“... it becomes obvious that infants exert major control over the initiation,
maintenance, termination,and avoidance of social contact with the mother;
in other words, they help to regulate the engagement.”

— Daniel Stern, 1985

“Hence it is no small matter whether one habit or another
is inculcated in us from early childhood; on the contrary,
it makes considerable difference, or, rather, all the difference.”

— Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics

“Children become capable of learning a system of symbols for the affects;
as a result, they are enabled to achieve emotional self-awareness.”
 

John Gedo, MD, 2005

 

"The evidence is clear and compelling — physical punishment
of children and youth plays no useful role in their upbringing
and poses only risks to their development″

Joan Durant, PhD, and Ron Ensom, MSW,
Coalition on Physical Punishment of Children and Youth, 2004.

“Language… makes parts of our known experience more shareable with others….
It permits two people to create mutual experiences of meaning …
but in fact language is a double-edged sword. 
It also makes some parts of our experience less shareable with ourselves and with others.”
         
“The problem of language acquisition has become an interpersonal problem. 
Meaning … is something to be negotiated between the parent and child…
Meaning results from interpersonal negotiations involving what can be agreed upon as shared.”

The Interpersonal World of the Child (1985),
by Daniel Stern, MD

“By the time babies start to talk they have already acquired a great deal of world knowledge…”
 
“… some senses of the self do exist long prior to self-awareness and language. 
These include the senses of agency, of physical cohesion, of continuity in time, of having intentions in mind, and other such experiences…”

Daniel Stern, MD, The Interpersonal World of the Infant, 1985.