Haim Ginott Quotes

How can we help a child change from undependable to dependable, from a mediocre student to a capable student, from someone who won't amount to very much to someone who will count for something. The answer is at once both simple and complicated: We treat a child as if he already is what we would like him to become.

Teenagers crave independence. The more self-suf-ficient we make them feel, the less hostile they are toward us.

Treat a child as though he already is the person he's capable of becoming.

To be himself, one neeeds to be free from the pressure of evaluative praise

To sense when a teenager needs understanding and when misunderstanding is a difficult and delicate task. The sad truth is that no matter how wise we are, we cannot be right for any length of time in our teenagers' eyes.

Responsibility is fostered by allowing children a voice and wherever indicated a choice in matters that affect them.

Only if a child feels right can he think right.

Adolescence can be a time of turmoil and turbulence, of stress and storm. Rebellion against authority and against convention is to be expected and tolerated for the sake of learning and growth.

The search for a personal identity is the life task of a teenager.

When children feel understood, their loneliness and hurt diminish. When children are understood, their love for their parent is deepened. A parent's sympathy serves as emotional first aid for bruised feelings. When we genuinely acknowledge a child's plight and voice her disappointment, she often gathers the strength to face reality.

Many teenagers are tormented by terrors they deem private and personal. They do not know that their anxieties and doubts are universal.

Teachers are expected to reach unattainable goals with inadequate tools. The miracle is that at times they accomplish this impossible task.

When gentle persuasion [of children] falls on deaf ears, we resort to ridicule and rebuke. Then we return to threats and punishment. This is the modus operandi of a mutual frustration society.

I have great faith in 'ordinary parents.' Who has a child's welfare more at heart than his ordinary parent? It's been my experience that when parents are given the skills to be more helpful, not only are they able to use these skills, but they infuse them with a warmth and a style that is uniquely their own.

Wise parents know that fighting a teenager, like fighting a riptide, is inviting doom.