50 of the Best Parenting a Teenager Quotes

Last Updated on October 4, 2023 by Michele Tripple

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Parenting a teenager is difficult and rewarding. On the hard days, our 50 of the Best Parenting a Teenager Quotes will make you laugh when you need it the most!

Anyone parent who has had a teenager knows that raising a teenager is full of highs and lows. One minute it’s exciting and fun and then it’s exhausting and frustrating all at the same time! As a parent of teenagers, I love finding ways to relieve stress and have a good laugh. That’s why I’ve come up with a list of the best parenting a teenager quotes.

I love reading through quotes about parenting a teenager because it helps me feel validated and understood. Trust me, you will feel so much better after reading the best parenting a teenager quotes. Every parent of a teenager has been through the highs and lows so why not laugh our way through it!

If you are looking for a way to de-stress and put a smile on your face, then our list of 50 of the best parenting a teenager quotes are just what you need!

Love a favorite quote we are sharing? Share it with your friends in stories on Instagram and tag us @micheletripple and use #confessionsofparenting we love seeing which ones you love too!

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50 of the Best Parenting a Teenager Quotes

Ready for quotes that perfectly sum up what it’s like to raise a teenager? Here is our list of the best parenting a teenager quotes!

Best Parenting a Teenager Quotes

Welcome to parenthood. Hope you like hearing “THERE’S NOTHING TO EAT!” right after you just spent your life savings at the grocery store.

— @sarcasticmommy4

Raising teenagers is like nailing Jell-O to a tree.

— Anonymous

Dear Teenagers: We may annoy you, lecture you, embarrass you, drive you crazy and even make you hate us some days. But NO ONE will ever love you like we do.

— Moms of Teens Everywhere

Having teenagers is like living with a bowling alley inside your head.

— Anonymous

Whatever emotional state you’re in while parenting conveys more to your child than the content of what you’re doing with them, no matter how perfect your intervention looks “on paper.” In other words, to paraphrase Marshall McLuhan, “your emotional state is the message.”

— Michael Y. Simon The Approximate Parent: Discovering the Strategies that Work for Your Teenager

Sometimes I’m left with the distinct feeling that I am outnumbered by my only child.

— Colleen Ferrary Bader

A teenager is always too tired to hold a dishcloth, but never too tired to hold a phone.

— Anonymous

Pearl glanced over her shoulder, in the universal reaction of all teenagers confronted by their parents in a public place.

— Celeste Ng, Little Fires Everywhere

Having children is like living in a frat house – nobody sleeps, everything’s broken, and there’s a lot of throwing up.

— Ray Romano

The young always have the same problem — how to rebel and conform at the same time. They have now solved this by defying their parents and copying one another.

— Quentin Crisp

Raising teenagers is like trying to wrestle slippery pigs with your hands tied behind your back.

— Anonymous

Welcome to being the parent of a teenager. Prepare for large amounts of eye-rolling, emotional outbursts, and thoughts of running away. And that’s just the parents!

— Anonymous

You know you’re old when you barely do anything all day but still need a nap to continue doing barely anything.

— Anonymous

Teenagers. Everything is so apocalyptic.

— Kami Garcia in Beautiful Creatures

Now, the error which many parents commit in the treatment of the individual at this time(adolescense) is, insisting on the same unreasoning obedience as when all he had to do in the way of duty was, to obey the simple laws of “Come when you’re called,” and “Do as you’re bid!” But a wise parent humours the desire for independent action, so as to become the friend and adviser when his absolute rule shall cease.

Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South

Adolescence is perhaps nature’s way of preparing parents to welcome the empty nest.

— Anonymous

My kid is turning out just like me. Well played, karma. Well-played.

— Anonymous

When you’re a teenager, ‘No’ is a complete sentence.

— Anonymous

Nobody ever feels they’re doing well with teenagers, he said. I think that’s kind of the point of them.

— Jojo Moyes, After You

Imagination is something that sits up with dad and mom the first time their teenager stays out late.

— Anonymous

Mom Pro Tip: If you’re old enough to critique what I put in your lunch, you’re old enough to make it yourself.

— @SarcasticMommy4

You try your hardest to raise your teenagers with patience, honesty and good manners, but they still end up being like you.

— Anonymous

What’s More Important: Your Ego or Hearing Your Child?

— C. Lynn Williams, Trying to Stay Sane While Raising Your Teen

Conscious parenting is not about being perfect, it’s about being aware. Aware of what your kids need from you to reach more of their full potential.

