Esther Wojcicki Quotes

THERE ARE NO NOBEL Prizes for parenting or education, but there should be. They are the two most important things we do in our society. How we raise and educate our children determines not only the people they become but the society we create.

In other words, if you don’t act as your own therapist, and interrogate your own childhood, you won’t be the best parent you can be. A parental perspective allows you to understand the challenges your parents faced that you might not have recognized as a child. A child’s perspective is myopic, and it’s impossible for us as children to understand all the factors that influence our parents’ behavior.

says she commonly sees children at eight, nine, and ten months old who wake up throughout the night. There are even one-, two-, and three-year-olds who don’t sleep through the night. Why? Because they haven’t been taught. “Sometimes as parents we’re frightened to give our kids the opportunity to learn,” she says. “We feel like we’re harming them, and that we’re not supporting them in the way they need to be supported.

No one has ever changed the world by doing what the world has told them to do.

Não importa quais desafios vamos enfrentar como pais, podemos enxergar as evidências diante dos nossos olhos. Olhe para os seus filhos. Observe-os. Converse com eles. Eles estão felizes? Estão progredindo? Somos sujeitos a tantas influências — sobretudo às opiniões dos outros — que esquecemos de apenas olhar para a nossa família e ver o que está ou não dando certo. Se algo não estiver funcionando, você pode mudar. Avalie a situação honestamente, sem se culpar ou ficar inseguro. Todos os pais e mães passam por dificuldades. Mas as dificuldades não significam que devemos perder a confiança, e sim que precisamos acreditar ainda mais em nós mesmos.

candy with their main course, but they could only eat it after they finished their dinner. No exceptions. Another tactic: Whenever they wanted something, I always suggested a way to get it—but it usually took time. If they wanted to go swimming, for example, I would say, “Should we wait until it’s a little warmer outside before we go to the pool?” Or another common request would be, “Can we go outside and play now?” My response: “Did you feed Truffle (the dog)?” or “Did you finish the drawing you started last night?” I can’t really say why I did this, but I had a hunch that they should learn to control themselves as early as possible, even when tempted with candy or other treats.

To make it easy to remember in all walks of life, I call these values “TRICK”: TRUST, RESPECT, INDEPENDENCE, COLLABORATION, AND KINDNESS

The lesson in all of this: Children will listen to you—they want your approval and love—but if they want to be happy, they’re going to have to listen to themselves.

How we raise and educate our children determines not only the people they become but the society we create.

Parenting is how culture gets transmitted to the next generation. It’s your chance to pass on your core principles and values, and to use all of your wisdom and insight in order to improve someone else’s life. It’s also your chance to affect eternity. I’m reminded of one of my favorite quotes about the art of teaching: “Teachers affect eternity; they can never tell where their influence stops.” The same is true for parenting. You never know how your parenting will impact future generations.

What I realized, through a lot of conscious effort, is that parenting gives us perhaps the most profound opportunity to grow as human beings.

When parents don’t take responsibility for their own unfinished business, they miss an opportunity not only to become better parents but also to continue their own development.

Siegel, Main, and others have discussed how this experience of making sense of your life results in “earned secure attachment.” We all have the ability to “earn” security through conscious self-reflection, which we can then pass on to our children.