Modeling Righteousness is the Key

Ezekiel 18:20 ""The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son's iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself."

Many good parents do the best they can in raising children, since there is no such thing as a perfect parent, God never told children to only honor those who are doing their parenting perfectly, He knew no one would.  God the Father was the perfect parent to Adam and Eve and look what they did!

God gave the command to honor and obey parents...period. There were no excuses to dishonor, since children are not perfect, even as adults, they have no right to expect their parents to be perfect.  Since adult children are not perfect they know they will not be perfect parents either. 

God also never instructed Children to only honor one parent over another.  We are told to listen to the instruction of our father and obey the law of our mother.  Seems fairly simple to me.

Any adult child who thinks they are doing their parenting perfectly are teaching pride and arrogance to their children by example. Children will do what their parents do, more than do what they say.  If adult children treat their parents with contempt, their children will learn to do the same to them, as well as all other authority figures.

Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"

Proverbs 1:8 "Hear, my son, your father's instruction And do not forsake your mother's teaching;"

If we want our children to learn honor and respect for authority we must model it for them, rather than just speak it.