How honest should parents be?

[Excited Penguin]

You guys are missing the point. Apologies don't make any sense at all in and of themselves. They convey nothing. If you need to tell a person you won't wrong them in a similar manner in the future, that's fine, but call it that and leave it at that. There's nothing else you should or could tell them if you wrong them. I think the term apology, as it is right now, means some other things as well, demeaning and unrequired things that we accept because of tradition, not reason.