The Child - Adult Relationship and how it affects the home, the school, and the church

What should characterize the relationship between parents and children, teachers and children, or church workers and children?  Are we to be facilitators, playmates, or authorities?   

In earlier generations there was a distinct difference between adults and children.  Adults took on the serious job of training.   Adults were not pals, buddies, or friends to their children.   It was only the adult who understood what a child needed to learn to become an adult – there was no compromise through discussion.   The child was recognized as having a heart bound with foolishness, and this was to be driven out.   Today children have “rights,” they can “dialogue,” and childish desires are often fulfilled.   They want fun, and we provide it for them.  

How have these modern parent-child relationships affected the philosophies of adult life that must be formed in childhood?  How are philosophies of life formed in young children?   Have Christian families, homeschools,  and churches become humanistic in their relationship with children?