431. Household obligations that are related to goodwill are a husband's obligations to his wife and a wife's obligations to her husband; also a father and mother's obligations to their children and the children's obligations to their father and mother; and the obligations of the male and female heads of a household to their male and female servants, and the obligations of the latter to them. Because these obligations have to do with child rearing and management of the estate, there are so many of them that a mere list would fill a large book. For all of us, what moves us to fulfill these obligations is a different love from the one that is operative in our work. A husband's obligation to his wife and a wife's obligation to her husband come from and depend on marriage love. A father and mother's obligations to their children come from a parental love that is instinctive in everyone. Children's obligations to their parents come from and depend on another love that is closely linked with obedience under obligation. The obligations male and female heads of a household have to their male and female servants come from a love of overseeing, which depends on each person's individual state of mind.

[2] Marriage love, however, and love for our children, along with the obligations and the fulfillment of the obligations involved in these loves, do not produce a love for our neighbor the way the fulfillment of our work-related obligations does. This is because instinctive parental love is just as present in evil people as in good people; in fact, it is sometimes stronger in evil people. It also exists in animals and birds, which could never attain goodwill. It is a known fact that bears, tigers, and snakes love their offspring as much as sheep and goats do; and owls love theirs as much as doves love theirs.

[3] As for parents' obligations to their children in specific, these obligations are inwardly different for people who have goodwill and people who do not, although the obligations look the same on the outside. For people who have goodwill, their love for their children is connected to their love for their neighbor and for God. They love their children for the children's manners, abilities, interests, and potential for serving the public. People who have no goodwill, on the other hand, have an instinctive parental love that is disconnected from goodwill. Many of them love their children even more if the children are evil, poorly behaved, and deceitful than if they are good, well behaved, and careful; such parents love children who are useless to the public more than children who are useful to it.