We are doing our children a BIIIIG favor if we teach them that the purpose of life is not to get material pleasure. Since kids are implicitly taught [by society and even by parents] that the goal of life is to have as much pleasure as possible, they spend their lives being pleasure seekers. Many of the spiritual difficulties we see in the frum world are b/c people have been badly raised. If people were properly raised, among other things, Rabbonim wouldn't be so concerned about how they are going to convince their balebatim that there is something wrong with smoking pot.
This is a broad topic but I will suffice at this time with this short note and maybe expand in the future.
