(Hannah More, "Practical Piety")
Our neglect of minor duties and virtues is
particularly injurious to the minds of our families.
If they see us peevish, vacillating, volatile,
petulant or inconsistent in our daily conduct,
they will not give us credit for those higher
qualities which we may possess and those
superior duties which we may be more careful
to fulfill. Our greater qualities will do them little
good, while our lesser but incessant faults do
them much injury.
Seeing us so defective in the daily course
of our
behavior at home, though our children may
obey
us because they are obliged to it, they will neither
love nor esteem us enough to be influenced by
our instruction or advice.