“Train Up a Boy”

SUCCESSFUL gardening requires much more than scattering some seed on the ground and then returning a few months later for the harvest. Much hard work is involved in preparing the soil, sowing the seeds, and watering and nurturing the plants so that they can grow to maturity.

This process could well illustrate the truthfulness of Proverbs 22:6, which says: “Train up a boy according to the way for him; even when he grows old he will not turn aside from it.” Indeed, parental training is a major factor in successful child rearing.

In today’s permissive world, however, many parents fail to heed this counsel. When they follow conventional wisdom that children must learn to handle problems on their own, their children are often left to fend for themselves. Such a course leaves young ones vulnerable to the harmful influence of unprincipled and unscrupulous individuals.​—Proverbs 13:20.

How much better it is for parents to instill Christian principles in their children through godly training at an early age! How early? “From infancy,” says the apostle Paul. That was the case with the young man Timothy. His mother, Eunice, and his grandmother Lois inculcated “the holy writings” in Timothy so that he “learned” and was “persuaded to believe.” The result? Such training played a vital role in making him “wise for salvation.”​—2 Timothy 1:5; 3:14, 15.

Likewise today, parents who do “not give up in doing what is fine” will reap rich rewards if they “do not tire out.” (Galatians 6:9) Says wise King Solomon: “The father of a righteous one will without fail be joyful.”​—Proverbs 23:24.