It's a privilege to have kids and not live your life in solitude. But we live in a child-hating culture.
No one likes kids. We say we do, and we take pictures of pregnant women for People Magazine, but really they're commodities - we hate them around, we hate them on airplanes, we consider them a grand imposition and almost a style choice.
Honestly, Jared, one thing at a time. Why are you in a well with me? This is a really bad rescue!" [...] "I called the police as I was running to the well. I'm sure they're coming." "Did they say they were coming?" Kami asked suspiciously. "Or did you shout, 'Kami's in the well!' before jumping in the well too, thus loosing your phone and making sure the police think it was some kids playing a dumb joke?" Jared paused. [...] "Alternate plan," Jared said. "Do you have a very intelligent collie who might communicate through a system of barks to your parents that little Kami is in the well?
Tax dollars go to projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good things like fruit fly research in Paris, France. I kid you not.
When I'm with my kids, I definitely try and be in the moment and wait till the end unless the mess poses a real danger, like slipping. But when I am cooking by myself, I definitely clean as I go to simplify.
People always tell me how lucky I am that my kids are adventurous eaters, but I don't believe that it's luck at all. By my involving them in the process, not only are they more likely to try something new, but also I can count on them to make better choices when I'm not around.
I do think music and the arts are imperative for our kids for their creative learning and their emotional education, which breeds better adults. I'm doing what I can to try and pick up the slack and I applaud anyone who tries to give back to their community.
I was very awkward as a kid. I was a square trying to fit into a circle and it never worked for me. The harder I tried, the harder I fell. For some reason I was a real target and I got beat up and called names.
I never wanted to be a celebrity; I never wanted to be famous. And in my daily life, I work really hard to not trade on it in any way. I am so desperately worried about anybody saying, "She cut in line," or "She took our table," or "She doesn't do her own grocery shopping." It's not like it's hard to be decent and respectful and well behaved. I do wait in line, and I do take the subway, and I do my own grocery shopping, and I do take the kids to school. But it almost doesn't matter to a certain segment of the populace.
If I didn't have kids, I would be at the theater or the ballet every single night of my life.
I think women should have what they determine to be a staple in their closet, because who's to say that my staple is someone else's staple? I'm this tall, and I live in this city, and I have to walk the kids to school, and I don't tend to drive as much - my life requirements are radically different than yours or hers or his. Staples are: What do you need? And then, what do you want? "Need" comes first, typically; "want" gets taken care of occasionally.
My main intention is to inspire people. [Let] kids know that you experience things and it's okay to voice them and express yourself. Be an individual. If my record moves five people, that's good enough. I feel like I've done my job if it just touches somebody.
You know, when you think about it, that’s kind of a weird thing. I mean it’s meant to be sympathetic, right? But it’s kind of not. Like you’re telling the person there’s nothing unique about what they’re saying I considered this as a couple of kids on Rollerblades whizzed past, hockey sticks over their shoulders. “Yeah,” I said, finally, “but you could also look at it the other way. Like no matter how bad things are for you, I can still relate.
When you have a kid, you sign on for the whole package: good, bad, everything in between. you can't just dip in and out, picking and choosing the parts you want and quitting when it's not perfect.
You’re always a kid around your parents… Unless they’re acting like children. Then you don’t get the chance.
I have followed my heart my whole life - the crazy kid, a contrarian by nature, and I've been in trouble in points in my career.
That's the fairy tale. You meet, you fall in love, you kiss, and neither of you is revolted by it. You get married and have kids and live happily ever after.
I always think I should get on it if I want to have kids. Because once you hit thirty it can be difficult to conceive — it can be dangerous. The best time to conceive is when you're a black teenager.
Stick with me, kids. It's about to get so good... -A
This was a very progressive group of clergy who foresaw the race riots that were going to take place when Dr. King started helping the local civil rights community push for open housing. They were sort of hoping against hope that we could educate kids in a way that could counter some of the racist messages they were imbibing at home. I don't know whether we did any good, but it changed my life in every single way.
I'm truly grateful for my microwave, which allows me to easily clarify butter, steam vegetables, and - when I am really lazy - feed my three kids in less than five minutes.
But it all zipped by. One minute Marlena and I were up to our eyeballs, and the next thing we knew the kids were borrowing the car and fleeing the coop for college. And now, here I am. In my nineties and alone.
If friends are taking more from you than they're giving, it doesn't matter if they are in the throes of addiction. It does not matter if they are suicidal. It does not matter if they were nice to you when you were kids. It doesn't matter if you've told them things you've never told anybody else and only they can relate. If this person is draining you, this person is not right for you.
I used to sing songs from musicals all the time as a kid.
Alan Alda and his wife Arlene are two of the most life-affirming people I've ever met. He espoused equal rights for women while producing, writing, acting in and directing M*A*S*H; he used to commute between the set and home because he didn't want to disrupt his kids' schooling.