Personally, I think four is the perfect number of children for our particular family. Four is enough to create the frenzied cacophony… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
In a perfect world, probably we'd never yell, we'd just be firm and dispassionate. But of course, everyone yells at their children. — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
Roaring like a tiger turns some children into pianists who debut at Carnegie Hall but only crushes others. Coddling gives some the… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
By the time the children go to bed, I am as drained as any mother who has spent her day working, car… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
One of the darkest, deepest shames so many of us mothers feel nowadays is our fear that we are Bad Mothers, that… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
If you focus all of your emotional passion on your children and you neglect the relationship that brought that family into existence...… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
There is an inverse correlation between the cleanliness of a bathroom and my 3-year-old daughter's need to move her bowels. — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
If a good mother is one who loves her child more than anyone else in the world, I am not a good… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
I tend to approach giving interviews with the same sense of circumspection and restraint as I approach my writing. That is to… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
During the periods in my marriage when I chose to stay home with my kids rather than work as an attorney, it… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
I certainly don't think it's inevitable that we don't love children who don't carry our own DNA. If that were true we… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
There are times as a parent when you realize that your job is not to be the parent you always imagined you'd… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
I believe that mothers should tell the truth, even - no, especially - when the truth is difficult. It's always easier, and… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
I tell myself that after four children my belly is already so stretched and flabby that I have to do origami to… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
It's hard to separate your remembered childhood and its emotional legacy from the childhoods that are being lived out in your house,… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
Look, if you ask a child, 'Would you rather have a fulfilled mother or a stay-at-home Sylvia Plath,' they'll pick Sylvia Plath… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
Is Valentine's Day a day to make cupcakes with your children? No, Valentine's is supposed to be a day about romantic love. — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
I have made so many mistakes as a mother. But the one thing that I know I do is I make sure… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
It's incredibly important to me that my children don't put anything in their bodies that they haven't tested first - that's how… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
So many women today have become so focused on their children, they've developed these romantic entanglements with their children's lives, and the… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
The capacity for extravagant emotion that my husband finds so attractive in me can be exhausting, especially to a child. My moods… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
When I was 15, what I wanted in a boyfriend was just that confidence and swagger. I wanted someone who knew what… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
Because of my bipolar disorder, I tend to these mixed states, which are depressed but loud and agitated. So I can be… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
A good mother remembers to serve fruit at breakfast, is always cheerful and never yells, manages not to project her own neuroses… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
My own husband was divorced when we met, but without kids. I don't know what I would have done if he'd had… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
I did not want to raise a genetically compromised child. I did not want my children to have to contend with the… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
When the babies were very young, I found it difficult to write. I told myself each time that it would be different,… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
The thing is, my fantasies about being a parent always involved fighting for my unpopular child, doing for her what my own… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
I think it's worth trying to be a mother who delights in who her children are, in their knock-knock jokes and earnest… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
By presenting a faithful and honest record of my experience as a mother, I hope to show both my readers and my… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
I hate homework. I hate it more now than I did when I was the one lugging textbooks and binders back and… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
Another parent's different approach raises the possibility that you've made a mistake with your child. We simply can't tolerate that because we… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
I had a second trimester abortion. I was pregnant with a much-wanted child who was diagnosed with a genetic abnormality. I made… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
Yes, I have four children. Four children with whom I spend a good part of every day: bathing them, combing their hair,… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
I think I wish I had never spanked my children, but I have. And they remember every instance like they tattooed it… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
When my first daughter was born, my husband held her in his hands and said, 'My God, she's so beautiful.' I unwrapped… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
Perhaps my children will one day pledge their loyalty to the Republican Party. Or perhaps they'll dismiss my liberalism as mild pap,… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share Image
What I do with my kids is - and I think they probably do ignore us - is No Alcohol. If they're drunk they… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share
You know, I feel like my job is to write a book. Then filmmakers come and they make a movie. And they're two really… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share
I went from resenting my mother-in-law to accepting her, finally to appreciating her. What appeared to be her diffidence when I was first married,… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share
Most writers spend their lives standing a little apart from the crowd, watching and listening and hoping to catch that tiny hint of despair,… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share
The thing about youthful offenders is that no one seems to care about them. Most people don't like adolescents - even the good ones… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share
I was born in Israel, to Canadian parents. My father immigrated in 1948, part of a wave of young men and women who came… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share
If you focus all of your emotional passion on your children and you neglect the relationship that brought that family into existence... eventually, things… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share
I think I wish I had never spanked my children, but I have. And they remember every instance like they tattooed it on their… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share
With prodigious bravery and eviscerating humor, Roxane Gay takes on culture and politics in Bad Feminist-and gets it right, time and time again. We… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share
Because of my bipolar disorder, I tend to these mixed states, which are depressed but loud and agitated. So I can be terribly irritable.… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share
It's hard to separate your remembered childhood and its emotional legacy from the childhoods that are being lived out in your house, by your… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share
“Even if I’m setting myself up for failure, I think it’s worth trying to be a mother who delights in who her children are,… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share
I hate homework. I hate it more now than I did when I was the one lugging textbooks and binders back and forth from… — Ayelet Waldman Copy Share
