rumitoid

It is a "holier than thou" attitude to tell your children not to do the same mistakes you made? Is it hypocrisy to want our children to not make the same errors we did and thus not just warn against such mistakes but also punish behavior we freely indulged in? Does one have to be perfect to look out for the best interest of family and friends? If I am, say, an alcoholic, am I not better able in a way to see the pattern and warn a loved one that he or she is heading that way?

All of us have gone astray in one way or another: isn't such wisdom from that side better than those who never knew it to make avoidance a possibility?