It sometimes took a while, but the bluster of the parents eventually dominated. But not anymore. It is too late for training to be effective apart from godly example. And the kids are far too mature in their knowledge of good and evil to be fooled by pretense and hypocrisy. In fact, at this fresh stage of moral awakening, children s consciences are much more sensitive and demanding than is that of adults who have learned to accept a certain amount of hypocrisy and pretense as normal.
Nothing gets by the kids.
They will hold your feet to the moral fire. The problem is that most parents get it backward. During the first years of a child s life when example is useless, the parents just expect the children to grow into the mold of family life. Then when the children get old enough so their selfishness is no longer cute, parents begin to try to train them out of their bad habits. Parents reactions to their failure to achieve results is something rather childish itself.