When you look at your child and see them growing up so fast, it’s hard not to miss the days when they were little. We want our children to grow into independent adults, but we also cherish our time with them while they are young. These quotes about kids growing up too fast will help you find comfort, knowing you’re not alone in feeling this way!

As a parent, it can be hard to watch your child grow up.

Their looks change and they become more independent every day, and while you feel so proud of the people they are becoming, you also feel sad and nostalgic at the same time.

Of course you feel this way; the day your child was born, your whole world changed.

Instantly, you became a full-time caregiver, protector, and fun-maker.

There were days when you wished you could fast-forward to the stage when they were more independent and less reliant on you for every.single.thing.

But now you’re there and you’re wishing you could go back.

One day you realize that you haven’t watched a baby show in years and suddenly, you’re shopping in the big kid’s section and it’s enough to give you a panic attack.

If you’re feeling sentimental and looking for the right words to capture what you’re experiencing, you’re in the right place.

These quotes about growing up too fast perfectly capture the spectrum of emotions we all feel when we see our children growing into their own person right before our eyes. 

Does it feel like your kids are growing up too fast, check out our top tips to slow down childhood.

Our Favorite Quotes About Kids Growing Up

“Childhood is a short season.” -Helen Hays

“The days are long, but the years are short.”

“It flies by in the blink of an eye. Before you know it, they’re grown and gone.”

“I will hold on to the memories and get ready for what’s to come in the next chapter.” -Alissa Kay

“Before you know it, they’ve grown up so fast and all you have are memories.”

“You may outgrow my lap, but you will never outgrow my heart.”

“You have a lifetime to work, but children are only young once.” -Polish Proverb

“No one tells you that the hardest part of being a mother is watching your child grow up.” – Unknown

“Those little hands and feet won’t be little forever.”

“Cherish the time you have with your children while they are little because they grow up so fast.” – Unknown

“If your days as a mother seem long and mundane, remember that it is but a short breath before their wings are ready and they take flight.”

“Hold onto the tiny moments and cherish the little snuggles. They grow up so fast.

“Dear Mama, Babies don’t keep.”

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“Let me love you a little more, before you’re not little anymore.”

“Enjoy the little things. For one day you might look back and realize they were the big things.”

“The fingerprints on the wall appear higher and higher. Then suddenly they disappear.” -Dorothy

“It’s a bittersweet moment when your child starts growing up. You’re so proud of all their accomplishments, but you also can’t help but feel a little sad that they’re not children anymore.” – Unknown

“The days are long but the years are short.”

“I constantly go between wishing you could stay little forever and being excited to see all that you will accomplish in this life.”

“Growing up happens in a heartbeat. One day you’re in diapers; the next day you’re gone. But the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul.” – The Wonder Years

“The great paradox of parenthood is that it moves in both slow motion and fast forward at the same time.”

“Dear Mama, There’s no way to freeze time and keep your child little forever. Instead, you must love them and enjoy them as much as you can today because tomorrow they will be a little older.”

“I regret not having had more time with my kids when they were growing up.” – Tina Turner

“It’s inevitable. Your kids will grow up. Just don’t let it happen without you.”

“In the blink of an eye, you’ve grown so fast. Now your childhood is a thing of the past.”

“Don’t grow up too fast darling. Age is inevitable, but if you nurture a childlike heart, you’ll never grow old.” -Beth Hoffman

“I wish I could hit pause and keep you as you are. It seems like I waited forever for you to be mine and now that you’re here it feels like it’s all going by so fast.” -Lauren Tingley

“Just because you had to grow up too fast, doesn’t mean your children need to.”

“Our children are only ever lent to us. We never know just how long we will be able to keep them for. So kiss them, cuddle them, and hold them tightly. But most of all, tell them you love them every day.”

“When we worry about what a child will become tomorrow we are ignoring who they are today.”

“Don’t grow up too fast, too soon. Save some time for dreaming.”

“Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional.” – Chili Davis

“I already miss the child you were.” -Lauren Tingley

“Don’t try to make me grow up before my time.” – Louisa May Alcott

“You know that place between sleep and awake. That place where you can still remember dreaming? That’s where I’ll always love you, that’s where I’ll be waiting.” -Peter Pan

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“I want to hold him in my arms a little longer today, because already my baby is gone. Already there is a little boy in his place. And one day not too far in the future, there will be an older boy in his place, and then a teenager, and then a young man.” -Liz Curtis Faria

“Too many people grow up. That’s the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up. They forget. They don’t remember what it’s like to be 12 years old. They patronize, they treat children as inferiors.” -Walt Disney

“Children outgrow childhood so much faster than we’re ready for.”

