Ok – I don’t have children (yet) but I write for children (and for teachers who teach children. And some of those teachers are parents.)
“All of us are training our children both intentionally and unintentionally. We need to make sure we aren’t leaving the important things to happenstance. We know it’s crucial that they become familiar with God, our Heirloom and our only hope for real life. We yearn for them to love and trust and follow Christ. It would be foolish just to wait for them to learn that by chance. We must plan to reflect God and teach about Christ in the repeated events of our lives.”
(Noel Piper, Treasuring God in our Traditions, pg 35)
EC and I practice things now that hopefully, one day, when our family grows, they will be able to follow us as we follow Christ, however imperfectly. New Elder nomations last night at church were asked about this question. Each answered sufficiently and were very emphatic that families are important in teaching Christ in the lives of children.