It is important for teens to realize that their parents have a great responsibility in, and deep concern for, their well-being. God has commanded your parents to bring you up in the way you should go, not necessarily the way you want to go. To say "yes" to your request is easy for your parents; they know that you will be pleased. But to say "no" tests their love for you. Do they care enough for your well-being to say "no" when they realize it has a potential for creating problems of discontentment and tension? It is important to remember, especially at such times, that good rules safeguard your well-being, that God has provided "experienced hikers" on the paths of life to be your parents, and that their "no" is a reflection of deep care about your well-being.

For your health - physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually - God has commanded your parents to exercise preventive and corrective discipline: preventive, to keep you from the many dangers, the many sins, surrounding you; corrective, to punish you when you have disobeyed their loving warning, the motive being to correct and turn you from your unhealthy, sinful practice.

Mr. and Mrs. Venton love their three-year-old daughter very much. Living on a country road where cars travel past at a fast speed, they warned their daughter never to ride her bike on, or step onto, the road. After observing this happen a few times, Mr. Venton built a fence along the front of their property with a gate across the driveway.

One afternoon, Mrs. Venton saw her daughter unlatch the fence, and ride her bike onto the road. Rushing outside, she grabbed her daughter, spanked her soundly, and sent her to her room for an hour.

How do both the preventive and corrective disciplinary actions of these parents testify of their love for their daughter?

If parents would only be concerned about guarding their children from physical danger but not spiritual danger, why would this be very foolish and sinful of them?

As a teen, you need to understand that your parents are not perfect; they are human. They, too, have shortcomings and make mistakes. Yet God has given them to you as your parents to love, obey, and honor, even when they may be mistaken or you do not agree with their decision. Realizing that your parents sincerely love

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

- Proverbs 22:6

And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

- Ephesians 6:4

And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:

And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou Iiest down, and when thou risest up.

- Deuteronomy 6:6-7

He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

- Proverbs 13:24

Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.

- Proverbs 22:15

The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.

Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.

- Proverbs 29:15, 17

Parents who care more for their children's physical health and welfare than for the spiritual, have their priorities reversed. Why? For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? - Mark 8:36