— Alex Urbina, The Inspirational Parent: The Magical Ingredients For Effective Parenting

I love when my kids tell me they’re bored. As if the lady standing in front of a full sink of dirty dishes is where you go to get ideas about how to have a good time.

— Anonymous

I think that we ought to be listening to our children a lot more often. Our children are living in the “here and now” and they know what to do about it. We can teach our children about where we have come from, but they can teach us about where we are all at, right now. Parents tend to come at their children with an arrogance merely due to the fact that they’ve been alive longer, but this is exactly where the disconnect takes place, this is exactly how you are going to not be able to connect with your children at the heart level. Being alive longer doesn’t make you better at living. Read that again. I have many times turned to my son for guidance on LIVING in the here and now, and have become a vastly better person for it, as a result. We are not the only leaders here; we may be carrying a torch but our kids are carrying flashlights, and sometimes, flashlights are going to work so much better.

— C. JoyBell C.

Teen tried to make a dramatic exit by slamming my door, but there was a towel on the knob. No slam, & no dignity for her as I died laughing.

— Six_Pack_Mom

Heredity is what sets the parents of a teenager wondering about each other.

— Anonymous

What strengthens the bonds between the children and their parents is spreading the fun and humor during family gatherings and times, and enforcing the feeling of every child’s importance to their parents, and giving them the confidence that they will and can face life without falling in the wrong, sin, or guilt.

— Maryam Abdullah Alnaymi

The thing I like about having teens is how they make a bunch of plans because they’re “independent” & then ask to borrow money.

— @sarcasticmommy4

I’d love to be a Pinterest mom. But it turns out I’m more of an Amazon Prime mom.

— Anonymous

Having a thirteen-year-old in the family is like having a general-admission ticket to the movies, radio and TV. You get to understand that the glittering new arts of our civilization are directed to the teenagers, and by their suffrage they stand or fall.

— Anonymous

As kids reach adolescence, they need more than ever for us to watch over them. Adolescence is not about letting go, it’s about hanging on during a very bumpy ride.

— Ron Taffel

I thought I used to “worry” a lot when my kids were little. Then I had teenagers. You know what I would give right now to worry about sippy cups and naptime? EVERYTHING.

— 4Boys Mother

It’s like no one in my family appreciates that I stayed up all night overthinking for them.

— Anonymous

The scariest part of raising teenagers is remembering the stupid things you did as a teenager.

— Whitney Fleming, Playdates on Fridays

The main problem with teenagers is that they’re just like their parents were at their age.

— Anonymous

Raising a teenager is hard… But, being a teenager is hard, too, which is why our kids need someone they trust to lean on, to come to for advice, and to share their lives – the good, the bad and the ugly. Having a front-row seat in our kids’ lives is a far better place to be than sitting on the highest bleacher. 

— Raising Teens Today

Not all who wander are lost. Some are just moms. In Target. Hiding from their children.

— @jocieopc

The effective criticism is the one that focuses on behavior, not on personality. The difference between both realizes it every rational parent and educator. The directed criticism on the boy’s or on the girl’s personality will burn the space that all the family members stand on.

— Maryam Abdullah Alnaymi

The problem with disciplining a teenager is that in no time at all you begin to sound like one yourself.

— Anonymous

The best way to keep children at home is to make the home atmosphere pleasant, and let the air out of the tires.

— Dorothy Parker

You can be a mess and still be a good mom. We are allowed to be both.

— @katiebinghamsmith

Bribes are the glue that kept the teenagers and the parents connected for generations.

— Gayle Forman

No, being concerned is not good, because if you are concerned too much, you will become tense. And if you become tense you cannot help.

— Osho, Beloved of My Heart: A Darshan Diary

Mother Nature is providential. She gives us twelve years to develop a love for our children before turning them into teenagers.

— William Galvin

A daughter is someone you laugh with, dream with and love with all your heart.

— Unknown

When your children are teenagers, it’s important to have a dog so that someone in the house is happy to see you.

— Nora Ephron

The gift of faith given to your children will last longer than any monetary gift.

— Eve M. Harrell, Confessions of a Helicopter Mom

I know I’m supposed to be preparing my teenager for life and all, but it’s hard when they already know everything…

— Playdates on Fridays

Have a favorite quote about parenting teenagers? Share it with us in the comments!

If you love quotes, these posts will inspire (or make you laugh!)

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