Its called reality. Kids are people, not machines. Parenting is more comparable to pushing on a string than writing a program.

I've seen some people spend 17 years (and counting) trying to teach their kids to turn off the lights.

Much less your average 5 year old, most of which probably lack the mental awareness to always remember to turn off the light when they leave a room. Hell, my 5 year old almost ran barefoot over shattered glass because she really wanted to throw something in the trash - she forgot the glass was there about 10 seconds after we told her not to come over here while I cleaned it up.