Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
Fathers should be neither seen nor heard. That is the only proper basis for family life.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that fathers should be more passive in family life, implying that their presence should be subtle.
Oscar Wilde's quote playfully asserts that for a harmonious family life, fathers should take a backseat, neither dominating the household with their presence nor imposing their authority. The statement reflects a wry observation on familial dynamics, hinting that a less visible father figure can promote a more peaceful and balanced environment within the family.
In practice
During a family therapy session, the counselor quoted Oscar Wilde to emphasize the importance of balance in parental roles.
Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
London is too full of fogs and serious people. Whether the fogs produce the serious people, or whether the serious people produce the fogs, I don't know.
When one has never heard a man's name in the course of one's life, it speaks volumes for him; he must be quite respectable.
Men always want to be a woman's first love - women like to be a man's last romance.
A truth ceases to be true when more than one person believes in it.
His morality is all sympathy, just what morality should be
Nothing is quite so emotional and passionate as what goes on inside of a family. People are driven to distraction by a father or a mother or a husband. Or a child.
The mother-women seemed to prevail that summer at Grand Isle. It was easy to know them, fluttering about with extended, protecting wings when any harm, real or imaginary, threatened their precious brood. They were women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels.
Parents must bring light and truth into their homes by one family prayer, one scripture study session, one family home evening, one book read aloud, one song, and one family meal at a time. They know that the influence of righteous, conscientious, persistent, daily parenting is among the most powerful and sustaining forces for good in the world. The health of any society, the happiness of its people, their prosperity, and their peace all find common roots in the teaching of children in the home.
I want to give a child a life who wouldn't be given a life. I want a child that nobody else wants.
When we traded homemaking for careers, we were implicitly promised economic independence and worldly influence. But a devil of a bargain it has turned out to be in terms of daily life. We gave up the aroma of warm bread rising, the measured pace of nurturing routines, the creative task of molding our families' tastes and zest for life; we received in exchange the minivan and the Lunchable.
One thing I know for sure about raising children is that every single day a kid needs discipline.... But also every single day a kid needs a break.
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