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Parenting & Family Quote by Jackie Kennedy

"The children have been a wonderful gift to me, and I'm thankful to have once again seen our world through their eyes. They restore my faith in the family's future"

About this Quote

Grief and glamour rarely share a sentence as cleanly as they do here, which is part of the line’s quiet force. Jackie Kennedy frames “the children” as both refuge and proof: a “wonderful gift” that gives her permission to feel joy without seeming to abandon sorrow. The language is deliberately modest, almost domestic, but it’s also strategic. In the public mythology around her, she was expected to be composed, dignified, and forward-facing; invoking children lets her move toward the future without explicitly announcing recovery.

The key move is perspective. “Once again seen our world through their eyes” signals a return to innocence, but it’s not naïve innocence; it’s borrowed. She isn’t claiming she’s untouched by tragedy. She’s acknowledging that adults get locked into trauma, politics, and vigilance, and that children temporarily unlock a different register: curiosity, play, ordinary time. That “once again” matters: it hints at a before-and-after, a life interrupted, then partially reopened.

“Restore my faith” is religious phrasing without religion, a way to talk about meaning when meaning has been shattered. And “the family’s future” expands the unit beyond private motherhood. For a First Lady, “family” is always also national symbolism: the Kennedys as an American story. The sentence reassures a watching public that continuity is possible, that lineage and hope persist, even if the adult world feels broken. It’s a personal confession that doubles as civic repair.

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TopicFamily
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Kennedy, Jackie. (2026, January 18). The children have been a wonderful gift to me, and I'm thankful to have once again seen our world through their eyes. They restore my faith in the family's future. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-children-have-been-a-wonderful-gift-to-me-and-23733/

Chicago Style
Kennedy, Jackie. "The children have been a wonderful gift to me, and I'm thankful to have once again seen our world through their eyes. They restore my faith in the family's future." FixQuotes. January 18, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-children-have-been-a-wonderful-gift-to-me-and-23733/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The children have been a wonderful gift to me, and I'm thankful to have once again seen our world through their eyes. They restore my faith in the family's future." FixQuotes, 18 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-children-have-been-a-wonderful-gift-to-me-and-23733/. Accessed 5 Feb. 2026.

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Jackie Kennedy

Jackie Kennedy (July 28, 1929 - May 19, 1994) was a First Lady from USA.

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