63 Funny & Inspirational Parenting Teenager Quotes

Parenting teenagers takes an equal amount of grit and humor (at least in our two households). The inspirational and funny parenting teenager quotes below will help with both.

Inspirational Quotes About Parenting Teenagers

Being the parent of a teenager can be challenging, whether it’s your first time or your fifth kid to go through high school. Choose a favorite quote to put on your locked phone screen or tape to your mirror and switch it out when you want (or need) something new.

We’re raising kids in a world that looks much different than it did during our childhood. Our kids face new challenges with things like technology, violence and mental health. If you’re looking for more tangible help as a parent, check out our post on the best ways to raise resilient kids in an anxious world.

We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Sometimes being a good parent is admitting that you weren’t a perfect parent.
Colleen Ferrary Bader

The greatest gift a parent can leave a child is that parent’s own independence.
Rosamunde Pilcher

There’s no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.
Jill Churchill

Dad needs to show an incredible amount of respect and humor and friendship toward his mate so the kids understand their parents are sexy, they’re fun, they do things together, they’re best friends. Kids learn by example. If I respect Mom, they’re going to respect Mom.
Tim Allen

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.

The most important influence on a child is the character of its parents, rather than this or that single event.
Erich Fromm

Even 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

It is a hard thing to let your children near danger, and yet, I remember my Papa teaching me to fire a rifle before I could even hold it with my own strength. And if he hadn’t trusted me to be careful, I would have never had faith in myself to do it.
Nancy E. Turner

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

Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands.
Anne Frank

Facebook group with gift ideas for tween and teen girls

Funny Quotes About Parenting Teenagers

Some of our favorite parenting teenager quotes are the funny ones. The statements from other parents of teens that ring true and let us know that we’re not alone.

We’re trying to help our kids survive middle school and high school to become independent young adults. Hilarious parenting teenager quotes help us laugh at our teens (and ourselves) on this journey.

All joking aside, we have a guaranteed way to connect with your tween or teen if that’s a struggle in your house right now. It’s easy, not awkward and actually enjoyable.

I believe that we parents must encourage our children to become educated, so they can get into a good college that we cannot afford.
Dave Barry

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

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

I never really appreciated just how annoying I was until I gave birth to mini versions of myself and started arguing with them when they became teenagers.
Raising Teens Today

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

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

Welcome to parenthood. Hope you like hearing “THERE’S NOTHING TO EAT!” right after you just spent your life savings at the grocery story.
@sarcasticmommy4

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

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

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

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

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

As a parent, my goal is to raise confident, independent children who want to go out into the world and pursue their dreams…and then move back to our hometown to live near me forever.
Laura Hanby, @charmingfarming

Having a daughter in middle school makes you realize every song every written is highly inappropriate.
@simoncholland

Every middle school has 200 coats in lost and found so we know parents tried to make their kids wear a jacket at least once.
@simoncholland

Raising teenagers means understanding that “I love you, Mom” sounds like “Thanks for the Starbucks, bruh.”
@ogbrenna

Everyone has practice so we either have dinner at 4:30 or 9:00.
@simoncholland

Funny Quotes for Parents of a Teenage Son

There are four tween and teen boys between our two families, so I couldn’t resist a special category of parenting teenager quotes just for parents of a teenage son. We’re also convinced that good parenting includes laughter. Enjoy these parent quotes.

My son made the mistake of telling me I was being overdramatic so I just changed the WiFi password. We’ll see who’s overdramatic in about 5 minutes.
@sarcasticmommy4

I shut my teen’s bedroom door to make my house feel cleaner.
@sara_ashlynn

Doesn’t my teen know that when he tells me I’m embarrassing him it doesn’t make me want to stop. It makes me want to carry on with more intensity than before. Remember all those tantrums you threw in public, kid? WELL IT’S MY TIME TO SHINE.
@mommyneedsalife

Parenting teenage boys is basically spending your day asking questions like “Whose hoodie is this?” “What happened to all the groceries I just bought?” “Did you shower today?” and “What is that smell?”
Jenni Brennan

Facebook group with gift ideas for tween and teen boys and good deals on gifts

Open Communication Parenting Teenager Quotes

As moms and professors of communication, we see so much power in good communication. We had to grab a couple quote devoted to this parenting super power.

One of the biggest keys to good communication is LISTENING. There are real dangers to not listening well as a parent. You can also listen better if you understand your listening style. Our blog post on how to know your listening style and learn to listen better goes into more detail.

Whatever emotional state you’re in while you’re 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

If we don’t shape our kids, they will be shaped by outside forces that don’t care what shape our kids are in.
Dr. Louise Hart

Encourage and support your kids because children are apt to live up to what you believe of them.
Lady Bird Johnson

Difficult Time Parenting Teenager Quotes

Parents of teenagers will have hard days. Many will walk through hard times that last a lot longer than just a day. We found a goldmine of encouragement in a book that has nothing to do with parenting. See the highlights in our post with encouragement you need when being a mom is hard.

Below are some parenting quotes to remind you that teenage years won’t last forever. We might have unconditional love for our teens, but that doesn’t mean that like them every day. Even challenges like teaching teens to drive or applying to college require some inspiration (and often humor).

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

I think teens push boundaries because their lives are so confusing; they want to know what will hold fast. The only way to find out is to push.
Kathleen Bauer

The pressures of being a parent are equal to any pressure on earth. To be a conscious parent, and really look to that little being’s mental and physical health, is a responsibility which most of us, including me, avoid most of the time because it’s too hard.
John Lennon

The women whom I love and admire for their strength and grace did not get that way because stuff worked out. They got that way because stuff went wrong, and they handled it. They handled it in a thousand different ways on a thousand different days, but they handled it. Those women are my superheroes.
Elizabeth Gilbert (single mother)

It’s a funny thing about mothers and fathers. Even when their own child is the most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, they still think that he or she is wonderful.
Roald Dahl

You cannot fix your children and you cannot plan their lives. You can guide, support, nurture and love them in the best way you can.
Iyanla Vanzant

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

Give yourself permission to believe that your kid is really awesome and at the same time capable of making a bad decision. It’s okay to feel both.
Whitney Fleming