Every parent is an artist, for the bared canvas of a newborn’s soul begs for the artist’s touch. And because this is so, a parent must prepare the palette with the utmost care, choose the brushes with poised caution, and mindfully attend to every brushstroke regardless of how slight. And such caution is utterly imperative for the emerging rendering will be both a legacy borne of the parent, and a life lived by the child.

At the point that I can look into my children’s faces and say that my life is about their lives, I have finally come to the point that I can now start becoming a parent. And if I’ve not reached this point, I might be a parent by birth but it all ends there.

Each and every day take the time to tell your children the great people that they are so that they don’t grow up living each and every day thinking they’re the bad people that they’re not.

If we fail to instill a fixed sense of confidence in our children, we will raise handicapped children who have no handicap other than the conviction that they believe they do.

To my children I say, “Fall on me.” For what greater privilege has a parent than to be that place to fall in a world that is itself fallen?

Whether you’ve ever considered it or not, you’re an author. And the stories that you write are penned across the hearts of your children. Therefore, be careful with the pen because you’re writing on some very precious paper.

If I could be half of what my mother was, I’d be twice the man I am now.

The ingredients are exactly the same, but the taste is not. And that’s because it’s not about the ingredients. Rather, it’s about the mother who took the time she didn’t have to create the meal she didn’t need for a child who didn’t understand. And once I became an adult, I realized that those ingredients make the best meals.

The future is shaped by the people that we send into it. And we must never forget that the child tugging on our pant-legs is one of those people.