"Children are our second chance to have a great parent-child relationship"
About this Quote
There is comfort and a quiet provocation in the idea that parenting can function like a do-over. Laura Schlessinger frames children as "our second chance", shifting the emotional center of parenting away from the kid and back onto the adult: your unresolved history is in the room, and it will shape what you build next. The line works because it flatters and challenges at once. It reassures people carrying bruises from their own upbringing that they are not doomed to repeat it, while also implying a responsibility: if you know what went wrong, you no longer get to plead ignorance.
The subtext is distinctly therapeutic-but also moralistic, in a way that fits Schlessinger's broader brand. "Second chance" is redemption language. It suggests that repairing the past isn't only a personal healing project; it's an ethical task performed in public, through daily choices. There's also a subtle risk embedded in the framing: it can turn children into instruments of adult repair, recruited to solve a parent's old loneliness or to audition for the love the parent didn't get. In the best reading, it's about breaking cycles. In the worst, it's about outsourcing self-worth to a child.
Context matters: Schlessinger rose as a blunt talk-radio relationship authority, often emphasizing personal accountability and traditional family roles. This aphorism distills that worldview into one neat sentence: your childhood may explain you, but it doesn't excuse you. Your kid becomes the test.
The subtext is distinctly therapeutic-but also moralistic, in a way that fits Schlessinger's broader brand. "Second chance" is redemption language. It suggests that repairing the past isn't only a personal healing project; it's an ethical task performed in public, through daily choices. There's also a subtle risk embedded in the framing: it can turn children into instruments of adult repair, recruited to solve a parent's old loneliness or to audition for the love the parent didn't get. In the best reading, it's about breaking cycles. In the worst, it's about outsourcing self-worth to a child.
Context matters: Schlessinger rose as a blunt talk-radio relationship authority, often emphasizing personal accountability and traditional family roles. This aphorism distills that worldview into one neat sentence: your childhood may explain you, but it doesn't excuse you. Your kid becomes the test.
Quote Details
| Topic | Parenting |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
More Quotes by Laura
Add to List



