Proverbs 13:1 (ESV)

1 A wise son hears his father’s instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

A wise child, especially a son, who may strongly wish to be on his own, recognizes and submits to authority, especially when it is lovingly administered through the family. He humbly realises his need for instruction, correction, and discipline, and knows that his father reprimands him, not to harm him, but for his own good, from godly authority and out of fatherly love.

The scoffer, who hates such a humble and submissive attitude, casts off reprimand, seeing it as unjustified, unnecessary, and annoying. In doing so he rejects rightful authority and the protection and provision of fatherly love, dooming himself to waywardness, misery, and loneliness.