“But I’m warning you, once you’re grown up, you can never come back.” – from Peter Pan

“Who says you have to grow up?” -Walt Disney

“I love pictures because they never change, even if the people in them do.”

“Keep your children wild. Don’t make them grow up too fast.” Brook Hampton

“The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow, But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow. So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep! I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.” -Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

“Growing up happens when you start having things you look back on and wish you could change.” — Cassandra Clare, City of Ashes

“I wish I could slow it all down. While I love watching you grow, it’s a bittersweet process. With every milestone your childhood becomes more distant and I know that these days that we have together are limited.” -Lauren Tingley

Heartwarming Quotes About Kids Growing Up

“She blinked and her baby was walking. She blinked and we went from the crib to a toddler bed. She blinked and it was time to start Kindergarten. She blinked and she was the one in the passenger seat. She blinked and it was time for high school graduation. She blinked and the wedding bells rang. She blinked and she cuddled her grandchild in her arms, so familiarly. She blinked and started to relive each milestone again. And even though she loved the wonder and magic of each season they shared together, she’d never tell anyone to try hard not to blink. Instead, she’d say open your eyes – wide enough – not to miss the blessings each moment right in front of us brings. Because each season has so much struggle, yes; but so much sweetness, too. Life rushes right on by, and we want to collect all the precious memories we can keep. Especially when it was just yesterday my baby was learning to walk. And it seems like all I did was blink. ” – Jaclyn Warren

“If I could I would keep you as mine forever, but my job is to let you go.” -Lauren Tingley

“Your house will be empty before you know it. Don’t waste this opportunity to cherish your children while they are small.”

“You will never have this day with your children again. Tomorrow they’ll be a little bit older than they are today. Today is a gift. Notice, breathe, smell them, hold them, study their little faces for tomorrow it will have all changed.”

“Pay attention and enjoy today mama. Relish the present moment you have with your child before it’s gone.”

“The first time you held your baby, it was the beginning of forever. You were given a privilege to nurture and care for another human being that will be with you until the end of their days on this earth.”

“When you’re in the thick of raising children it’s difficult to notice the little changes that are happening every day. Then one day, you look up from your cup of coffee, and the child that was before you yesterday has transformed into a young adult.” -Lauren Tingley

“I wish I could go back in time and watch my kids grow up all over again because it is just going by too fast.” -Robert Rodriguez

“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” -Unknown

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“The older they get, the more independent they become and the less time you have to spend with them. It’s hard to watch your child grow up and leave you behind, but at the same time you’re so proud of all their accomplishments.”

“Don’t waste your time trying to be the perfect parent. Instead, enjoy, cherish and protect the time you have with them today.”

“If I could do it all over again, I’d change the future by slowing down time and savoring each moment with you.”

“On the days you feel like you can’t make it, just remember you can. And that this is just a season in life. You blink and they are 8. Then 28. And then they are parents, resembling a you, you once were. So take it in, mama. Let them climb into bed with you any hour of the night. Sing that song they requested for the 10th time. Hold them a little tighter when all they want is to shower with you and feel your skin against theirs. Maybe in raising children you lose your mind a little bit. But, boy, do you find your soul!” -Sharon Hakes

“I’m trying to savor the excitement of seeing you grow and mature into a little boy with his own personality instead of missing all those tiny moments that make up your babyhood because I know it won’t be long before they’re gone forever.”  -Lauren Tingley

“As a parent, it’s hard to see your children grow up too fast. I feel like most things in my life are moving super-fast these days but I don’t want any of that fleeting time with you to disappear.” -Lauren Tingley

“I will spend eternity knowing my children as an adult. But tonight, right here, right now, and for the next few precious years, I have the rare privilege of knowing them as a child. What a gift to experience the children in our lives as children!” -Hilary Weeks

“Enjoy it while they’re little. Everyone says so. They grow so fast. And that phrase seems both so totally true and so totally false at the same time because in the day-to-day of it nothing seems fast at all. A meal can take an eternity. A sleepless night a lifetime. And yet everyone says so: They grow so fast. And so I want to hold him in my arms a little longer today because already my baby is gone.” -Liz Curtis Faria

“The world doesn’t have to lose it’s magic, just because you lost your pigtails.” -Amber Scholl

“It feels like only yesterday my baby was in my arms, and now she’s almost a woman.” – Unknown

“When we are children we seldom think of the future. This innocence frees us to enjoy life as few adults can. The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind.” -Patrick Rothfuss

“Every day you are taller, wiser, and more amazing. You are quickly becoming the person you were meant to be. I am so proud of you.” -Lauren Tingley

“You are loved for the boy you are, the man you will become and the precious son you will always be.”

