Quiz:
What is wrong with the following maxim?
Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6)
Answer:
It’s not true. At least, the second part does not does not necessarily — and sometimes it will never — follow from the first part.
Parents are vain egocentric creatures who are so quick to believe they have far more power over their children than they really do. (I speak as a parent.) On the other hand, when parents attempt to enforce the power they believe they ought to have, or do have by divine fiat, they can too easily influence the children’s development, yes, but not in the way they intend.
Continuing here notes and comments from the work introduced earlier. Continue reading “Dysfunctional fundamentalist families (3): Power and Control”