Ah, early childhood is crucial to psychological development, but once they hit adolescence, children often identify more with their friends than their parents. A certain amount of rebellion is healthy, since they need to separate themselves from their parents and become independent. The trick is to know who your children's friends are and also to know where your children are at all times. Even so, my next door neighbor's son climbed out his bedroom window at three am more than once...he was 13...to meet his pals, two boys from a another nice family, and off they'd go through the woods to a nearby army base. They'd wander around the firing range in the dead of night. Luckily, they didn't get blown up and the base MP's caught them and turned them over to the local cops. This happened at least twice. Young boys and the stuff of adventure.