My parents split up, and a lot of things going on in the outside world made me want to immerse myself in an alternative world.
Would-be adoptive parents have to struggle for years through a bureaucratic obstacle course at an average cost of $30,000.
Parents of recovered children, and I've met hundreds, all share the same experience of doubters and deniers telling us our child must have never even had autism or that the recovery was simply nature's course. We all know better, and frankly we're too busy helping other parents to really care.
I think my parents were immigrants, you know, so I guess I would be first generation. Growing up in California.
I was very young, and I kind of decided I wanted to do comedy. My parents were musicians, so we traveled on a tour bus. You're in a different town every night; as a kid, you're trying to make friends fast. You try to be funny.
My work ethic came from my parents and my fear of failure. I came from a small, predominantly black school and I didn't want to let them down.
Maybe we slip so easily into blaming our parents - you're perpetually a child and they're perpetually a parent and you long to balance the equation, but it can only be balanced posthumously.
I always wanted to become a football player, and I thank my parents, as they helped me so much to realise this dream. They always supported me on my path.
It's not always possible to sit down and eat at home in this day and age of fast-paced living, but if you are going to eat out, do so as a family and support all the great local places in your areas. I'll still eat at the same diner I did as a kid with my parents.
As a child, I had to get up early for school or work. I'd get ready by myself. I'd set my alarm to wake me up very early in the morning, and be off to work, the family driver driving me every morning. I did it alone, my parents never coming in to wake me up.
Before high school ended, I started applying to college. It really wasn't even a choice because of the brainwashing of my parents.
Believe me, I've had interviews where the person says, 'So when did you start and why? What about your parents?' I say to them, 'Please, have you heard of the word 'Google?'
Parents, teachers, and other school staff need the tools to help these young people early in their lives. And the earlier, the better. It is proven that early action prevents problems later in life.
Musicians were always coming and going in our house. My parents didn't play much, but they were forever arranging these parties for artists. As a result, they didn't have to play that many records.
People like hearing songs that sound like something they've heard before, that's reminiscent of their childhood and of what their parents listened to.
I don't blame my own parents for the way I grew up, as quite often there is little choice in these issues.
When I first started painting, I had an interesting nightmare about Cleveland - I dreamed the houses there were encased in this free-floating cage structure. I guess Cleveland was a confining place for me, even though my parents weren't too conservative.
The millennial generation in the US is the first that has reduced expectations from those of their parents. And I think there is something decadent and declinist about that.
Almost forty-five years after my parents first became Americans, I stand before you and them tonight as the proud governor of the state of South Carolina.
When I came out to my parents, I knew that they knew. My father was like, 'Are you sure?' I literally said, 'You took me to see Barbra Streisand at Madison Square Garden.'
Both of my parents were journalists, and my rebellion, such as it was, was to become a fiction writer.
The problem with children is that you have to put up with their parents.
My parents were both Spanish-speakers and they used to speak to me and my siblings in Spanish and we'd answer them in English.
No, I come for a hippy lifestyle, it's very open; my parents are both hippies.
I'm a father myself for the first time in my life, and I had very very loving parents.
I know some of my parents' friends think 'Little Britain' is in incredibly poor taste. But swimming the Channel? You can't really say anything negative about that, can you? There's nothing better than making your parents happy. The glee on my father's face that day was amazing.
You didn't have a choice about the parents you inherited, but you do have a choice about the kind of parent you will be.
We all have a role to play - the President, Congress, parents, students and schools - in making college affordable and keeping the middle class dream alive.
I'd promised my parents that I'd go to college, take the time to grow up a bit, and experience something different before really pursuing music.
I try to give a voice to teens, who might be afraid to speak up about difficult issues, and a platform for parents and teachers to have frank, meaningful discussions with those young people.
I would never say I think divorce is wrong. After seeing what my parents went through, I would never want them to stay together just because they think it's the right thing to do.
I lost my parents very early in my life. My mom died three weeks after I graduated from high school, and my dad died two years after I got married.
My parents are so supportive of whatever we want to do and completely nurtured that, and they're so proud of that as well. My sister's a doctor, and I have an older brother as well. He went into the music industry; he's very musically talented.
I was under 18, and to leave Kenya to come to the United States, to get a passport, you had to be 18. So I lied and said I was 19 to get the passport, because otherwise, I had to have permission from my parents, and my parents would never have let me come.
Like all parents, my husband and I just do the best we can, hold our breath and hope we've set aside enough money for our kid's therapy.
I'd been raised by my parents who taught me not to think you're better than you are.
