Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

When I've read or heard this passage, I always imagined the person not departing from it when he was an adult. An old man, a man in his twenties. But yesterday I had an experience that helped me to see it in a new light.

I was brushing my teeth before bed, and I was thinking on how I had slipped out of the habit of brushing my teeth after breakfast. Sometimes I did, but it wasn't just a part of my day, like it used to be. My older brother got a cavity (sort of) at the dentist, and my older sister had gotten one at about that same age. I don't know if they brushed their teeth after breakfast or not, but I didn't want to go down that road, so I decided to put brushing my teeth after breakfast back on the 'part of my day' list. That's when the verse came to me. Hmmmm...... Suddenly I realized, that it didn't just mean when he is old, it meant when he is older. HAHA!!! That does seem to make more sense.