Should a Child Fear Their Parents? | Ultimate Issues Hour

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Hi everybody, and welcome to the Ultimate Issues Hour on The Dennis Prager Show. I'm Dennis Prager. And every week at this time, the 3rd hour of my show on Tuesdays is devoted to some great issue of life. Here's one that I don't think everybody has thought about. Many of the ultimate issues that I raise, everybody has thought about, or nearly everybody. This one, I don't think so, but as soon as I raise it, I think you will find it of interest. Should a child fear his parents? That's the question. And I, as many of you know, I have been teaching the Bible, specifically the first five books of it, for seventeen years verse by verse. I am within six chapters of completing it. It is on approximately three hundred compact discs. You can get a sample of it, by the way, by calling eight hundred two two five eight five eight four eight hundred. 225-8584. People of every background, including from atheist to every other religion, have taken my courses and get those CDs. It is my guidebook for life, and it has a verse which in fact I just taught: a man shall fear his mother and father. That's separate from honor your father and mother. You'll notice, by the way, the honor had the father first and the fear had the mother first because because of the biblical notion of the equality of parents. And since you're more likely to honor mom than dad, dad comes first with honor. And since you're more likely to fear dad than mom, mom comes first with the fear one. Isn't that interesting? That's why I teach it, because it's so good. Anyway, uh, here is an example of something that I am sure many moderns find exactly The reason, or a reason, why they reject this type of value system. Come on, a kid shouldn't fear his parents. Give me a break. That's primitive. That's, I am sure, what many sophisticated kids believe. I am, however, increasingly of the belief that if you have no fear of your parents, you may very well grow up to be a monster. Now, let me make clear that if you only have fear of your parents, there's no tenderness, there's no love, there's no respect, there's only fear, that's terrible. That's no question. That's terrible. But if there's no— in other words, only fear is bad and no fear is bad. It is a good thing. The examples are legion. I have asked kids often who don't take drugs, why don't you take drugs? And the typical response is, my mother would kill me, or my father would kill me. And that's great. I particularly like when I hear my mother would kill me, because when the mother is also feared in this way, isn't just a tender, loving creature, That's a good thing. Both parents should have that role in a child's life. It's like John Rosemond in his, in his fine books on child rearing calls it vitamin N. Most important vitamin your child can get is vitamin N, N for the word no. They need more vitamin N than they do vitamin B, vitamin C, vitamin D. The phone number is 1-800-PRAGER-776. 1-800-PRAGER-776. That's 877-243-7776. I was just listening to a talk show host who, who I presume turned out to be a pretty decent fellow and spoke about his dad. And his dad was also his sports coach and But he had a real fear of his dad, and his dad periodically would take out his belt and give it to him. He said, never welts, never blood, but I had a real healthy fear of my dad.

Good.

That's good. Now, again, it's important that I make the point, only fear is bad. And obviously, a tyrannical, abusive parent, you fear, but that's vile. It's evil. That's not my point at all. I'm not advocating for child abuse, in case someone has difficulty perceiving nuance. But the problem today, especially among the well-educated, is not too much fear. It's too little fear. Because you grow up thinking you know best, that you are the source of right and wrong, That nothing, there is nothing above you. If your parents are not above you, what is? And the notion of growing up with no sense that I am accountable to something above me, and accountability has to come with fear. There's no such thing as accountability without fear. If I am accountable to the government for how I drive, then I fear the government. I obviously, that's what I'm supposed to do. People fear getting tickets. They should. That's the whole point. They fear getting arrested. That's the whole point. What has happened is we have, again, in the age of stupidity ushered in by the baby boomers, and indeed by those who taught the baby boomers some of these ideas, let's be honest. We have the opposite view. You should be loved by your kids at all time, and the notion that a kid should fear you, or those who say, oh well, it doesn't really say that, it says reverence. Baloney, folks. I know the Hebrew. It's fear. Okay? It doesn't mean scared. Scared is a different word in biblical Hebrew. But there is a notion of fear, just as it's the same word as in fear of the Lord or God-fearing. And if you have both a good fear of God and a good fear of parent, a healthy fear, not an unhealthy one, then you will be a better human being. And we have lost that terribly, where parents want to be their kids' best friends, and you don't fear your best friend. Let's be honest. That's not what friends are for. There's no fear of friends. So that's why it's a bad idea to aim to be your kid's pal, because there's no fear then. There's no hierarchy. There's no accountability. All righty. Let's, let's go to your calls on this Ultimate Issues Hour. 1-800-PRAGER-776. And we go to Scottsdale, Arizona. Matthew. Hello, Matthew. Dennis Prager.

