The lessons we learn as kids are something that stick with us for the rest of our lives. As I grow in life, I find that I am what I am because of what was inculcated into me as a child. Whether it was by my parents or teachers or simply by life, my current value system is largely based on what I learned in the first 16-17 years of my life. It is amazing how such a short span of your life has the power to decide half a century of your life. I know it's never too late to change, but I also know that it's not easy to embrace change once you have become set in your ways.
In that sense, it can be said that parents end up shouldering a lot of responsibility because 9/10 times, their kids are what they make them out to be. Of course, that is not to say that parents are responsible for the poor choices their kids make as adults, but they are primarily responsible for their child's inability to make the right choice as an adult. May be that's the reason why we find harrowed parents supporting adult children who never seem to grow up or constantly make poor choices. Because somewhere deep down in their hearts they know that they should have done a better job at parenting.
Parenting is not a thankless job, just one where the stakes are high...really really high...
