Day 155.
And now, O sons, listen to me,
and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
…
[lest] at the end of your life you groan,
when your flesh and body are consumed,
and you say, “How I hated discipline,
and my heart despised reproof!
I did not listen to the voice of my teachers
or incline my ear to my instructors.
I am at the brink of utter ruin
in the assembled congregation.” (Proverbs 5:7, 11-14 ESV)
As children grow older and become young adults, they listen less and less to their parents, thinking that they have enough wisdom to manage life on their own. Of course this is usually motivated by some desire they have that is counted by the advice of the parent. Yet, God has deposited His wisdom into the child’s elders and provided it, through them, to the child. Children, listen to your parents, even when you don’t want to or don’t agree with them! They know more than you think! Parents, do not over instruct or micromanage as that will only contribute to your child’s yearlings to ignore you. He does need to learn how to make choices, and smaller mistakes are safer than larger ones.
