friends, family,
co-workers, and enemies. Someone has been through what you are going through
and they have survived. ”
– Beth, mother of 2
“Make a
promise with your husband to forgive each other for what is said in the middle
of the night.” – Erin, mother of 2
“Becoming a
mother doesn't cancel out all the other things you are. Don't lose yourself in
this new identity. Maintain your "me time," your marriage, your
faith, and your friendships. You will need all four to survive motherhood.” –
Beth, mother of 2
“Believe that your husband can wash,
change, and feed the baby with the same amount of love, precaution and
tenderness as you. Let him do it. Everybody wins."
Be aware
that sleep deprivation can affect your perspective on everything.
Remember
that taking care of yourself is also a gift to your child, both in the present
and for the future. Be the woman you'd want your daughter to be or the woman
you'd want your son to marry.” – Marisa, mother of 2
Your
children and spouse cannot read your mind.
"Be confident
that your instincts about what is best for you and your babies is the right
thing to do. While you always want to try to be a better parent, don't second
guess yourself too much and do not compare yourself to other mothers. Parenting
books have all have great ideas, and a million of them, but ultimately, but no
one else knows your situation better than yourself, and you will be a better
mother if you can do it confidently.” – Barbara, mother of 2
YOU are
unique. Your CHILDREN are unique. Your problems are not.
So those are some of the helpful quotes.
We are in a new phase now and our play dates have changed, our worries and concerns have shifted.
We mostly sleep through the night and only recently, wipe our own bums.
These are the new quotes that have been helpful to us:
Air and light are like spiritual antibiotics.
Anne Lamott
Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the
wounded. It is a covenant between equals.
Father Gregory Boyle, Tattoos on the Heart
Imaging God can be so different from wishful thinking.
Anne Lamott
The exchange zone [in relay races]is the transformation
zone. It is where I show up, ready and willing, for the next baton – the next
work of God in me and through me to the world SO THAT my transformation to
Christlikeness continues.
Christine Caine
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
That sings the song without the words
And never stops at all.
Emily Dickinson
Let unconquerable gladness dwell.
Quote on FDR’s desk
We try to find a way, then, to hold our fingertips gently to
the pulse of God. We watch as our hearts begin to beat as one with the One who
delights in our being. Then what do we do? We exhale that same spirit of
delight into the world and hope for poetry.
Father Gregory Boyle, Tattoos on the Heart
How many things have to happen to you before something
occurs to you?
Robert Frost
I’ve done everything I can today for your church. But it is
Your church, and I’m going to bed.
Pope John XXIII
We are not called to be successful, but faithful.
Mother Teresa
Here is what we seek: a compassion that we can stand in awe
at what the poor have to carry rather than stand in judgment at how they carry
it.
Father Gregory Boyle, Tattoos on the Heart
All things are inventions of holiness – some more rascally
than others.
Mary Oliver
Jesus was always too busy being faithful to worry about
success. I’m not opposed to success; I just think we should accept it only if
it is a by-product of our fidelity. If our primary concern is results, we will
choose to work only with those who give us good ones.
Father Gregory Boyle, Tattoos on the Heart
Live your way into a new way of thinking.
Richard Rohr
Jesus doesn’t think the harder thing is the better thing. He
just knows it’s the harder thing.
Father Gregory Boyle, Tattoos on the Heart
I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was service.
I acted and behold, service was joy.
Rabindranath Tagore
