You know children are growing up when they start asking questions that have answers

You know your children are growing up when they stop asking you where they came from and refuse to tell you where they're going.

Mistakes are a natural part of growing up. They're to be expected and made light of. But children bloom like spring flowers under praise. They want so much to be noticed and appreciated, to excel and have that excellence noticed.

Growing up happens in a heartbeat. One day you're in diapers; the next day you're gone. But the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul.

Sometimes we're so concerned about giving our children what we never had growing up, we neglect to give them what we did have growing up.

How awful it was, thought Tessa, remembering Fats the toddler, the way tiny ghosts of your living children haunted your heart; they could never know, and would hate it if they did, how their growing was a constant bereavement.