In the Introduction Chapter, Tripp tackled head-on one of the most avoided issues in the politically correct world, namely parent's authority, and offer a biblical perspective. Here is what he wrote in part:
"By age ten to twelve, scores of children have already left home. I am not referring to the tragic "Times Squares kids" in New York City or your community. I refer to the numbers of children who, by age ten to twelve, have effectively left Mom or Dad as an authority or reference point for their lives" (p xvii).In this day and age where parental authorities are so undermined that children can now sue their parents if they perceive their freedom have been violated by their parents, it is important to go back to the biblical view of parental authority. On the other hand, there are many parents who abuse their authority figures as parents, those who forget that their authority is merely a derivation of God's, given to them for a specific purpose: to teach their children to be under the ultimate authority that is God himself.
"You exercise authority as God's agent. You may not direct your children for your own agenda or convenience. You must direct your children on God's behalf for their good. Our culture tends toward the extreme poles on a continuum. In the area of authority, we tend to be either toward a crass kind of John Wayne authoritarianism or toward being a wimp. God calls you by his Word and his example to be authorities who are truly kind. God calls you to exercise authority, not in making your children do what you want, but in being true servants--authorities who lay down your lives. The purpose for your authority in their lives of your children is not to hold them under your power, but to empower them to be self-controlled people living freely under the authority of God" (p. xix-xx).
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