God does want children to love, respect and care for their parents. He tells us in the fifth commandment (Genesis 20:12) to “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.” This commandment is restated in Leviticus 19:3, Deuteronomy 5:16, by Jesus in Matthew 15:4, 19:19, and by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6:2.  

Honoring is showing reverence, profound respect, love and devotion. If we are honoring our parents, how can we not take care of them when they are older? Wouldn’t you want your child to do likewise? If children are trained to love and respect their parents, this should come naturally. Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

With the passing of centuries from Adam and with society not being as devoted to God as before, we can see that religious devotion has given way to devotion to other things. In an agricultural society, people had lots of children to help out on the farms. People also had lots of children because they didn’t expect all of them to live to adulthood. People have children for various reasons, often because they want to be parents and have the experience of raising a family in a loving environment. 

Many cultures have very closely knit families. There may be several generations living together in one dwelling. Each of these people loves and respects the others in the family unit. By living together, young are taught about life and about the experiences of their elders. The grandparents may provide babysitting services while the parents work. The young can assist the elderly in their chores, reaching items, etc., and provide excitement and energy to their elders. They all take care of one another.  While much of the United States population is made up of typical family units (father, mother, and children dwelling together), there are also many families of other cultures that are keeping to their traditions. The degree to which children take responsibility for caring for aged parents varies depending on one’s cultural traditions, the availability of other resources/places for caring for the aged, and the financial means of the family to pay for care for their parents.  

Additional Resource:
Christian Questions Podcast
Episode #1161: “What Does Honoring Your Mother and Father Look Like?”
Defining what godly honoring of parents is and what it is not
Preview Video
CQ Rewind Show Notes