Hello, Dennis. Yeah, hi, Dennis.

Hi.

I'm beginning to come to the understanding that the reason that we want certain things is because we don't want the opposite of them. So you're confirming my new understanding that, you know, for example, the reason we don't want to— the reason that we want a new car is because we don't like the old jalopy we've been driving. So, and that fear is really the biggest motivator as it relates to something that we don't want. So for most people, that seems to be the thing that motivates them to action, to actually do something.

That's a very good point. It is a very big motivator. That's a very good point. Fear of losing your job is a very big motivator to do a good job. That, that's why you get so much nonsense out of the academy, because they have tenure and they can say anything unbelievably stupid. But they're still there. They could be a totally incompetent and lazy teacher, but they're not fireable. That's right. Fear is a very, very good thing, obviously in the proper dosage and for the proper reasons. Obviously. I mean, you fear getting sick, so you take care of yourself. You fear getting, uh, overweight, so you eat properly. Of course, he's absolutely right. I mean, why would you want people to— would you want people to have no fears? First of all, if they have no fears, then they fear nonsense like secondhand smoke. That's the irony. If you don't fear things you ought to fear, you end up fearing things that you shouldn't fear. That's the irony in life. It's a good call, Matthew. You're absolutely right about that. Go to Chino Hills, California, and Tim. Hello, Tim. Dennis Prager.

Hello, Dennis. Dennis, hi, how are you?

I'm well, thank you.

Uh, great comment about the fear, except I just have— I want to take one small issue. Uh, for example, as I was growing up, you know, I was, I was, uh, you know, governed by my mom, and she used a belt. Uh, I never feared my mother, but I did fear the discipline that my mother would dole out if I'm— when I—

All right, I don't know the difference.

Well, you said, you said, for example, you know, when, when, um, uh, you know, you're refreshed by the fact that, you know, when you talk to kids and they say, gee, the reason I don't do drugs—

Yes, exactly. My mother would kill me. Yeah.

My mother would kill me. Well, they don't—

I don't think they—

again, they don't fear the mother.

Oh, I, I don't see any difference. I'll, I'll explain why when we come back.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

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Now, back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

You're listening to The Dennis Prager Show, The Ultimate Issues Hour. Should kids fear their parents? The answer is yes. If they only fear their parents, that's bad. And if they don't fear their parents at all, it's bad. But a healthy fear combined, hopefully, with other emotions is critical to making good people. Of course, if the question is, do you want to make good people? If you believe that people are good already and all they need is a lot of love, which was part of the drivel that the Make Love Not War generation believed, then you will end up with a lot of, uh, Very spoiled, self-centered, and narcissistic children who grow up into spoiled, narcissistic adults. The last caller said that it's not parents that one should fear, it's what they do. I don't know any— I don't know what the difference is. So that's why I said I just— there's no difference. You fear what your parent will do. It's like saying, I don't fear the police, I fear what the police will do. Does anybody— if anybody could explain to me the difference between the two, you will have done a service to my caller, because there is no difference. Fearing what a parent will do is the same as fearing the parent. That's the whole point. 877-243-7776. And we go to Bradenton, Florida. Ray. Hello, Ray. Dennis Prager.

Hey, Dennis. Nice to talk to you. I, uh, I often disagree with you, but I, I absolutely Love your conversation.

Thank you for that. Great.

I've been teaching for 17 years, Dennis, and it's interesting. My old man got a lot of mileage out of fear. And when you talk about the— I heard you talk about vitamin N. I absolutely love it because today's kids, not only when they hear the word no to a question or a request for them to do something, get something, and they hear the word no. And they look at me incredulously, as if I must have not understood the question.

That's a great way of putting it.

That's right. It's amazing.

They are, they are.

And they repeat it.

That's right.

They repeat it. And I say, no, no, no, it's okay. I understood the question. You just didn't like the answer.

That's great.

It's beautiful.

Yeah, that's great. Thank you. He's so right. It's like, wait a minute, wait. He surely didn't hear me right. That's beautifully put. All righty, let's go to Los Angeles, California, and Damir. Hello, Damir.

Uh, good morning, Mr. Prager.

Good morning to you. Good morning. Yes.

