50 Heartfelt Quotes For Parents of Teenagers

November 13, 2024

Raising teenagers can be one of the most rewarding yet challenging experiences for any parent. During these years, teens are figuring out who they are, testing boundaries, and sometimes leaving us parents feeling a bit lost.

That’s why we’ve put together a list of quotes to remind you that you’re not alone and that there’s inspiration, humor, and wisdom to be found on this journey. Parenting teens can be so tough, our hope is that these quotes support you through tough times.

Quotes for Parents of Teenagers

1. “Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them.” – Oscar Wilde
2. “The thing about parenting rules is there aren’t any. That’s what makes it so difficult.” – Ewan McGregor
3. “Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.” – Robert Fulghum
4. “We may not be able to prepare the future for our children, but we can at least prepare our children for the future.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
5. “The scariest part about raising a teenager is remembering the stupid stuff you did as a teenager”
6. “To be in your children’s memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives today.” – Barbara Johnson
7. “Your children need your presence more than your presents.” – Jesse Jackson
8. “Adolescence is perhaps nature’s way of preparing parents to welcome the empty nest.” – Karen Savage and Patricia Adams
9. “What it’s like to be a parent: It’s one of the hardest things you’ll ever do, but in exchange, it teaches you the meaning of unconditional love.” – Nicholas Sparks
10. “If you have never been hated by your child, you have never been a parent.” – Bette Davis
11. “The truth is, parenting as well as having children is a complicated journey filled with joy, humor, heartache, and endless learning.” – Debra Winger
12. “There’s no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.” – Jill Churchill
13. “You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance.” – Franklin P. Jones
14. “Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.” – Charles R. Swindoll
15. “There is no friendship, no love, like that of the parent for the child.” – Henry Ward Beecher
16. “The thing about parenting is that the day-to-day routines are relentless and exhausting, but the years go by in a blink.” – Gretchen Rubin
17. “The most important thing that parents can teach their children is how to get along without them.” – Frank A. Clark
18. “We never know the love of a parent till we become parents ourselves.” – Henry Ward Beecher
19. “There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings.” – Hodding Carter
20. “The family is one of nature’s masterpieces.” – George Santayana
21. “A mother’s love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path.” – Agatha Christie
22. “The best inheritance a parent can give to his children is a few minutes of their time each day.” – O. A. Battista
23. “Don’t handicap your children by making their lives easy.” – Robert A. Heinlein
24. “The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence.” – Denis Waitley
25. “What it’s like to be a parent: It’s one of the hardest things you’ll ever do, but in exchange, it teaches you the meaning of unconditional love.” – Nicholas Sparks
26. “If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much time with them and half as much money.” – Abigail Van Buren
27. “The best way to make children good is to make them happy.” – Oscar Wilde
28. “Your children will become what you are; so be what you want them to be.” – David Bly
29. “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” – Frederick Douglass
30. “Children learn more from what you are than what you teach.” – W.E.B. Du Bois
31. “Children need love, especially when they do not deserve it.” – Harold Hulbert
32. “Raising kids is part joy and part guerilla warfare.” – Ed Asner
33. “At the end of the day, the most overwhelming key to a child’s success is the positive involvement of parents.” – Jane D. Hull
34. “When you teach your son, you teach your son’s son.” – The Talmud
35. “Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” – Margaret Mead
36. “In the end, kids won’t remember that fancy toy or game you bought for them, they will remember the time you spent with them.” – Kevin Heath
37. “Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work.” – C.S. Lewis
38. “A mother understands what a child does not say.”
39. “A parent’s love is whole no matter how many times divided.” – Robert Brault
40. “You have a lifetime to work, but children are only young once.”
41. “The sign of great parenting is not the child’s behavior. The sign of truly great parenting is the parent’s behavior.” – Andy Smithson
42. “A parent’s love is made of deep devotion, sacrifice, and pain; it is endless and unselfish, and enduring come what may.” – Helen Steiner Rice
43. “It’s not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours.” – Joyce Maynard
44. “Children are not things to be molded, but are people to be unfolded.” – Jess Lair
45. “A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society.” – Billy Graham
46. “It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them successful human beings.” – Ann Landers
47. “Motherhood is the exquisite inconvenience of being another person’s everything.”
48. “A child enters your home and makes so much noise for twenty years. And then departs, leaving the house so silent you think you are going mad.” – John Andrew Holmes
49. “There’s no such thing as a perfect parent. So just be a real one.” – Sue Atkins
50. “Parenthood…It’s about guiding the next generation and forgiving the last.” – Peter Krause
51. “While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.” – Angela Schwindt

Inspirational Quotes About Parenting Teens

In the past we’ve written about inspirational quotes or teens, but wanted to create a list of quotes for parents of teenagers. If we’re being honest, parents oftentimes need as much support as their teenagers do. We hope that you were able to resonate with some of the quotes on this list and feel more supported and inspired!