Health & Fitness
The Benefits of Getting Children to Look Up
It is the sacred duty of every parent to require and expect respect from their child/ren. Not for selfish reasons; for the selfless reason that the more your children honor you, the better and happier their lives will be.
What benefit are to be had from the fact that humans are born and bred by other humans? What is there to gain from the family unit that the Creator so designed the human? How interesting that He not only deigns that every human will be raised by parents but also makes sure to stress – in no uncertain terms – how much He expects them to honor, respect and revere the parents. Why would our all-loving and omni-caring Father in Heaven make it thus for us?
The answer is that the best thing for a child is to be able to enjoy looking UP.
G-d repeatedly compares honoring parents to honoring Him. Very few things train us to revere G-d like does revering our parents. As we accustom ourselves to looking adoringly and respectfully upwards, we learn to strive towards things higher and greater ourselves. Eventually we perfect the art of living for a higher purpose. And since sloth, depression, pessimism and melancholy are all symptoms of the person being crushed downwards, what greater favor could we do for our children than to guide them in the art of striving upwards, higher and higher, never lower!
Thus is it not only the privilege and right but sacred duty of every parent to require and expect respect from their child/ren. Not for selfish reasons of convenience but on the contrary – for the selfless, loving reason that the more your children honor you, the better and happier their lives will be.
Especially if your kids – or grandkids - are still small, give them the gifts of life. Just as you teach them to say no to drugs and to say nothing to strangers, teach them to say yes and speak respectfully to you. Just as you warn them about the dangers of household hazards and poisons, inform them so they will know the danger involved in treating parents like equals. And just as you keep raising the bar for them in school, raise yourself onto a pedestal for them so that they may look UP to you. Carry yourself with dignity and a healthy dose of transcendence, never bicker with them and avoid reacting to their provocation – raise them with reverence and nobility and they will revere you right back.