Is it counted as committing sin openly if a person commits sin in front of his children?

 

Is it counted as committing sin openly if a person commits sin in front of his children?

Praise be to Allaah. 

We put this question to our shaykh, Muhammad ibn Saalih
al-‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah preserve him), who answered as follows:

 I seek refuge with Allaah! This is worse than committing
sin openly, because in addition to committing sin openly, it is giving
a bad upbringing.

 Question: If he does it inside his own house and
not in front of people, will he still be counted as committing sin openly?

 Answer: If he were to do it
in his own room on his own, we would not say that this committing sin
openly, but the fact that he is doing it in front of his children means
that he is giving them a bad upbringing as well as committing sin openly.
Hence smokers must not smoke in front of their children, because by
doing so they are teaching them to smoke. And Allaah knows best.