Comment on Value # 4. Parents are the ultimate authority for their family.

To me this is possibly the most important principle. But it is also can be a little difficult to understand and accept once understood. I will describe how I understand it below and would like to hear what others think about it.

Since my wife and I are the ultimate authorities in my family we have the right to raise our children how we see fit. This is wonderful because we do not need to worry about others telling us what is right and wrong. We are free to follow our religious beliefs as well as use our knowledge we have gained through study to make our Family the best it can be.

But there is a sacrifice my Family must make in order to maintain our authority. We must be willing to allow our neighbors to, in our eyes, make bad decisions for their Families. An example would be a neighbor that is seen yelling and even physically beating their children as a form of punishment for what they consider bad behavior. Not to the point of causing lasting physical damage or putting their life at risk (as that would be protected under the right of everyone to life), but a lot more than what you feel is reasonable. You try your best to talk to this neighbor about what you see but they will have nothing to do with you and tell you not to come back. It's at this point your belief in Parents are the ultimate authority is truly tested. Your only possible course of action you could take to stop your neighbors would be for you to get the government involved as they are the ones that have the right to use force. But if you do this you are putting your authority at risk. Here is why-

Switch this around where your neighbor sees you feeding your kids hot dogs for lunch. He is outraged because he believes eating meat is horrible for your kids. In fact he is convinced it is child abuse. He comes over and talks to you but you tell him - "please leave, I see nothing wrong with feeding my children hot dogs". He is really frustrated and decides he needs to contact the government. He happens to have the resources to get a law pushed through that makes feeding children hot dogs illegal.

This is why we need a government that will not pass laws that take away our authority for our families. But we must be willing to allow others to make poor decisions for theirs.

Anything wrong with this?