Parents - Teens - and Pink Shirts
Passages
Chapter 6
Children and Parents
Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do. 2 “Honor your father and mother.” This is the first commandment with a promise: 3 If you honor your father and mother, “things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.”
4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.
22 Listen to your father, who gave you life,
and don’t despise your mother when she is old.
Chapter 6
A Call for Wholehearted Commitment
“These are the commands, decrees, and regulations that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you. You must obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy, 2 and you and your children and grandchildren must fear the LORD your God as long as you live. If you obey all his decrees and commands, you will enjoy a long life. 3 Listen closely, Israel, and be careful to obey. Then all will go well with you, and you will have many children in the land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you.
4 “Listen, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. 5 And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 8 Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Notes and definitions
Parenting. The range of behaviors involved in the primary caretaking of children. Salient features of parenting have been summarized in the form of six fundamental, functional categories: bonding, discipline, education and guidance, general protection and welfare, responsivity to specific needs, and the display of sensitivity (Mowder, Harvey, Moy, & Pedro, 1995). The effects of these parental functions on children will be discussed, as well as how parenting behaviors are influenced by a number of powerful factors.
The Effects of Parenting on Children. One important perspective on parenting was initiated by Baumrind’s (1966) analysis of parenting styles. Expanded upon by others, this line of investigation categorizes parenting behaviors into four distinct styles based on the degree to which two fundamental dimensions of behavior are exhibited: responsiveness and demandingness. Parents who are highly responsive to their children as well as providing high levels of demands in the way of supervision and strictness are deemed authoritative. In contrast, highly responsive parents with low levels of demands are considered indulgent. Authoritarian parents show the inverse combination of attributes: they provide a high degree of supervision and strictness but little warmth and involvement. Finally, neglectful parents show low levels of both these dimensions of parenting behavior.