“You’ll never look back on your life and think, “I spent too much time with my kids.”

“It’s inevitable. Your kids will grow up. Just don’t let it happen without you.”

“I used to wish for each day to go by so fast. For you to be older, more independent, and able to take care of yourself. Now that moment has come and all I want is to go back and start over.” -Lauren Tingley

“Today’s tiny little moments become tomorrow’s precious memories.”

“You can’t stop your children from growing up, but you can be present so you don’t miss them growing up.”

“I won’t always cry, Mummy, When you leave the room and my supermarket tantrums, Will end too soon, I won’t always wake, Daddy,… For cuddles through the night & one day you’ll miss, Having a chocolate face to wipe. You won’t always wake to find my foot, is kicking you out of bed, Or find me sideways on your pillow, Where you want to lay your head. You won’t always have to carry me, In asleep from the car, Or piggy back me down the road, When my little legs can’t walk that far, So cherish every cuddle, Remember them all, Because one day, Mummy. I won’t be this small.”

“As a mother, I have found that each day is not long enough to do all the laughing, playing and loving I want to before my children are grown.” -Lauren Tingley

“There are two gifts we should give to our children. One is roots, the other is wings.”

“There are only 940 Saturdays between a child’s birth and her leaving for college.” -Harley Rotbart

“Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.” -Charles R. Swindoll

“Remember, the goal is not to raise great kids; it’s to raise kids who become great adults.” -Andy Andrews

“Children do learn what they live. Then they grow up to live what they’ve learned.” -Dorothy Nolte

“Sometimes, we’re so concerned about giving our children what we never had growing up, we neglect to give them what we did have growing up.” -James C. Dobson

“I am not ready for the growing up. Not one bit. I want to grab her and stuff her back inside the little girl. Tell her it isn’t fair she is growing up so fast, that I can barely hold on to time and I just don’t know how to handle the changes.” -Ellen Stumbo

“Childhood is the process of your children growing up right before your eyes.” -Lauren Tingley

“Kids are a great analogy. You want your kids to grow up, and you don’t want your kids to grow up. You want your kids to become independent of you, but it’s also a parent’s worst nightmare: That they won’t need you. It’s like the real tragedy of parenting.” -Jonathan Foer

“Sometimes the only way to get over the sadness of your kids growing up is to rest in the beauty of the people they are becoming.”

“The older they get, the faster they grow. It feels like just yesterday my baby was born, but now he’s graduating high school!” – Unknown

“I am honored to be the one who got to watch you grow up. You are my greatest moments personified.” -Lauren Tingley

Funny “Kids Grow Up Fast” Quotes

“You know your children are growing up when they stop asking you where they came from and refuse to tell you where they’re going.” – P. J. O’Rourke

“Just so you don’t worry about your kids growing up too fast; they’ll still come home and eat all your food and borrow your money when they’re adults.”

“They say that time flies when you’re having fun. I guess that means being a parent is one long non-stop party!”

“They grow up so fast. It seems just yesterday I was changing their diapers and now they’re asking for the car keys.” – Unknown

“Becoming a mom to me means that you have accepted that for the next 16 years of your life, you will have a sticky purse.” —Nia Vardalos

“Growing up is such a barbarous business, full of inconvenience and pimples.” -J.M. Barrie

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“It is amazing how quickly the kids learn to drive a car, yet are unable to understand the lawnmower, snow-blower or vacuum cleaner.” -Ben Bergor

“Will you just do me a favor and stop growing up so fast?”

“Time flies when you’re raising kids. One day you’re knee-deep in diapers and the next they’re learning to drive.” -Lauren Tingley

“Let your kids sit on your lap while they can,  because one day they won’t fit.”

“You’re not even old enough to know how bad life gets.” -The Virgin Suicides

“One day you’re changing their diapers, and the next you’re sending them off to college!”

“They grow up in a blink of an eye, and before you know it, you’re wishing for the days when their biggest worry was what type of ice cream to have after dinner.”

More Parenting Quotes about Raising Kids:

• 45 Raising Boys Quotes You’ll Love

• 50 Mom Guilt Quotes to Read When you Feel Overwhelmed

• 50 Inspirational Parenting Quotes You Need to Hear

Final Thoughts on Kids Growing Up

As a parent, it’s hard to see your kids growing up so fast. It seems like just the other day they were little and now they’re almost adults.

My best advice is to enjoy every phase as much as you can, because none of them will last forever.