Last night, on my way home from work, I heard this story on the radio and it made me think do we realize what we teach our children without saying anything?

Story:
A husband and wife and their 4 year old took in the husbands dad, who had the shakes very badly and at dinner would drop things and knock over his milk etc. Husband and wife were mean an degrading to the man, they even put him at his own table and would make him eat with a wooden bowl to not break anything. Never a nice word to the man, only fault and nastiness, one day the 4 year old saw a tear out of her grandfather. The next night the 4 year old was on the floor with their building blocks and was building something the Husband asked, " What are you building? " the 4 year old's response was, " A wooden bowl so when you and mom are old I can take care of you." Nothing was said, but the Husband and wife the next night had the grandfather back at the table, with real dishes where he stayed to the remainder of his life.

It really is amazing what we teach our children, we laugh when a child swears for the first time, but they learned it somewhere. There is a country song out now about a child doing things and everytime the father asks, "Where did you learn that? ", The Child's response, " I have been watching you dad, and want to be just like you when I grow up."

Question: What are we teaching our children? Both of these stories get to me each time, even the country song last year about a child wanting to see their dad more and breaks into his piggy bank thinking dad will only come to me if I pay him..