The fifth commandment, "Honor thy father and thy mother" got it backward

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Actually, the Bible got backward in two ways. Honor in those days, and still interpreted this way today, meant "obey." Showing respect to another does not necessarily have anything to do with whether you obey them. You can disobey someone and still do it respectfully.

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Secondly, and even more importantly, showing honor or respect to parents may support one in having a great life and maybe not.

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But if you turn it around and instruct the parents to show honor and respect to their children, not only is that likely to support the children in growing up healthy, happy, and resourceful, it's almost a guarantee the kids will show honor and respect back to their parents.

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Evidence that showing respect to children creates resourcefulness

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Montessori is a method of education that is based on self-directed activity, hands-on learning and collaborative play. In Montessori classrooms children make creative choices in their learning, while the classroom and the highly trained teacher offer age-appropriate activities to guide the process. This Montessori approach is an approach to education that shows respect to children that is at odds with the way that most parents, teachers, and schools try to educate our children.

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Whom do you know that was schooled the Montessori way? Check these out:

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• Larry Page and Sergey Brin (co-founders of Google)

• Jeff Bezos (Amazon)

• Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia)

• Katherine Graham (Washington Post)

• Julia Child (cookbook author)

• Prince William and Prince Harry

• Jacqueline Onassis (former first lady)

• Anne Frank (diarist)

• George Clooney (actor)

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Your children are not your children

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"Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable."

-Kahlil Gibran

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See also: Respect cf Love

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