This article seeks to explore the effects of moderization, especially the role of religion in the modernization process, on the status of children in the Jordanian family. Since Islam is the religion of the overwhelming majority of the population in Jordan, our analysis is concerned with Islam and its influence in moderating the modernizing process in interfamily relationships. Specifically, this article suggests that the Muslim faith acts to conserve tradition and to resist the liberalizing influences of modernization more than Christianity. Available research bearing on the issue of parent-child relations in Jordan indicates that authority in the traditional Jordanian family is concentrated in the eldest male, and the children are taught to respect this authority. Considerable attention is given to the formal deference owed by the child to his father. Thus, sons are expected to obey their father strictly, even after marriage. Jordanian patterns thus resemble those of other Middle Eastern societies as described by Shiloh: