Posted by: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Thur Dec 10, 2009 3:00 am

In a few short days it will be my son’s 26th birthday. It is absolutely astounding to me how that is even possible (after all, I’m barely that old myself – or so I feel). It seems only yesterday that his tiny head appeared, followed by his body and my husband’s cry “My God! It’s my Grandfather!” As all parents learn, the years go by all too fast but what a glorious ride it’s been. Certainly never easy nor always fun but nothing on earth has made me feel more important or more fulfilled or more hopeful for the future. Most every parent loves their children but it’s not a secret that parents and their adult children often do not like one another. That seems so sad for all involved and one wonders whether such situations could have been prevented or simply a matter of different temperment and interests. Whatever, I feel truly blessed to not only like who my son has grown up to be and enjoy spending time with him but to know he feels the same way about his Dad and me. How cool is that?

So I was thinking of this and recollecting some of my favorite memories of Rob’s childhood while I wrapped a couple of packages for him tonight (a huge accomplishment for me!) and thought that I’d share a few seminal quotes with y’all tonight on the topic of children and parenting. And to top it off, I’ll close tonight’s post with a double-serving of Neuvo Deco Icons. Enjoy!

“Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.”
— James Arthur Baldwin (U.S. Essayist, Playwright and Novelist, 1924-1987)

“A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove…but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.”
— Forest E. Witcraft (U.S. Scholar, Teacher and Scout Leader, 1894-1967)

“If you must hold yourself up to your children as an object lesson, hold yourself up as a warning and not as an example.”
— George Bernard Shaw (Irish literary Critic, Playwright and Essayist. 1925 Nobel Prize for Literature, 1856-1950)

“When I stopped seeing my mother with the eyes of a child, I saw the woman who helped me give birth to myself.”
— Nancy Friday (U.S. psychologist and author)

“If there is anything we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.”
— Carl Gustav Jung (Swiss psychiatrist, Psychologist and Founder of the Analytic Psychology, 1875-1961)

“Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers.”
— Socrates (Ancient Greek Philosopher, 470 BC-399 BC)

“Adults are always asking little kids what they want to be when they grow up because they’re looking for ideas”
— Paula Poundstone (U.S. Comic, b. 1959)

“One thing they never tell you about child raising is that for the rest of your life, at the drop of a hat, you are expected to know your child’s name and how old he or she is.”
— Erma Bombeck (U.S. Humorist, Columnist and Author, 1927-1996)

Free Icons of the Day

The following images are reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save a zipped file to your desktop that contains all images in each preview group (each image is 512px X 512px in .png format) or, in the case of the individual icons, do your clicking on each one you’d like to download.