Children love and want to be loved and they very much prefer the joy of accomplishment to the triumph of hateful failure. Do not mistake a child for his symptom.
Erik EriksonRead
Parents must not only have certain ways of guiding by prohibition and permission, they must also be able to represent to the child a deep, almost somatic conviction that there is meaning in what they are doing.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Parents should guide their children with both rules and a strong belief in the value of their guidance.
In this quote, Erik Erikson emphasizes the critical role of parents in not just establishing boundaries through prohibitions and permissions, but also in embodying a profound belief in the meaningfulness of their actions. This deep conviction is essential for instilling a sense of purpose and understanding in children, enabling them to grasp the importance of behavior and decision-making in their own lives.
Themes
ParentsGuidanceChildrenMeaningConviction
In practice
Example use cases
During a parenting workshop focused on effective communication with children.
More from Erik Erikson
All quotes →Men have always shown a dim knowledge of their better potentialities by paying homage to those purest leaders who taught the simplest and most inclusive rules for an undivided mankind.
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Nobody likes to be found out, not even one who has made ruthless confession a part of his profession. Any autobiographer, therefore, at least between the lines, spars with his reader and potential judge.
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You've got to learn to accept the law of life, and face the fact that we disintegrate slowly.
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You see a child play, and it is so close to seeing an artist paint, for in play a child says things without uttering a word. You can see how he solves his problems. You can also see what's wrong. Young children, especially, have enormous creativity, and whatever's in them rises to the surface in free play.
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In the social jungle of human existence, there is no feeling of being alive without a sense of identity.
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