The search for a personal identity is the life task of a teenager.

Many teenagers are tormented by terrors they deem private and personal. They do not know that their anxieties and doubts are universal.

Wise parents know that fighting a teenager, like fighting a riptide, is inviting doom.

Each of us carries within himself a collection of instant insults.

If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.

When children feel understood, their loneliness and hurt diminish. When children are understood, their love for their parent is deepened. A parent's sympathy serves as emotional first aid for bruised feelings. When we genuinely acknowledge a child's plight and voice her disappointment, she often gathers the strength to face reality.

When a child hits a child, we call it aggression. When a child hits an adult, we call it hostility. When an adult hits an adult, we call it assault. When an adult hits a child, we call it discipline.