Jessica Smartt > Quotes

“Traditions are a planned determination to remember, celebrate, and value what is important.”
― Jessica Smartt, Memory-Making Mom: Building Traditions That Breathe Life Into Your Home

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. —H. JACKSON BROWN JR.1”
― Jessica Smartt, Memory-Making Mom: Building Traditions That Breathe Life Into Your Home

“The last few years have shown a push for early preschool attendance. So much so that these words may actually sound like heresy. But I will say them anyways: if you do not want to send your kid to preschool and prefer to keep him or her at home with a day rich in conversation and play - going to parks, making cookies, visiting the library, reading books, taking naps, mashing play-doh- I do not believe you are doing your child a disservice. On the contrary, your child is doing just precisely what a little three- or four-year-old should be doing: playing.”
― Jessica Smartt, Let Them Be Kids: Adventure, Boredom, Innocence, and Other Gifts Children Need

“I want to send my children off with memories for roots, love for wings. I want my children to know they are loved, to know what they believe, and to have the tools they need to succeed. I don’t want any regrets.”
― Jessica Smartt, Memory-Making Mom: Building Traditions That Breathe Life Into Your Home

“I want my children to know they are loved, to know what they believe, and to have the tools they need to succeed.”
― Jessica Smartt, Memory-Making Mom: Building Traditions That Breathe Life Into Your Home

“The simple times build character. The special times give memories. Kids need both.”
― Jessica Smartt, Memory-Making Mom: Building Traditions That Breathe Life Into Your Home

“What greater joy can there be than to create a holding place for all that is sacred in life: faith, love, God, purpose, beauty, relationships, creativity, fun, the art of life, safety, shelter, feasting? —SALLY CLARKSON”
― Jessica Smartt, Memory-Making Mom: Building Traditions That Breathe Life Into Your Home

“How precious a thing is the human family. Is it not worth some sacrifice in time, energy, safety, discomfort, and work?”
― Jessica Smartt, Memory-Making Mom: Building Traditions That Breathe Life Into Your Home

“When we read about characters—both factual and fictional—experiencing hardship and meeting injustice, something moves within us. That something”
― Jessica Smartt, Memory-Making Mom: Building Traditions That Breathe Life Into Your Home