Parental Unit Activation

Proverbs 1:8 My child, listen when your father corrects you. Don’t neglect your mother’s instruction.
Proverbs 31:1 The sayings of King Lemuel contain this message, which his mother taught him.

Scripture places a great emphasis on the role of parents in the development of their children. I assume this would be because without parents a great percentage of people would not exist. By not exist, I mean they will not be here at all, and probably never would have been here in the first place.

But more than that, the parent should instill wisdom in their children, and this wisdom should go beyond just looking both ways when crossing the street. The things parents pass down to children are transcendent truths, life-skills and spirituality. These are the important things.

There are two ways kids learn, positive examples and negative examples. Children observe their parent's behavior, associate positive or negative feelings to it, and proceed to either replicate or avoid that behavior. In this regard, the mother is given a position of importance in the Proverbs. Notice how the entire book ends--it is with the account of an old man's memory of his faithful mom. How impressive was his mother? Read Proverbs 31 and you will see how she earned his respect and showed him how to display his devotion to family. The things she did had a positive impact that guided a king into success.