Celebrity Parenting Advice

BOOKS

QUOTES

A. Take Back Your Family!: A Challenge to America's Parents by Rev Run and Justine Simmons

1. "I bought the same dishes my daughter used at her home. I ordered blankets she would like to sleep with or just lie around in, DVDs for her to watch, and every bath and beauty product, blow dryer, and hairbrush she could name. I wanted her to feel cared for, and if touring the aisles of more than one supermarket in pursuit of the right veggie bacon was what that took, then so be it."

B. From Mother and Daughters to Friends by Nancy Aniston

2. "We created a whole new system of organizing our wardrobes. We would no longer use bedroom closets for clothing. All the family's clothing was organized into a clothing room next to the laundry room. On racks installed around the walls, we hung everyone's clothing, sorted by item.... No more carrying clean clothes all the way to the bedrooms and putting them away in the drawers and closets."

C. The Duggars: 20 and Counting! Raising One of America's Largest Families—How They Do It by Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar

3. "For some reason (now I know exactly what that reason was), the photographer wanted to shoot some pictures in [her] bedroom, which was a small room, especially when they had crammed in all of their equipment. No, alarm bells didn't go off in my head—right away. I had no idea the man was going for a lascivious angle. In my still-naïve mind, he was going to shoot a sweet picture of a teenage girl in her haven with stuffed animals and posters on the wall and memorabilia on her dresser."

D. Stories from Candyland: Confections from One of Hollywood's Most Famous Wives and Mothers by Candy Spelling

4. "I managed to turn away from the pain and my journey began. I soon discovered that many women suffered from estranged relationships with their grown daughters. Each one was unique but all alike in that they involved misunderstanding, anger, broken bonds, and almost unspeakable pain."

E. My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem: Setting the Record Straight on My life as Eminem's Mother by Debbie Nelson

5. "Don't let people tell you that money means nothing. If they feel that way, tell them to give you theirs. Money can't buy happiness, but it does bring comfort to you and those you love. Please, please, please do not get complacent, do not get lazy. Always remain open to opportunities to make more money."

F. From Mother to Daughter: Thoughts and Advice on Life, Love, and Marriage by Joan Rivers

6. "I tried to make up for the fact [that he] didn't have a father by giving him everything he wanted. I never said no to him. At McDonald's I always let him have two Happy Meals—he wanted the free toys more than the food.... The word monster was bandied about many times to describe [him]. I lost my job in a store after he knocked down a display shelf, then spread-eagled himself across an aisle, screaming.... I had a falling out with my best friends, Bonnie and Theresa, when [he] pulled an old woman's hair and threw food around in a restaurant where I worked. They said he was a brat who needed spanking, but I wouldn't hear a word against my son."

G. A Promise to Ourselves: A Journey Through Fatherhood and Divorce by Alec Baldwin

7. "One of our goals in this chapter is to teach you how to make the connection between physical clutter and a lack of spiritual clarity in your own home. It's also important to make sure your children truly appreciate not only the physical toys, but all of the gifts they are given. In many ways, clutter reflects a lack of gratitude."

H. Through the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World by Lynne Spears

8. "By the time my kids were born, I had two Spocks to consult. Dr. Spock kept updating his book, and Mr. Spock of Star Trek was among pop culture's most quoted figures. If Dr. Spock was right about the times influencing our beliefs as they related to child-rearing, I thought I might as well use the other Spock to check in on what people were thinking and believing."