But if you observe children learning in their first few years of life you can see that they can and do learn on their own - we leave them alone to crawl walk talk and gain control over their bodies. It happens without much help from parents.

As regards parents I should like to see them as highly educated as possible and I do not restrict this remark to fathers alone.

As a child I had to get up early for school or work. I'd get ready by myself. I'd set my alarm to wake me up very early in the morning and be off to work the family driver driving me every morning. I did it alone my parents never coming in to wake me up.

My parents were really really cool about supporting what I wanted to do at a really young age. I think I was about 10 when I caught the bug. They would drive me down to New York if there were auditions. When I was 12 I did this show on Broadway called 'High Society ' so we moved to New York for the run of that.

My parents got married late and they had kids late so I never felt a social or cultural thing to be married or pregnant or a homeowner by a certain age.

My acting career began at age three and my parents got me into it. I was in a McDonald's commercial.

It's not always possible to sit down and eat at home in this day and age of fast-paced living but if you are going to eat out do so as a family and support all the great local places in your areas. I'll still eat at the same diner I did as a kid with my parents.

My mother was 45 when she had me so when I was in high school my parents were the same age as my friends' grandparents.

About the time I turned 50 I experienced the profound biological change that often accompanies women at that age. Also I put two kids in college and lost both of my parents so I'm no longer somebody's daughter.

I believe that parents need to make nutrition education a priority in their home environment. It's crucial for good health and longevity to instill in your children sound eating habits from an early age.

My grandparents got married at a very young age and a lot of what I think about marriage is based on their relationship.

My grandparents got married at a very young age and a lot of what I think about marriage is based on their relationship. I watched them over the years and saw how they dealt with everything together as a team.

Losing both parents at a young age gave me a sense that you can't really control life - so you'd better live it while it's here. I stopped believing in a storybook existence a long time ago. All you can do is push in a direction and see what comes of it.

If you love somebody you love them. My parents had a 25-year age gap between them and my mum was the breadwinner my dad the house husband. I'm a strong believer that a good relationship can work whatever the situation.

I believe that the fight against crime starts in the home. Parents must take responsibility for their children and show them love and guidance from an early age so they learn to respect the rights of others.

When it comes to raising civilized kids there are no hard rules but there are two things on which most parents agree: Boys are generally wilder than girls and adolescents are wilder than kids of any other age. If you've got an adolescent boy you're in the sweet spot for trouble.

You get to a certain age and you can't judge yourself on your dad or your parents.

To be told that one can be dependent on one's parents until age 26 should strike a young person who wants to grow up as demeaning not as something to celebrate.

The funniest racism is the racism between minorities. It's something you don't see dramatized but almost every minority I know who's my age they have these funny stories about their parents stereotyping other minorities.

Of course the ideal scenario for parenting is obviously two parents of a mature age.

Children rarely want to know who their parents were before they were parents and when age finally stirs their curiosity there is no parent left to tell them.

As long as any adult thinks that he like the parents and teachers of old can become introspective invoking his own youth to understand the youth before him he is lost.