Kathryn
It was on fire when I laid down on it.
If you're instilling religious belief and habits in your children at an age when they aren't capable of reflecting on them properly, then IMO, you create a shallow faith in your children... and one that I think is at the expense of the process that would allow them to come to a deeper, fuller belief system later when they are capable of it.
This is why so many religions have the equivalent of confirmation, bar or bat mitzvah, or something along those lines.
Raising children with religious traditions can be a sort of layering experience. With ongoing religious training, they learn the deeper meanings as their maturity level progresses. In my case it was sort of a case of "connect the dots." As I grew older and learned more about doctrine, I began to be able to grasp the deeper meanings of rituals like communion, Holy Week, Lent, and Advent. In fact, I'm still learning them as I continue to grow and mature.
Like I said before, parents are stewards of their children, not their owners. If it's clear that the adult that the child will become will not want to take up the family business, then IMO, a parent has no business forcing the child into it.
I'm trying to decipher what you mean by this statement. Most parents cannot FORCE an adult to take over the family business, no matter how hard they try to do so. If the adult (former child) bows to their pressure, that's his or her problem - grow a backbone. But when that same adult is a child, the parents who are also the business owners have the right to expect that child to help with the family business - AS A CHILD - if the tasks are age appropriate (for example, a teen working in the office or at the sales counter). I see nothing wrong with that. Passing on a business to a second or third generation can be a great gift - if the adult wants it.
But most children don't really know what they want or don't want to do career wise - and I don't see that it would be so evil to expose a child to the family business - especially if there is a chance that child will want to run it some day.