The Apostle Paul
Colossians 3:21WEB·traditional attribution
Fathers, don’t provoke your children, so that they won’t be discouraged.
Albert Barnes Presbyterian
Verse 21. Fathers, provoke not, etc. . Lest they be discouraged. Lest, by your continually finding fault with them, they should lose all courage, and despair of ever pleasing you. There is much sound sense and practical wisdom in this observation of the apostle. Children should not be flattered, but they should be encouraged.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed
Fathers, provoke not your children [to anger], lest they be discouraged. (13) Of parents, that they are gentle towards their children.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Reformed
(Eph 6:4.) It is a different Greek verb, therefore translate here, "irritate not." By perpetual fault-finding "children" are "discouraged" or "disheartened." A broken-down spirit is fatal to youth [BENGEL].