Joseph:
[Please note that while the following is written about parents and children, the concept is exactly the same for Rebbeim and Talmidim]
In nearly all families, a parent can effectively teach Kibbud Av v’Eim in only three ways:
1. When teaching children to respect the other parent, as described above (One of the many challenges of a single parent home is that the most common way of teaching Kavod U’Moreh Av v’Eim is eliminated),
2. If it happens to come up in the course of a regular learning seder with the child (as an aside, I have it on good authority that Rav Pam said that most fathers should not learn with their children, and that in fact he did not learn with his own children), or
3. If possible, by modeling the appropriate behavior. I have had no greater lesson in Kibbud Av than watching my how my mother behaved towards her father for the first 20 years of my life (until he was Niftar). Obviously, this is most effective.
There may be a handful of parents whose character is so beyond reproach that even their young children will realize that when they say, “You must respect me because I’m your father,” it isn’t really about them. For most people, this is way out of reach.
Zahavasdad: Please elaborate; I don’t understand the point you are making in the context of this conversation.