Does Good Parenting Guarantee Good Children? (Proverbs 22:6)

Proverbs 22:6 ESV Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22:6 is popularly understood as a promise that if parents train up a child well, then he will not go astray later in life. Of course, this understanding is reflected in most translations of the verse. However, such translations are actually misleading.

Firstly, the Hebrew verb for “train up” here is ḥānaḵ (חָנַךְ), which actually means “to initiate”. Secondly, the Hebrew expression for “the way he should go” is darkōw (דַרְכּוֹ), which simply means “his way”. Indeed, the Hebrew text does not indicate that this is the way that the child “should go”. Hence, a more accurate translation of Proverbs 22:6 is:

Initiate a child in his own way, and when he grows older, he will not depart from it.

Therefore, Proverbs 22:6 is not a guarantee that good parenting will produce good children. Rather, it is a warning that if a child is left in his own way without guidance, then it is highly unlikely that he will turn to the right way when he gets older.