Logically, it makes sense to move on from a discussion of husbands and wives to children.
The important phrase in the first verse is "in the Lord." Sadly, there are bad and foolish parents that deal with their children in ungodly ways. And this is Paul's one, very clear statement -- as long as it is "in the Lord" then children are to obey their parents. And, most likely if your parents are not letting you hang out with friends at the mall because they want to protect you from the bad things of this world (which you'll see plenty of in the future) -- then most likely that is in the Lord because hanging out at a mall isn't something God explicitly states as something that is beneficial to you.. You get what I mean.
This obedience does not come without a promise - you will enjoy a long life (whether that means figuratively or literally because some don't live long even when they obey their parents) - it basically means you will enjoy life (every bit of it) even more.
Then he moves onto parents - "Fathers, don't exasperate your children." Parents are commanded to not make their kids angry as in oppress, abuse, mistreat them. Parents are to bring them up and train them in the Lord (which sometimes does make kids angry sometimes).
A short story: My son is 10 months old now and as much as we are proud of him in so many things - he is developing a sense of self. In other words, he understands that he can express dislike, push away food when he doesn't want it. He realized he has opinions and he can express it. Now, if just because he hates broccoli and pushes it away and throws a tantrum every time - and I go along with it so I don't make him angry isn't for his own good. Because I am trying to train him to like healthy foods and feed him good food - I am going to do certain disciplinary things to make him eat. Yes, he will cry for an hour straight and he will be very angry -- but this is what we are called to do - to discipline and train in the right way. And the right way isn't always the easy, nice way.
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