Parenting & Family Quote by Jerry Kramer

Kramer, an old-school NFL lineman turned memoirist, frames parenthood the way a veteran frames a season: you aim for the fundamentals, you pray for the upside, and you try not to pretend you control the scoreboard. The phrasing is deliberately modest - "moderately successful, polite, decent" - a checklist of character traits that sound almost unfashionable in an era of curated excellence. It’s not a pep talk about limitless potential; it’s a reality check about what’s actually within a parent’s power.

The sharp turn comes with "Anything on top of that is something you have no right to hope for". He’s not banning ambition, he’s calling out entitlement. The subtext is that modern parenting often smuggles ego in as concern: the child’s achievements become proof of the parent’s competence, taste, or status. Kramer punctures that with a kind of locker-room ethics - earn what you can, don’t demand the rest from the universe.

Then he admits the human contradiction: "but we all do". That last clause is the tell. He understands the impossible bargain parents make with fate: raise a good person, yes, but also secretly want the exceptional story. The line lands because it grants grace without letting anyone off the hook. It respects the ordinary as a triumph - decency as the real championship - while acknowledging the private hunger for more, the hope that your kid won’t just be okay, but undeniable.