Awareness of having better things to do with their lives is the secret to immunizing our children against false values--whether presented on television or in "real life." The child who finds fulfillment in music or reading or cooking or swimming or writing or drawing is not as easily convinced that he needs recognition or power or some "high" to feel worthwhile.
Polly Berrien BerendsWe do not have to get our children to learn; only to allow and encourage them in their learning. We do not have to dictate what they should learn; only to discern and respond to what it is that they are learning. Such responsiveness is at once the most educational and the most loving.
Polly Berrien BerendsEverything that happens is either a blessing, which is also a lesson, or a lesson which is also a blessing.
Polly Berrien BerendsWhenever the child is given the notion that he needs to be entertained, learning comes almost to a halt.
Polly Berrien BerendsMore than what we say or do, the way we are expresses what we think it means to be alive. So the articulate parent is less a telling than a listening individual.
Polly Berrien BerendsThe trouble with most problem-solving books for parents is that they start with the idea that the child has a problem. Then they try to tell us how to fix the child, or else, after blaming the parent, they suggest how we can fix ourselves.
Polly Berrien BerendsOnce we begin to appreciate that the apparent destructiveness of the toddler in taking apart a flower or knocking down sand castles is in fact a constructive effort to understand unity, we are able to revise our view of the situation, moving from reprimand and prohibition to the intelligent channeling of his efforts and the fostering of discovery.
Polly Berrien Berends