Parents, Children, and Authority – Sunday, March 17, 1946
It is not uncommon to hear parents complain of an ever-diminishing influence with their children. The problem is not peculiar to our time—although it may be aggravated by the conditions of our time. But this whole question of the waning of parental authority is one of great complexity in which the basic causes and the simple cures are not; always easily discernible. Sometimes the cause lies very near home, and sometimes it rests largely with outside influences —influences which for the moment we sometimes seem helpless to do much about. But there is something to be said concerning one of the causes that we can do something about.
Perhaps we had just as well admit to begin with that our authority is sometimes exercised unpredictably—sometimes because of prejudice, sometimes because of impatience, sometimes because of whim and convenience. According to our feelings at the moment, we may be leniently disposed at one time, and adamantly disposed at another, in dealing with questions of seemingly identical merit. Sometimes we are led by temper to threaten consequences more severe than we intend to invoke and which we could not in justice deliver. Whenever, as parents, it becomes necessary to maintain the authority of our position, it would be well not to threaten punishment without being sure it is deserved, or without delivering it when it is deserved. Children are discerning. They may call our bluff if we threaten more than is just or more than we can make effective—all of which tends to break down respect for authority. And not only is it so between parents and children, but it is also true between men and society.
Respect for authority is demoralized by laws that are not or cannot be enforced, or that are unjustly or temperamentally administered, or that are subject to favoritism. Man’s respect for the laws of nature is based on their irrevocability—on the certainty and the justice of consequences. When we violate a natural law, we know what to expect—or if we don’t know, we inevitably find out. And so it must be with all law and with all discipline. To be respected, authority, whether of parents or others, must be exercised in justice and on principle—on cause and effect—not on whim or convenience.
“The Spoken Word,” heard over Radio Station K S L and the nationwide Columbia Broadcasting System, from the Tabernacle, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Sunday, Mar. 17, 1946. Copyright 1946.
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March 17, 1946
Broadcast Number 0,865