Parenting is a hard job and there are no easy ways to get around it if it's to be done right.  There's no one way to parent because there are as many variables involved as there are personalities. 

While it's a tough job it can be very rewarding as well.  Parenting is like taking care of your garden.  You get out of it what you put into it.  If you don't tend your garden properly what happens?  A garden, like our children need to be nourished, watered and cared for.  It's the old sowing and reaping principle. 

I used to tell my kids that I would get between them and whatever would get in the way of them become fruitful mature adults.  I wasn't always successful but felt I did my best.   My job was to get them to 18 in one piece.   A gardener does the same.  From time to time certain predators need to be taken care of if we want to have beautiful plants that will reach full maturity. 

Here are a few quotes from some very wise people on this subject of parenting. 

"The more connected you are to your kids, the closer they feel to you.  And the closer they feel, the more they'll open up their hearts to talk to you about their concerns, dreams and prayers"  John Trent

"Kids need a safety zone" in a confused and complicated world.  They need a place of mental comfort and security.  A haven where they know they're accepted and approved.  They need a place where they can stop to get their bearings and sort out the influences that are seeking to control them-peer pressure, movies, TV-the whole world of twisted values in which money, sexual gratification, violence, craftiness, and self-serving often assume the proportions of saintliness."   Ray Pelletier

"A Child's conduct will reflect the ways of his parents."  Arnold Label

"When I ask older dads what their greatest regret is...and I ask this often...I have never heard: 'I regret I did not pursue my career more intensely,' but lots of men say, in one way or another "I regret that I did not take more time for my children when they were young and available to me and craved interaction.  What I traded for those moments was not worth it."    Paul Lewis

"No corporate title can replace the times when your son leaned his head on your chest and fell asleep.  No limousine or private jet makes up for being there when your son is growing from a child into a young man.  Time spent with your child isn't a distraction from the main event.  It is the main event. "  Ben Stein

"We must never be content with simply protecting our kids from the world.  Rather, our goal should be to equip them to help change the world so that, when they go out into it, they do so as lights in the midst of darkness."  Pastor Tony Evans

"Parents today need God's perspective of children.  Children are divinely placed gifts, not accidents.  They are a privilege.  They are part of the life that God is bringing to us every day.  They are on loan with a divine purpose...In the process of raising kids, it is easy to feel like you are just laying bricks.  In reality, you are building a cathedral...a child whom God has given you to train up to carry on in the next generation.  There is nothing more important in life."  quote from Real Family Life magazine 

" A righteous man who walks in his integrity-How blessed are his sons after him (Prov 20:7) God gives every father the opportunity to do something great.  It is the wise parent who makes the most of this opportunity.  I'm convinced that God doesn't expect us to just take care of our families today, but H eants our leadership to be so noble that ie will carry our families for a least a solid century."  Steve Farrar writing in "New Man"

"By profession, I am a soldier, and take pride in that fact, but I am prouder-infinitely prouder-to be a father.  A soldier destroyes in order to build.  A father only builds, never destroys.  The one has the potentiality of death; the other embodies creation and life.  While the hordes of death are mighty, the battalions of life are mightier still.  It is my hope that my son, when I am gone, will remember me, not from the battle,but in the home, repeating with him our simple daily prayer, "Our Father, Who art in heaven..."  Gen Douglas MacArthur

"All kids need is a little help, a little hope, and somebody who believes in them."   Magic Johnson

"What the mother sings to the cradle, goes all the way down to the coffin."  Henry Ward Beecher

"We have not completely fulfilled our responsibility as parents until we bequeath to our children a love of books, a thirst for knowledge, a hunger for righteousness, an awareness of beauty, a memory of kindness, an understanding of loyalty, a vision of greatness, and a good name."  William Arthur Ward

"Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be lived again.  And what do we teach our children?  We teach them that two and two make four and that Paris si the capital of France.  When will be also teach them what they are?  We should say to each of them; 'Do you know what you are?  You are a marvel.  You are unique.  In all the years that have passed, there has never been a child like you; your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move.  You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven.  You have the capacity for anything.  Yes, you are a marvel!' "   Pablo Casals, cellist

"Stop shielding your children and clipping their wings.  Allow your children to develop along their own lines.  Don't prevent self-reliance and initiative.  The next generation will take care of itself."  Eleanor Roosevelt

"I had parents who gave me every conceivable opportunity.  They believed in achievement."  Condoleezza Rice

"Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid."  Proverbs 12:1

"Stop rescuing kids from the consequences of their behavior.  Some behaviors carry their own natural consequences; for example...missing the school bus, losing money, or forgetting work for school, all have consequences.  The problem is that too  many parents try to "fix it" for the child.  They drive the child to a friend's house to retrieve the schoolbooks Adam left behind, or replace the money Marie lost, and so on.  Don't do it."  Jeannette Lofas writing in "Family Rules." 

"The child whose father provides godly disciple-discipline that is loving, clear, consistent-is likely to reap a harvest of respect, peace and righteousness.  He equips his children to learn self-discipline, a quality that will help them lead lives that are healthy-emotionally, socially, spiritually, and physically.  He helps his children avoid the often-tragic consequences of unwise behavior.  He enables his children to enjoy the blessing of a good reputation.  He promotes harmony in his children's minds and hearts and in their relationships with others."   Josh McDowell in "Teens Can Bounce Back"