Quotes by Haim G. Ginott

When a child hits a child, we call it aggression.When a child hits an adult, we call it hostility.When an adult hits an adult, we call it assault.When an adult hits a child, we call it discipline.

What do we say to a guest who forgets her umbrella? Do we run after her and say What is the matter with you? Every time you come to visit you forget something. If its not one thing its another. Why cant you be like your sister? When she comes to visit, she knows how to behave. Youre forty-four years old! Will you never learn? Im not a slave to pick up after you! I bet youd forget your head if it werent attached to your shoulders. Thats not what we say to a guest. We say Heres your umbrella, Alice, without adding scatterbrain. Parents need to learn to respond to their children as they do to guests.

Misbehavior and punishment are not opposites that cancel each other - on the contrary they breed and reinforce each other.

I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized.

Children become frustrated and resentful when they view their parents as not being interested “in how they feel and in their point of view.