Independent Child Quotes

“She was an afterthought, little Martha. She was treated the way many families treated pet dogs - she had to be fed and cleaned every now and then, but she was left to her own devices for the most part.”
― Kelsey Brickl, Hardtack: A Civil War Story

“Often there’s no help in the home, but there are neighbors and friends and the people at nurseries and day-care centers. All of them help a child to learn to get along with all sorts of people and become more independent. Seeing people encourages him to make decisions for himself. When he sees his parents at his own special time of the day he enjoys them more than if they were underfoot all the time.”
― Joan Crawford, My Way of Life

“I was a working mother, and making films is a time-consuming job, but I found time to expose children to all facets of life, all sorts of experiences. […] They learned all sorts of sports to find out what they liked the best. Helen Hayes once said that the essential thing was to introduce children to life, and then let them make their own decisions.”
― Joan Crawford, My Way of Life

“They [Joan’s adopted twin daughters] tell people they had a marvelous childhood. I hope they did. I tried to give them that — because it’s really all that a patent can do. A parent has to guide, advise, educate, and love them. If they’re sure of the love, they’ll accept the guidance.
I think that children benefit in all sorts of ways when they have mothers who have their own fascinating jobs. It’s good for them to know that mother is involved in other things besides smothering them with love. They respect that. When children are neglected it’s usually because their mothers are so bored and discontent that they fill their days with golf, bridge, and matinees and live the children to fend for themselves. A working woman loves coming home and making special time for her children. But few husbands understand the full range of her responsibilities.”
― Joan Crawford, My Way of Life