Uh, and I very much admire your wisdom.

Thank you.

I'm becoming better father listening to you, um, and, uh, my kids are getting better and better thinking to you, at least.

Well, good.

I'm glad. Thank you. Thank you for that.

Good.

Oh, no problem. My comment was, a few months ago, my 8-year-old, he was talking about Ten Commandments. We were talking about Noah and Bible in general and stuff like respect and love and everything. And I, after teasing him, I always would tell him, listen, I almost love you. Listen, almost. You're this close to be loved. And jokingly, he knows, Daddy, don't joke with me, stuff like that. once, and I said, listen, but why would I love you? There is no love in Ten Commandments. It says you have to respect me. I don't have to love you. There is no commandment for that. And he said, Daddy, but if I love you and respect you, I will learn— I will earn your love and respect, and then everything will be fine. And I said, what the heck? I'm learning from 8 years old something that I didn't know that existed over there.

And so what is it you learned?

Well, I learned that if you live— if you are brought into a family with loving parents, father and mother, and your kids have certain respect, they will have degree of fear, so they are never disappointing to the parents, and they can be much better people than I am. I think that I'm raising kids, and my biggest gift to the society are my kids.

Well, that's right. That's right. That's well said. That's how people should look at it. as not, you know, just pleasure to the parent, but as a gift to society. It's a very good way of putting it. By the way, in regard to the love issue, it's very complex, but it's part of my larger understanding. And all this has all come to me later in life. The adulation of the word love has been a catastrophe for society. It is so— it is overvalued and it is over— Used. Love has a very specific use, and its use overwhelmingly should be for your, what I call, peer or horizontal, not vertical relationships. Number one, your spouse. Number two, your friends. That's where love has to be central, absolutely central. And you demonstrate it to your spouse and you demonstrate it to your friends. But with regard to other groups, you honor your parents and you instill healthy respect for you in your children. But the task of a parent is not to be loved by a child. The task of a parent is to make a good child. We have lost that in the age of stupidity in which we live. Wisdom is a non-issue since the '60s, which was declared to be an age free of wisdom. Number one said, don't trust anyone over 30, which meant immediately there is no wisdom. Whatever we think and feel, that's all that matters. And number two, of course, thought that 18-year-olds should get to vote because after all, they're wise enough to make an intelligent vote. I was around 18 at the time and I thought it was an idiotic idea. I remember telling my girlfriend, I don't know anything. How am I going to vote? I don't know what to vote on. But it didn't matter. All I had to do was feel. Okay, good call there. Richard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dennis Prager, thank you for calling.

Hey Dennis, thanks for taking my call. I thought that children shouldn't be really motivated by fear. I think that when they're dealing with their parents, they should understand why they have to do something. Like, if you want your kids not to do something, you shouldn't Make them afraid to do it. They should understand why they shouldn't do it.

And well, let's say— all right, let's say they don't understand.

Well, you should try to reason with them. At what age do you have an unreasonable child?

Well, you— everybody has an unreasonable child because the ability to reason effectively doesn't come until later in life.

Well, that's not necessarily true for everybody.

There's nothing that's necessarily true for everybody, but it is true for the vast majority of 10-year-olds. Your 10-year-old cannot understand why he should watch less television. He enjoys it and it's not hurting anybody.

Well, some children are capable of understanding that.

If your child is capable of doing the right thing all the time on the basis of reason, then, then, Richard, I want to meet your child. I want to publicize your child. I would like to have your child on my show because it would be the first in the history of the world. There is no child at 10 years old who understands everything good for them on a rational basis. They don't exist. But Richard is 25, has been effectively educated in this manner. You reason with your children. Nope. Sometimes it's far better to slap their hand. As your kid puts his— the little kid puts his proverbial hand in the fire, the Do you say, do you know the effects of great heat on the nervous system are terrible? You may get a third-degree burn. You have no idea how painful that is, and please understand what's going to happen. Children don't think about consequences. Their brain is not even made for consequences. The child's brain is to think about here and now. Back in a moment, Ultimate Issues Hour with Dennis Prager.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

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Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

