Should I honor my mother and my father just because they're my parents?

Just because they're your parents? No, they do need to earn your respect. Obviously if they just leave their kid in the woods the kid does not need to honor them

However almost all parents give nearly their entire being into raising their kids, and for that some inherent respect is deserved. Even if they make mistakes they still deserve respect

I think ultimately honoring your parents comes mostly from understanding they are older and wiser than us, and we should respect their opinions as they have likely already gone through exactly what we have

You have it wrong in some ways and I will explain the idea for you. The title or position comes with respect based on the authority in the position. If a police man has pulled you over his position commands some respect. if you start swearing and cursing at him it will not go well for you. He has done nothing to deserve your respect it is given with the title. Now if he is a bad policeman and ripping you off the office he holds does not change and it will reflect poorly on him as a person but not on all policemen. Your parents have a position of authority over you and have given you life and provision and tried to raise you as best as they can. This places you in a subordinate position and your respect fro their authority over you and the things they have done for you is the natural order. If they were terrible parents of course this can be diminished even broken. Imagine if they held you in the same regard as a child and did not respect you till you earned it. This is probably not how they treated you. They used their authority to bring you up to be a responsible adult.

You are not expected to honor those who do not behave honorably, even if they are your parents.

This command was given that people honor the teachings of Christ and his Church. Christ represents the husband and the church the wife. Also, our first parents, Adam and Eve, were taught the gospel of peace by our Lord and had all of the children of men honored them and what they taught their children, their children would have lived in peace upon the earth.

Those are the parents you honor if yours lack integrity. Then your children will be able to honor you because of your integrity.

Mother & father,

compassionate to their family,

are called

Brahma,

first teachers,

those worthy of gifts

from their children.

So the wise should pay them

homage,

honor

with food & drink

clothing & bedding

anointing & bathing

& washing their feet.

Performing these services to their parents, the wise

are praised right here

and after death

rejoice in heaven.

This is what the Buddhists think true.

http://online.sfsu.edu/rone/Buddhism/BuddhismParen...

Think of it this way. You might not respect the person who fills the office of president, but you respect the office. It's the same with parents. You respect them because of who they are. It would be nice if you could respect them as individuals, but, as you say, that kind of respect does indeed need to be earned.

If either parent abuses you, you owe it to yourself to leave and protect yourself from harm.

Honour is not respect. They brought you into Life and provided for you, even if half-a$$ed. That deserves the minimum of honour. Ideally, it should be because of the love, support and dedication they showed you but isn't always so.

Honoring is how you live your life in a way that honors them and shows to the world that you are her legacy just as much as you are your father's legacy and you honor him in the same way

they worked all their lives for you and to make you happy .they took care of you when you were ill , they rised you to be better than them, so took all this and you cant take some shouting ? i mean life can be hard they my shout and hurt you but inside their heart is crying and saying sorry

sorry to hear about your mother and i know this is hard on you but its much harder on your father as she was his friend , friend that helped him while life became so hard a friend that give him something to look to after finishing a long work day so if your father do something its a personal request to just bottle it and never show him that you are sad about it he rised you all these years and now that his partner is gone life became hard

If you honor your parents you will live a long life

Respect is earned.

Only a sadist would ask someone to respect people who (for example) molest them (like some parents unfortunately do).