79 Relatable Parenting Quotes You Need to Read

Becoming a parent is one of the hardest jobs anyone faces, but at the same time, parenthood is beyond rewarding. Watching your kids grow and become who they are meant to be is one of the greatest joys in life, and so many parenting quotes reflect the complexity of being a parent.

Let’s be honest; parenthood pushes you to the brink what you think you can handle, but the hardest things often are the greatest gift in your life.

I love parenting quotes, especially funny parenting quotes that reminds me that I’m not alone on bad days.

It reminds me that all parents have days when their kids won’t sleep, and we feel like we don’t have much patience left.

At the end of the day ,we are all trying to do our best as human beings; there is no perfect mother.

So, grab a cup of tea and enjoy reading these parenting quotes. Some may make you laugh, while others bring a tear to your eye!

Related: 83 Beautiful & Inspiring Mother and Son Quotes

Funny Quotes about Parenting

Some of the best parenting quotes are funny and remind us that things aren’t always so serious. From the diaper changes to messes and crazy toddler tantrums, raising kids isn’t for the faint of heart.

  1. “My biggest parenting conundrum: why is it so hard to put someone who is already sleepy to sleep.” – Chrissy Teigen

2. “That’s what children are for – that their parents may not be bored.” – Ivan Turgenev

3. “Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older, they judge them; sometimes, they forgive them.” – Oscar Wilde

4. “My parents loved us, but I wasn’t always sure they liked us.”

5. “People who say they sleep like a baby usually don’t have one.” – Leo Burke

6. “A two-year-old is kind of like having a blender, but you don’t have a top for it.” – Jerry Seinfeld

7. “Always be nice to your children because they are the ones who will choose your rest home.” – Phyllis Diller

8. “The quickest way for a parent to get a child’s attention is to sit down and look comfortable.” – Lane Olinghouse

9. “Before I got married, I had six theories about bringing up children, and now I have six children and no theories.” – John Wilmot

10. “Everyone should have kid. They are the greatest joy in the world, but they are also terrorists. You’ll realize this as soon as they’re born, and they start using sleep deprivation to break you.” – Ray Romano

11. “All of us have moments in our lives that test our courage. Taking children into a house with white carpet is one of them.” – Erma Bombeck

12. “Having children is like living in a frat house – nobody sleeps, everything is broken, and there’s a lot of throwing up.” – Ray Romano

13. “No matter how much time you spend reading books or following your intuition, you’re gonna screw it up. Fifty times. You can’t do parenting right.” – Alan Arkin

14.“Children really brighten up a household. They never turn the lights off.” – Ralph Bus

15. “Usually the triumph of my day is, you know, everyone making it to the potty.” – Julia Roberts

16. “The biggest thing I remember is that there was just no transition. You hit the ground diapering.” – Paul Reiser

17. “I don’t know what’s more exhausting about parenting: the getting up early or acting like you know what you’re doing.” – Jim Gaffigan

18. “In bringing up children, spend on them half as much money and twice as much time.” – Unknown

19. “Having one child makes you a parent; having two, you are a referee.” – David Frost

20. “You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance.” – Franklin P. Adams

Related: 81 Inspiring Breastfeeding Quotes To Cherish The Bond With Your Baby

Uplifting Parenting Quotes

We all love inspirational quotes on bad days. Parents need to remember we are all doing the best job possible.

  1. “To raise a child, it sometimes takes a village, but sometimes, that village should shut up and mind their own business.” – Susan McLean

2. “We never know the love of a parent till we become parents ourselves.” – Henry Ward Beecher

3. “Parents were the only ones obligated to love you; from the rest of the world, you have to earn it.” – Ann Brashares

4. “Parents aren’t the people you come from. They’re the people you want to be when you grow up.” – Jodi Picoult

5. “Love is the chain whereby to bind a child to its parents.” – Abraham Lincoln

6. “A parent’s love is whole, no matter how many times divided.” – Robert Brault

7. “To understand your parents’ love, you must raise children yourself.” – Chinese Proverb

8. “Love your parents. We are so busy growing up, we often forget they are also growing old.” – Unknown

9. “We don’t always do the things our parents want us to do, but it is their mistake if they can’t find a way to love us anyway.” – J. Courtney Sullivan

10. “We cannot always build the future of our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.” Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States

11. “Affirming words from moms and dads are like light switches. Speak a word of affirmation at the right moment in a child’s life, and it’s like lighting up a whole roomful of possibilities.” – Gary Smalley

12. “Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother.” – Oprah Winfrey

13. “There are so many quiet times you spend as a mother that aren’t glorified but are a foundation for your kids. No matter what, there was always a thick safety net under this trapeze.” – Tina Fey

14. “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

15. “Your kids require you most of all to love them for who they are, not to spend your whole life trying to correct them.” – Bill Ayers

16. “Don’t let yourself become so concerned with raising a good kid that you forget you already have one.” – Glennon Melton

17. “My parents taught me I could be anything in the world I wanted to be.” – Joann Jett

