Duties of Parents Toward Their Children

A Checklist Compiled by Bryan Gibson

First, from the Book of Proverbs:

Parents should…

· Love their children (3:11-12; 13:24).

· Make sure their children are properly clothed and fed (31:15, 21).

· Train their children in the way they should go (22:6), the way of wisdom and righteousness (23:15-16, 24).

· Teach their children (1:8-9).

· Set a good example for their children (20:7; 31:10-31).

· Delight in their children when they do right (23:24; 29:17).

· Rebuke, correct, discipline, and chasten their children (3:11-12; 13:24; 19:18; 22:15; 23:13-24; 29:15; 29:15, 17), because this will…

- Drive the foolishness out of them (22:15).

- Deliver their soul from hell (23:13-14).

- Give them wisdom (29:15).

- Give the parents rest or peace (29:17)

Parents should not…

· Withhold correction, or spare the rod (13:24; 23:13-14).

· Let children have their own way (29:15).

· Raise a scoffer, or a fool, because this kind of child will bring them sorrow (17:21).

Then, from the New Testament:

· Parents should bring their children up in the training and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4).

· Parents should not provoke or discourage their children (Ephesians 6:4; Colossians 3:21).

· Parents should teach their children the Scriptures from childhood (2 Timothy 3:14-15).

· Parents should be like Zacharias and Elizabeth, righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless (Luke 1:6).

· Parents should display a genuine faith before their children, as both Timothy’s mother and grandmother did (2 Timothy 1:5).

· Parents should correct, chasten, and discipline their children, realizing that while it may be painful now, it will yield good fruit in the future (Hebrews 12:5-11).

· Parents should love their children (Titus 2:4).

· Parents should cherish their children (1 Thessalonians 2:7).

· Parents should exhort, comfort, and charge their children (1 Thessalonians 2:11).

· Parents should train their children to be in submission with all reverence (1 Timothy 3:4).