Parents and children seldom act in concert:_x000D_ each child endeavors to appropriate_x000D_ the esteem or fondness of the parents,_x000D_ and the parents, with yet less temptation,_x000D_ betray each other to their children.
Interpretation
Family relationships can be complex and often involve competition for affection.
This quote by Samuel Johnson highlights the inherent struggles and discord that can exist within family dynamics, particularly between parents and children. It suggests that children seek their parents' love and approval, often at the expense of sibling relationships, while parents may unintentionally undermine each other in their quest to gain favor with their children. This competition can lead to a lack of unity and harmony within the family unit.
In practice
In a discussion on family dynamics at a psychology conference.
To be of no church is dangerous. Religion, of which the rewards are distant, and which is animated only by faith and hope, will glide by degrees out of the mind unless it be invigorated and reimpressed by external ordinances, by stated calls to worship, and the salutary influence of example.
He that reads and grows no wiser seldom suspects his own deficiency, but complains of hard words and obscure sentences, and asks why books are written which cannot be understood.
To let friendship die away by negligence and silence is certainly not wise. It is voluntarily to throw away one of the greatest comforts of the weary pilgrimage.
Fly-fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other.
When any anxiety or gloom of the mind takes hold of you, make it a rule not to publish it by complaining; but exert yourselves to hide it, and by endeavoring to hide it you drive it away.
A fishing rod is a stick with a hook at one end and a fool at the other.
And that was the greatest heartbreak of all- no matter how spectacular we want our children to be, no matter how perfect we pretend they are, they are bound to disappoint. As it turns out, kids are more like us than we think: damaged, through and through.
My daughter was asked by a little old lady in a London hotel restaurant what her daddy did. She answered, “He’s a pirate” - I was very proud of that answer.
What makes Mom the best is that she never put any expectations too high on the kids. She just wanted us to be doing the things that made us happy, as long as we were working hard, but we never had to live up to something.
My first-born. All I can remember of her is how she loved the burned bottom of bread. Can you beat that? Eight children and that's all I remember.
People had always vaguely mentioned that when you have children, how part of your life would stop. But they don't say that some other extraordinary part of your life opens up.
World fertility surveys indicate that anywhere from one third to one half of the babies born in the Third World would not be if their mothers had access to cheap, reliable family planning, had enough personal empowerment to stand up to their husbands and relatives, and could choose their own family size.
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