Parents do not tell their children what is happening in their own spiritual lives. In fact many parents have not even told their children how they came to faith in Jesus. These things are not talked about in the home. On the other hand, children and young people do not tell their parents what they are thinking as they build their faith and value systems. There just doesn't seem to be the time, and often they are afraid of being laughed at or misunderstood.
Many families have enough of a relationship to be able to function in a reasonably harmonious way.
However when children have serious questions about life, when they are collecting their basic values, when they are deciding whether life in Christ is authentic or not, they have no trusted community where these things can be honestly discussed. In most cases they pick their ideas, the same way they pick up germs, from their casual contacts. If we are serious about giving our children the best possible chance to discover the life of faith for themselves, we need to show them how it works, first in the family and then in the life of the church. No amount of preaching or teaching or programs can be a substitute for that. If they cannot see that Christian faith works for the people around them, children will assume that it does not work at all.