Good. We're having a lot of dissent calls, which is very important because I want people to hear this talk through. Hi everybody, this is Dennis Prager. And on behalf of Alan and Sean, I just welcome you back. Isn't that nice, guys? And Roy, and Roy. Okay, okay. And Chris. You're listening to The Dennis Prager Show, The Ultimate Issues Hour. And I'm talking about the concept of fearing parents. It's dead, dead in the water. It's another, another form of wisdom we have lost. And You're just supposed to feel good about your parents all the time, love them all the time. That's much more important. Part of our misunderstanding of the value and uses of love. If you want to make a good person, it's far more important that you think in terms of, do they have a healthy fear of me? And healthy fear means healthy. Of course, just a healthy fear. Means, you know, my mother will kill me if I go on drugs. Yeah, my father will kill me if I make a girl pregnant. Good. Good. I want kids to think that way. The parent is the authority. Now, you hope the parent uses it rationally and beneficently, of course, obviously. By the way, the same thing holds true for teachers. And since I'm a big one on the biblical wisdom, you should know that the word to teach and the word to parent comes from the same root in the, in biblical Hebrew. That's how important teachers are considered in biblical Hebrew. And, uh, you should— if you don't fear your teachers, guess what happens? You get up and you say F you to your teacher. And your teacher was afraid of you. By the way, that's another consequence here. If kids don't fear the parents, the parents will fear the kids. Fear that they won't love them, fear that they'll create some scene, fear their tantrum. And same thing with teachers. If students don't fear teachers, teachers will fear students. And that's the world in which— that's the world made by the '60s fools, the '60s and '70s fools, a world where now teachers fear students and parents fear children. Congratulations, you did it. But everybody under 30 calling doesn't agree with me, from a 25-year-old gentleman in Philadelphia to 2 more here. Let's go to Palo Alto, California, and David, who's 21. Hi, David. Thank you for calling.

Hi. Hi. So my parents' attitude, and I'm not saying I fully agree with this, but their attitude was that if you let the children make mistakes, then they can learn from those mistakes.

Hmm.

So therefore they didn't tell you what was right?

Well, for instance, they let us watch much more TV than they would have liked, for instance. Much more than I now, as a 21-year-old, would want my children to watch.

Okay, so you feel your parents made an error?

Well, um, I also feel, for instance, that when I got into college—

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Do you—

I mean, I'm not here to at all criticize your parents, but I'm here to have you think clearly. If you will not allow your children to do what your parents allowed you to do, you think your parents made a mistake?

Uh, well, I'm saying that like them, I would want my children to watch less. I'm not completely convinced that I would ban them. From watching as much as I did.

Well, do you think that it was a waste of your time?

Yes.

So why would you want your children to waste their time? Why is that a service to a child? And how do you know they will learn? The average adult American watches 6 hours of TV. They obviously didn't learn.

Okay, fair enough. I mean, in my case, what happened was at the end of high school, I realized that I needed to focus on school and watch less TV, and I said, I don't know how much— That was a function of what they did.

All right, but you acknowledge that since the average American does watch 6 hours of TV, the average American did not learn the lesson that you learned happily.

But, I mean, do you think that the government, for instance, should make adults exercise more because that's good for them? If you make that analogy—

Well, if the government becomes my parent, then we live in a dictatorship. I don't want the government to have almost any authority over me.

Okay, fair enough.

And thank you. By the way, the more parental authority, the less state authority. That is why every totalitarian movement undermined parents. Please know that, folks. Every one. Soviet communism, Nazism, fascism, they all undermined parents. Very— it's one of the first things they do. You owe your allegiance to the state, and that's why they form little kids' groups. Back in a moment. I'm Dennis Prager.

Dennis.

Dennis.

Dennis. Dennis Prager.

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Hi everybody, you're listening to The Dennis Prager Show. Very important Ultimate Issues Hour here. The importance of children fearing their parents. Once again, for those of you who just tuned in, if the only feeling a child has for parents is fear, that's not good. But if a child does not have any feeling of fear for a parent, that's really not good either. David in Atlanta, Georgia. Dennis Prager. Hi, David.

Hi.

Hi.

Hi.

Um, I disagreed at first. When you first posed the question, my gut answer was no, but then you've convinced me otherwise.

Well, you're lucky.

I'm 29 years old. I have 2 daughters of my own.

How old are they?

I have a 2-year-old and one that's 7 months.

Well, you owe me big.

Yes. Well, see, that's just it. 2-year-old, she, she disrespects me and my wife to a certain degree that, that we've been trying to find somewhat of a solution. And I think, I think that's part of it. I don't think I have done my, my part as a father to instill some degree of fear, at least for consequences.

