Quote

A big part of the problem that we face today is that our children have been taught at schools that every idea is right, that no one should criticize others' positions, no matter how odious.

My father felt that children should make their own way.

I'm concerned about the insidious influence of the media's bad messages that undermine the lessons parents try to instill in their sons and daughters.

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

I have never tried to bear a judgment against my own father because I consider that, in our European culture, one does not judge his parents. Now, I have expressed my disagreements with my father on certain points, disagreements related to the way one should express things, something that has also to do with a difference of generations.

I didn't think I had anything particular to say, but I thought I might have something to say to children.

While having a profound impact on the development of values is surely an important job of a good parent, force-feeding opinions to them is not.

I'm strong and opinionated. Those qualities brought me a lot of problems since I was a little girl in school, saying 'I don't agree' and fighting with the children. It's part of my curiosity for life.

If you were to ask any children of any politician, when you've been part of a political life, you are not on the sidelines. There is no such thing as a member of a political family who is only a spectator. You see the wheeling and the dealing. That doesn't intimidate me. I'll do a little of that myself, on behalf of my constituents.

Ultimately, very few people parent their kids in ways that strike anybody else as reasoned, appropriate or sane.