Challenging Church: Youth and Children Ministry

Current Church Reality -
The youth and children ministries of many of our churches have taken it upon themselves to teach Biblical truths to kids age 0-18. We have a great number of activities focused on helping kids learn about God's love, the way of salvation, the life of Jesus, and many other theological and spiritual topics. We spend lots of time, energy, and money doing what we can to lead kids in the right direction.

Church Challenge Question -
All of this is well and good, but what if instead of putting all of our time, energy, and money into leading kids in the right direction we devoted more time, energy, and money to helping parents lead their own kids in the right direction?
I've been in youth ministry now for almost 6 years and there is one thing I am sure about - youth pastors don't have near as much influence on the spiritual formation of teenagers as their parents do. I would take that a step further and say that parents have a greater influence on the spiritual formation of their kids than the efforts of the children and youth ministers combined. There is nothing that compares to the teachings (intentional and example) the parents provide during the first 18 years of their life.
If what I just wrote is true, then why is it we as youth and children ministers take it upon ourselves to be the primary spiritual leaders for kids? Which begs the follow up question, why do parents depend on youth and children ministers to be the primary spiritual leaders for their own kids? Here's what I think...
1) Children and youth ministers have been trained to see themselves solely responsible for the spiritual health of kids. When a kid we've served falls away, we feel as if we failed. It was our fault that kid chose a different direction. If this is how we're trained, which leads to how we feel, of course we respond as the primary spiritual guides. It's all about us getting the job done.
2) I love the way Regie McNeal talks about ministry in his book Missional Renaissance. He shows how the service industry has affected churches. In the 20th century, people began contracting out services they didn't want or know how to do. If you didn't want or know how to mow your lawn, you hired a lawn boy. If you didn't want or know how to clean your house, you hired a maid. If you didn't want or know how to pay your taxes, you hired an accountant. And if you didn't want or know how to lead your kids spiritually, you dropped them off at church. Through that whole experience, parents forgot the Biblical mandate to spiritually raise up their kids.
I've been thinking a lot about this challenge over the past year or so. I'm still fleshing it all out, but I'm trying to figure out how the church can support and equip parents to be better spiritual guides for their families. I've got to believe that if we spend more time, energy, and money equipping our parents then we'll have a better chance of reaching this generation before its too late.