Previous Quotes of the Month for 2001
January
"One of the most obvious facts about grownups to a child is that they have forgotten what it is like to be a child."
Randall Jarrell
February
"The evolution of culture is ultimately determined by the amount of love, understanding and freedom experienced by its children... Every abandonment, every betrayal, every hateful act towards children returns tenfold a few decades later upon the historical stage, while every empathic act that helps a child become what he or she wants to become, every expression of love toward children heals society and moves it in unexpected, wondrous new directions."
Lloyd deMause
March
"Two questions help us see why we are unlikely to get what we want by using punishment... The first question is: What do I want this person to do that's different from what he or she is currently doing? If we ask only this first question, punishment may seem effective because the threat or exercise of punitive force may well influence the person's behavior. However, with the second question, it becomes evident that punishment isn't likely to work: What do I want this person's reasons to be for doing what I'm asking?"
Marshall Rosenberg, Ph.D.
Nonviolent Communication - A Language of CompassionSee also: The Center for Nonviolent Communication
April
"Where there is love, there is no imposition."
Albert Einstein
May
"That energy which makes a child hard to manage is the energy which afterwards makes him a manager of life."
Henry Ward Beecher
June
"Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you. Love me and I may be forced to love you."
William Arthur Ward
July
"When people ask me what to do, I tell them to just give the child all the love that they can. Don't worry so much about anything else. And when it comes to discipline: never, never physically assault the child in any way, and certainly don't assault them with words, which can be just as cruel as physical punishment."
Ashley Montagu,
Touch the Future
August
"Raising children with an emphasis on intrinsic rewards is not a technique, a method or a trick to get them to do what the parent wants them to by subtler means, but a way of life, a way of living with children with real respect for their intelligence and for their being."
Mary Van Doren
September
"Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is."
Isaac Asimov
October
"If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children."Mahatma Gandhi
November
"Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold."
Joseph Chilton Pearce
More Quotes of the MonthDecember
"I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn."
Albert Einstein