Like Father Like Son:
The Munkatcher Rebbe zy”a (Sefer Tiferes Banim) writes that this pasuk teaches us how to properly raise children to remain upright and not to veer from the proper path.
If someone takes his sons to shul, where he they see their father davening with kavanah, they will desire to emulate him. They too will want to daven with devotion. But if they see their father wasting time in shul, not davening, and just staring into space, they will follow his example and do the same.
When the family is at home, if the children see their parents not taking Yiddishkeit seriously, not making brachos and bentching in a serious way, not saying Asher Yatzar or Kriyas Shema before going to bed, etc., they will take that as a lesson for themselves. Even if their parents chastise them and try to pressure them to behave properly, they will not listen to them. They will do as their parents do, and not as their parents tell them to do.
He says that this idea is hinted to in the words (Tehillim 145:21): “My mouth will speak the praise of Hashem, and all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever.” If one speaks praises of Hashem with his own mouth, then “all flesh”, meaning his children, will also bless Hashem, as they will follow their father’s example.
Accordingly, the pasuk is saying that the reason a person has a ben sorer u’moreh who abandons the ways of the Torah is because “he does not hear the voice of his father and the voice of his mother.” He does not hear his parents’ voices used for davening, saying Kriyas Shema or brachos, which is he “turns away and does not listen to them.” Even if they rebuke him and tell him what to do, he will not obey them.
We all know that raising children is not an easy job. It takes a lot of effort, a lot of tears, and a lot of money. In order to have good children, one needs to work hard. But the Torah gives us the best advice for how to do this. Being a good role model is the best way to raise upright children.
