Debbie Easley

“We started out to see some of Paris on foot with him, stopping at the famous Café de la Paix, where you were supposed to see everyone you knew if you just sat there long enough. To sit at a sidewalk café having coffee or a drink – the sound and sight of France all around. The Champs-Elysées was incredible – the chestnut trees – how could one city attain such perfection? Who had dreamed it up? Who had made it all come true? I wanted to see every corner of it.”
― Lauren Bacall, By Myself and Then Some

“Remember, no matter the problem, kindness is always the right response. When your child is having a problem, stop, listen, then respond to the need, not the behavior. The behavior can be addressed later, after the need has been met, because only then is the door to effective communication truly open.”
― L.R. Knost, Whispers Through Time: : Communication Through the Ages and Stages of Childhood

“The parents’ perceptions all too often become the reality. In other words, who they believe they are raising is who they will raise.”
― L.R. Knost, Whispers Through Time: : Communication Through the Ages and Stages of Childhood

“Children don’t ‘mis’behave. They behave, either positively or negatively, to communicate. Small children communicate through their behavior because that is the only method of communication they have. Even when they become verbal, though, they still aren’t able to articulate big feelings and subtle problems well verbally, so as parents it’s our role to ‘listen between the lines’ of our children’s behavior to discern the need being communicated. Setting boundaries is not about ‘mis’behavior. It’s about guiding behavior, and guidance is something we provide through everyday interactions with our children.”
― L.R. Knost, The Gentle Parent: Positive, Practical, Effective Discipline