18. “Some people care too much. I think it’s called love.” – A.A. Milne

19. “Let parents bequeath to their children not riches, but the spirit of reverence.” – Plato

Related: 50 Mother Daughter Quotes That Will Have You Cherishing Your Bond

Sentimental Parent Quotes

  1. “All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my mother.” – Abraham Lincoln

2. “No matter how far we come, our parents are always in us.” – Brad Meltzer

3. “There is no friendship, no love, like that of the parent for the child.” – Henry Ward Beecher

4. “A mother understand what a child does not say.” – Jewish Proverb

5. “Pregnancy and motherhood are the most beautiful and significantly life-altering events that I have ever experienced.” – Elisabeth Hasselbeck

6. “You will never look back on life and think, ‘ I spent too much time with my kids.” – Unknown

7. “My doctors told me I would never walk again. My mother told me I would. I believed my mother.” – Wilma Rudolph

8. “I became the kind of parent my mother was to me.” – Maya Angelou

9. “When you look at your life, the greatest happiness is family happiness.” – Dr. Joyce Brothers

10. “At the end of the day, the most overwhelming key to a child’s success is the positive involvement of parents.” – Jane Hull

11. “The greatest gift you can give a child is an imagination.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

12. “It is not until you become a mother that your judgement slowly turns to compassion and understanding.” – Erma Bombeck

13. “Children learn more from what you are than what you teach.” – W.E.B. DuBois

14. “It’s the bond between mother and child, which is really for us and for chimps and other primates, the root of all the expressions of social behavior.” – Jane Goodall

15. “Never fear spoiling children by making them too happy. Happiness is the atmosphere in which all good affections grow.” – Thomas Bray

16. “When you look into your mother’s eyes, you know that is purest love you can find on this earth.” – Mitch Albom

17. “There’s nothing like your mother’s sympathetic voice to make you want to burst into tears.” – Sohpie Kinsella

18. “My parents are my backbone. Still are. They’re the only group that will support you if you score zero or you score 40.” – Kobe Bryant

Related: 20 Comforting Rainbow Baby Quotes for a Positive New Pregnancy

Inspirational Parenting Quotes

We all love inspirational quotes on bad days. Parents need to remember we are all doing the best job possible. Here are some parenting quotes to remind you of all the important things.

  1. “Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.” – Benjamin Spock

2. “Love as powerful as your mother’s for you leaves its own mark to have been loved so deeply… will give us some protection forever.” – J.K. Rowling

3. “The best kind of parent you can be is to lead by example.” – Drew Barrymore

4. “So often, children are punished for being human. Children are not allowed to have grumpy moods, bad days, disrespectful tones, or bad attitudes, yet we adults have them all the time. None of us are perfect, and we must stop holding our children to a higher standard of perfection that we can attain ourselves.” – Rebecca Eanes

5. “The best inheritance a parent can give his children is a few minutes of his time each day.” – O.A. Battista

6. “Our most important responsibility as parents is regulating our own emotions, which is essential for our children to learn to manage themselves.” – Dr. Laura Markham

7. “Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands.” – Anne Frank

8. “The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice.” – Peggy O’Mara

9. “I don’t believe in playing down to children, either in life or in motion pictures. I didn’t treat my own youngsters like fragile flowers, and I think no parents should” – Walt Disney

10. “Behind every young child who believes in himself is a parent who believed first.” – Matthew Jacobson

11. “There is no such thing as a perfect parent. So, just be a real one.” – Sue Atkins

12. “A good father is a source of inspiration and self-restraint. A good mother is the root of kindness and humbleness.” – Dr. T.P. Chia

13. “So much is asked of parents, and so little is given.” – Virginia Satir

14. “Parenting is a life time job and does not stop when a child grows up.” – Jake Slope

15. “My heroes are and were my parents. I can’t see having anyone else as my heroes.” – Michael Jordan

16. “While we try to teach our children all about live, our children teach us what life is all about.” – Angela Schwindt

17. “The greatest gift a parent can give a child is self-confidence.” – Stewart Stafford

18. “Encourage and support your kids because children are apt to live up to what you believe of them.” – Lady Bird Johnson, former FOTUS

19. “My worst parenting moments, the ones I am least proud of, happened because I was trying to impress a bunch of strangers I’ll probably never se again.” – Janel Mills

20. “The best advice my mom has ever given me is to never give up. She believes when one door shuts, another door opens. Always, always move forward.” – Melissa Rivers

21. “Don’t try to be perfect. Life isn’t; no one is. Use mistakes and mishaps as opportunities to grow tolerance and to teach. There is such a thing as happy accidents. And love, love, love, and listen, listen, listen.” – Teri Hatcher

22. “Parents, choose your words wisely, carefully, thoughtfully. In the same way that violence begets violence an anger begets anger, kindness begets kindness, and peace begets peace. Sow words of peace, words that build, words that show respect and believe and support.” – L.R. Knost


We all sometimes need a few parenting quotes that remind us on the bad days that everything we are doing is worth it. I hope these quotes about parenting inspire you and bring you some laughter.

Scroll to Top