And mother too. And mother too.

Yes.

Because otherwise the child will play one parent off the other. And you'll be— you'll end up the bad guy in your children's eyes.

Right. And, and I think actually my mother— I'm sorry, my mother— my wife, she has to some degree instilled a bit of fear in my daughter, but I have been probably as supportive as I need to be. And—

All right, well then—

She does go from one to another, right?

That's right. Well, thank God you heard this. I mean it sincerely. And let me tell you another thing too. Any parent knows this, just about any parent. It is so easy to avoid problems later if you are, if you are tough in the beginning. The earlier you, you get them to understand who's in charge, the happier they will be, the better they will be, the happier you will be, the happier your home will be. It is, it is 10,000 times easier to do it when they're 2 than when they're 12. Okay, let's go to Philadelphia again and Michelle. Hello, Michelle, Dennis Prager.

Hi, Dennis, how are you?

I'm well, thank you.

Well, I heard your Ultimate Hour and it really brought home what's happening in our family. I am the stepmother of 2 children, 11 and 12. We have the children 50% of the time and the mother— us being my husband and I— and the mother has them the other 50% of the time. And I'm really starting to see a difference between how the children are acting. We have much less behavioral problems than she does. And one instance that occurred that I thought was so telling, the 11-year-old is, you know, he wants to do what he wants to do. And the whole issue started about bringing food into the family room. Long story short, I kept saying to him, no, you cannot bring food into the family room. And he goes, you know, you, you and Dad act like you're above, above me, but Mom doesn't treat me like that. And I said, really, honey? And I said, how does that make you feel? He goes, I just don't think it's fair. And I said, well, you know, bottom line is I am above you, honey. This is my household. And, you know, I had rules when I was growing up, and you're going to have rules. You know what? You're not gonna like this.

You just could have stopped with— I mean, you did great. Let me— Michelle, you're my heroine of the day. But you really could have stopped with, honey, that's right, I am above you. Have a great day.

Thank you. You too.

No, that's what you should have said to your kid. I wasn't saying that to you. Anyway, no, no, no, that's— I hope that was clear to most people listening.

That's all. And by the—

here's the irony, folks, for those who think it's ironic. I don't think it's ironic, but for some it will sound ironic. That's when they'll end up loving you. That's the irony. Not when they're 12 and not when they're 4 necessarily, but the kids don't want peers for parents. They act like they do, but they don't. They don't. It drives them crazy. It's— the world is chaotic then. If my parents can't control me— look, I know I can't control me, so my parents better be able to control me, or it's a very, very scary world. Cleveland, Ohio, and Kathy. Hello, Kathy. Dennis Prager.

Hi, Dennis.

Hi.

Maybe you're kind of off point now with what I was originally—

No, no, no. Call up with what you were originally. It's not off point at all.

All right. Well, I— when I was doing some scripture readings, I went to the original Hebrew for the word fear.

Yes.

And at least in the reference that I picked up, it said respect. And I felt that—

A liberal did it. A liberal wrote the translation. I don't say this as a condemnation. Yeah, because, yeah, that's just wrong. I mean, at best they could say awe, but they can never— it's— there is a specific word for respect, and that is Much closer to the word honor in the Ten Commandments, but that's a very different word than this word. It's the same word as fear of God. You remember the story of the Egyptian midwives who would not kill the Hebrew children that Pharaoh ordered them to kill?

Right.

It said they wouldn't do so because they feared God. Now, what was the— not because they respected God. It's because they feared God. And that's— it's the same exact verb for what you should do for your parents.

Yeah, I just don't think respect negates fear. I think it encompasses fear.

It doesn't— yes, I think it does. If you don't have any fear of your parents, I'm not sure why you will fully respect them. They have failed their role. If you have no fear of the cops, then you won't fully respect them. I mean, it's very simple. If you have no fear of your teacher, you won't fully respect your teacher. I can do whatever I want, my teacher won't do anything to me. Well, how is that a form of respect? I agree with you. I think that respect encompasses it. That's why you have both respect your parents, that's, or honor your parents, that's in the 10 Commandments. And you have this in the book of Leviticus 19:3, if you're curious. A person shall fear his mother and father. We are in the post-biblical age, therefore we're in the post-wisdom age. Back in a moment.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

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Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

Preachers and poets and scholars don't know it. Temples and statues and steeples won't show it.

If you've got the secret, just try not to blow it.

