Honoring My Father and Mother?

Dear David: While one of ten commandments is to indeed honor your father and mother, it does mean that we must honor alcoholism, addiction, or any other type of mental impairment that leads to inappropriate acts. Sometimes honoring them means not engaging with their destructive behavior. You are not honoring your father by serving as a physical or verbal punching bag, and it’s imperative to keep those emotional and sometimes physical boundaries in place. If the person is consumed by such an impairment, you are not obligated to have a relationship with their disease. This may lead you to “caregiving from a distance.” In some cases, you may have to honor the person they were as you care for what they’ve become. Regardless, “honoring your mother and father” does not give them license to abuse you.