Child
(The word “child” refers to a child or a youth of any age living in the home.)
(Male references here are, as usual, generic and refer to both male and female children.)
Some possible ways a child could openly express God’s love through obeying his parents.
♥ Do what he is asked to do, when he is asked to do it.
♥ Come when they call him.
♥ Do his household chores without complaint.
♥ Do his school homework, assignments, examinations, and projects the best he can in the time allotted for him to do them.
♥ Speak to his parents and to others respectfully.
♥ Be kind and helpful to his brothers and sisters.
♥ Apologize to his parents when he has been disobedient to them or when he has held unloving attitudes toward them.
♥ Apologize to his brothers, sisters, or anyone else toward whom he has been unloving.
♥ Follow his parents’ guidance concerning the friends he chooses.
♥ Come home at the appointed time.
♥ Obey babysitters, teachers, and other authorities to whom his parents have entrusted him.
♥ Accept, without complaint, the bed time which his parents have set for him.
♥ Do not go to places to which his parents have forbidden him to go.
♥ Dress as they desire for him to dress.
♥ Develop the manners and social etiquette which they desire for him.
♥ Listen respectfully to his parents’ concerns, even when they are given as unloving “lectures,” and follow their advice.
♥ Accept thankfully the limitations and freedoms which they have given him.
♥ Avoid participating in anything which he is unsure his parents would support.
♥ Stay within the limits of his parents’ financial policies and limitations when he is away at college.
♥ Be diligent to try to develop the abilities and talents which his parents recognize in him.
♥ Honor their decisions concerning where he is allowed to go with his friends.
♥ Follow his parents’ rules when they are not present.
♥ Reason with them respectfully and kindly and in a timely manner when he is asking them to consider his petitions or when he disagrees with their decisions.
♥ Follow their guidance regarding his relationships with the opposite sex.
♥ Honor their input regarding his future spouse and the timing of the marriage.
♥ Discuss openly with his parents at the appropriate time his thoughts, frustrations, dreams, ideas, failures, hopes, and any other things which will help them understand and guide him.
♥ Share respectfully his desires to make decisions on his own and accept their decisions thankfully.
♥ Ask his parents for permission to visit friends or to do something away from home, and abide by their wishes.
♥ Follow the standards which his parents expect of him at college.
Insights and concepts adapted from The Heart of Man and The Mental Disorders by Rich Thomson)