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If you've never been hated by your child, you've never been a parent.
Bette Davis
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Parenting involves making difficult decisions that may not always be appreciated by children.

This quote by Bette Davis highlights the complex and often challenging nature of parenting. It suggests that a parent must sometimes enforce rules or boundaries that may lead to temporary feelings of resentment or hatred from their child, pointing to the deep emotional involvement and sacrifices that come with raising a child. To be a parent often means to prioritize long-term well-being over immediate acceptance or affection, implying that experiencing hatred from your child can be an indication of effective parenting.

Themes

ParentingLoveSacrificeChildrenEmotions

In practice

Example use cases

Sharing this quote during a parenting seminar to discuss the challenges of raising children.

More from Bette Davis

I am doomed to an eternity of compulsive work. No set goal achieved satisfies. Success only breeds a new goal. The golden apple devoured has seeds. It is endless.
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I have been uncompromising, peppery, intractable, monomaniacal, tactless, volatile, and oftentimes disagreeable... I suppose I'm larger than life.
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Acting should be bigger than life. Scripts should be bigger than life. It should all be bigger than life.
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Once the love bug wears off, as it inevitably does, you are shocked to discover that you really didn't know the object of your affections at all. We know this to be so, even as we repeat the same mistake over and over and over.
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If everybody likes you, you're pretty dull.
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