This is so untrue! If you teach a kid from day one that such and such is true it will take a hell of an effort to de-program him/her.
Your only partially right. I should have clarified more. Was I was indicating was that, you could teach them to believe this and that, they may believe that for awhile. Eventually, the world will show them different, and they will form their own independent opinions.
The factors involved in this are way to varying for it to be an absolute. You would have to take into account the intelligence of the persons involved, and what they went through in life, how much exposure they will have. No matter what, life will teach you more lessons than anything else. You can choose whether what your parents taught is correct for you or not.
But I see forcing your opinion on your kids as being a wrong way of going about raising your kids. If your opinion of life is correct, and you give your kids the choice, and you show them why it is correct, then they should have no other option but to choose what is right for them, no matter how long it takes. It's called a learning curve.
I am a pretty good example of all that at work(freedom of choice). My mother and father (divorced) are like two different ends of the stick. While I am more like my father, and see eye to eye with him 90% of the time, there are still differences. I only see eye to eye with my mom like 50% of the time. I am just glad they always gave me the room to make my own choice about the subjects we are talking about.
Of course there are things that you should not let your kids make choices about, like dropping out of school. While it may seem like conflict to them, we know what is better for them, most of the time. Still we need to explain, AND show to them why, to give them the tools they need to be successful in life.
Added thought. I Was just thinking about how I make my kids go to church with me, and some would see that as me forcing my religion on them. Well unfortunatly for them, they cannot stay at home alone, while I am in church. When they get old enough too, they can. But keep in mind, even though they are going to church with me, I do not force them to believe in God, or Jesus. I just explain to them, why I believe, and tell them they can make their own choices. I explain that there will be much confusion in life regarding this subject.
If Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit is the ultimate truth, and I do a good job of conveying that truth through my love for them, and through my love of God, then they will come to know the truth all on their own. They will choose when they believe in God or not, and at that time they can be baptised in water to show their choice. Until them, God will show them the way, and teach them what He wants to teach them.
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