ANONYM613, unfortunately you are correct and that is one of the big issues. We as parents, adults, mechanchim, teachers and Rabbonim have to be exemplary role models of yiddishkeit if we want our children to follow in our footsteps and continue in our heritage.
Many people forget that our mitzvos pertain to how we act to children as well as adults. Hashem does not put an age limitation on bein adom lchaveiro. It is also important to note that when a child seems overburdened and stressed out maybe due to something that is happening in the home, in many cases their mechanchem ignore it instead of address it and try to help the child to lessen the burden. Illness in the family is a huge burden for children and when c”v a parent or a sibling dies people usually have rachmonos and show concern just for the adults, the spouse or the parents who suffered the loss. They think kids are resilient and will just pop back. But that is not the case, kids need a lot of care and attention to help them through a loss. They have a lot of questions and they lose their bitachon and need assurances and reassurances that their bitachon will return. They need to know that Hashem did not abandon them, and that He didn’t punish them by taking away their parent or sibling, and it was nothing that they did that caused it to happen.
When a child need the support and understanding most from the people he relies on the most it is just business as usual.