Stay a lucky man, a lucky man. Alrighty everybody, final segment of this edition of the Ultimate Issues Hour. Third hour on Tuesday is always devoted to some great ultimate issue. These are meant to be life-changing, these hours. And if you'd like to get Ultimate Issues Hours, just call 800-225-8584. 800-225-8584 for all of the recordings and CDs and everything else that we put out. 800-225-8584, including a sample of the, uh, of when I teach Bible, because I get my wisdom from that book. I know it's politically incorrect to say. If I would have said to you I get it from Schopenhauer, Or an insult, then you would be very impressed if you went to graduate school. But to say that I got it actually from Leviticus—that's so silly. That's right. Talking today about the the sentence that says fear your mother and father and how accurate it is, and what has happened in a nutshell is because kids don't fear their parents, parents fear their kids. Likewise with teachers. Now we have the inverse. Teachers fear students instead of students fearing teachers. And, uh, oh, what happened? Too bad. Okay, let's go to, uh, we had someone who was going to call, said that their— her brother raised kids, uh, with trying to reason with them and it didn't work out. You should try to reason, but the— it's good to give a reason. That's fine. I'm all for that. But in the final analysis, you're the authority. Carly in Sarasota, Florida. Dennis Prager, hi.

Excuse me. Hi, Dennis.

Hi, Carly.

I've been on hold for 45 minutes waiting to get my daughter to school, and what I originally was going to talk about, I agree with you wholeheartedly. And she was listening with me on the radio and said, well, I, I fear myself. I fear making the right or wrong decision. And I said, yes, but that's instilled by your parents and the people that are Authorities in your life. So I thought it was very interesting coming from— she's almost 16 years old— her perspective on what fear is.

Well, that's good. If, if by 16 she has incorporated your values and now fears disappointing herself or whatever, that's a wonderful incorporation. Yeah, I don't want a 25 or 30-year-old to have the same fear of a parent that a, uh, you know, necessarily that a, that a 12-year-old does, of course. So I think you did. I think you probably did good. Carly, forgive me, the music is telling me it's over. Daniel and Timmy and Luke, I wish I could have taken your calls. This is— this has really been an important hour. You can— you should play this for friends who are raising kids, please, for their sake, for the world's sake, because if they don't raise good kids, we all suffer. And that's the reason I did this Ultimate Issues Hour. Again, you can call 800-225-8584. I'm Dennis Prager. Thank you for listening.

Tomorrow on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.

My question is, nowadays it appears— I've had it happen to me personally— but that women, once they get their husbands, they no longer maintain the effort to stay thin and beautiful, that men are automatically supposed to love them no matter what. What— I mean, is that wrong for men to want their wives to stay beautiful?

I can't think of anything more wrong than trying to look your best to catch a man, catching the man, and then not trying to look your best again.

I just called to— I was just listening to the last segment about The man that called upset because his wife had gained weight after they were married. And, um, with all due respect, I always enjoy listening to you and enjoy your insights, but I have to disagree with you on this issue. To be able to accuse a wife of being deceiving because, um, that happened to her is very dangerous for marriages and for women because there are multitude myriad issues and reasons why these things can happen, and it isn't to be labeled and characterized as deception is very dangerous.

I wholly agree with you, and I'm glad— that's why I took your call against 5 other calls that are on the board, including Kent, who feels that I humiliated him, which I never do. But anyway, of course there are myriad reasons, and There's childbirth, which frequently puts pounds on a woman and so on. All I am saying, and that's why I'm happy I took your call, is men know. I mean, if the man is at all decent, I mean, I'm always assuming that we have a decent man and a decent woman. If they're indecent, then nothing I say applies. But if the man is decent and somewhat intelligent, he knows whether she is trying To look her best or not.

Join us tomorrow to hear more on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Visit DennisPrager.com for thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs, and to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles. We want to take just a second to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the podcast. Go to lifeaudio.com to find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network, including shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.

What happens when faith and mental health meet for real? What's up? I'm Grace Graber. Welcome to Breaking Through with Grace Graber, a podcast for honest conversations about anxiety, trauma, healing, hope, and the God who never backs away when life gets heavy.

We are going to talk about everything mental health.

No pretending, no perfect answers, just real stories, real faith, and a reminder that you're not alone.

Get ready, you're going to be absolutely obsessed.

Breaking Through with Grace Graber, available now wherever you get your podcasts.