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You're working on being a father, so that is something that when you experience it you'll understand the profundity of wanting to protect something dear to you.

Parents need all the help they can get. The strongest as well as the most fragile family requires a vital network of social supports.

I completely appreciate the importance of fathers but millions of children are without loving homes. I think a child is lucky with one parent who truly loves her.

When one has not had a good father, one must create one.

It is always fragile, being a parent.

My father was a gruff Irishman who was unable to express feelings and always insisted we be tough. Being a parent, for me, means creating what I didn't have. I want my children to feel love and be able to express it.

That always seemed to be the most critical test that a child was confronted with - loss of parents, loss of direction, loss of love. Can you live without a mother and a father?

Fatherhood is great because you can ruin someone from scratch.

I did not give my daughter the kind of childhood anybody would want. The vision of the divided loyalty between a mother and father who don't live together and don't share in decisions is a great depravation for children.

Many very strong fathers have turned out ineffectual sons by not allowing them to grow as men.