There are times when parenthood seems nothing more than feeding the hand that bites you.
Interpretation
Parenthood can be frustrating and unappreciated, despite the love for children.
In this quote, Peter De Vries expresses the paradox of parenthood, where caretakers often feel they are met with ingratitude and challenge, as if they are nurturing someone who also bites back. It highlights the struggles and sacrifices of parenting, recognizing that while love drives the relationship, the difficulties can make it feel one-sided at times.
In practice
In a speech about the challenges of parenting, one might quote this to emphasize the difficulties.
We must love one another, yes, yes, that's all true enough, but nothing says we have to like each other. It may be the very recognition of all men as our brothers that accounts for the sibling rivalry, and even enmity, we have toward so many of them.
I am not impressed by the Ivy League establishments. Of course they graduate the best -- it's all they'll take, leaving to others the problem of educating the country. They will give you an education the way the banks will give you money -- provided you can prove to their satisfaction that you don't need it.
The universe is like a safe to which there is a combination. But the combination is locked up in the safe.
Who of us is mature enough for offspring before the offspring themselves arrive? The value of marriage is not that adults produce children but that children produce adults.
Confession is good for the soul only in the sense that a tweed coat is good for dandruff - it is a palliative rather than a remedy.
The value of marriage is not that adults produce children but that children produce adults.
I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection.
My parents gave me stability and a belief in myself and in all the possibilities life has to offer. I was told the only limitations I would ever face were those I placed upon myself.
If we never have headaches through rebuking our children, we shall have plenty of heartaches when they grow up.
My mother had a slender, small body, but a large heart-a heart so large that everybody's joys found welcome in it, and hospitable accommodation.
Christine and I haven't raised our children. A whole community of selfless Christians has contributed to helping them become faithful, competent adults.
Chemo days make me tired, though it's hard to say that's because of the chemo when you have kids who have inherited their dad's usual energy level.
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