My then 8 or 9yr old nephew was a right little shit and acted out for his parents something shocking and they let him, gave in to all his wants and tantrums and both of them reckoned they couldn't get him to leave a park or just behave in a supermarket without bribing him.
They made constant excuses for him and when they split up neither wanted to be the "bad guy" so they each let his behaviour worsen and put everything down to either him being unsettled and affected by their split and / or his high intelligence they reckoned accounted for and excused the behaviour. They would argue the toss, try to reason with and spend a good half an hour trying to get him changed into his PJ's or put on his shoes and I could see him wearing himself out in the effort to cause more aggro almost wandering around looking at shit and thinking what he could do he knows he isn't supposed to do and will get them to tell him off.
When he had to come stay with us for a weekend - purely because the parents had little choice or option to let him stay elsewhere (they seemed to think we'd beat him with sticks or set fire to him I'm sure) he rocked up with every gadget, game and a PE pump bag filled with sweets, DVD's and shit they said he would need to have or he'd get upset. I kid you not he had an iPhone, tablet, laptop and not content with all that his Dad left HIS bastarding tablet as well.
Waved them off, told them not to worry and he'd be fine and all the crap he brought was left in the hallway, I got him changed into his scruffy clothes and wellies and off we went to muck out horses, fill haynets, cart buckets and wheelbarrows back and forth. I showed him how to do certain little jobs, left him in charge and sent him off tootling which he loved, took real pride in doing and the more he did and was asked to do, the more interested he was and started asking more about.
He was up first thing in the morning with me to do the first early feed and sort at the yard then we stopped off at Tesco to pick up some bits and bobs and on my life he wasn't a bit of bother. Absolutely good as gold. We didn't fall out once nor did he need bribing or pestering.
When we got home I told him to pick out a DVD or game cos he'd been a really good lad and helped me out with the horses and dogs so earned a rest, a few treats and could kick back and watch TV and he crashed and was flat out less than half an hour later.
First thing his parents did when they collected him was unleash the baby voiced mard-arsed molly coddling and speaking to him like he was dumb as a bucket of rocks. They were horrified that the he'd been busy with us all weekend and not touched most of what was left with him and almost to make up for them having not been there and him forced to endure a weekend outside in the fresh air doing things and learning stuff, they produced a new video game and he started to act up and throw a fit cos he wanted sweets to go with it. Not the ones he had already he wanted a new bag of sweets to match his new game.
All I did was just turn on my shouty face and go “Erm.. what's all this in aid of and why are you starting to act like a baby?? Pack it in or I'll keep the video game and the sweets do you hear?”
He nodded and snapped out of it but not long after his parents were falling over themselves to tell everyone he had some issues, was being assessed for ADD / ADHD / ASD and they used that for everything because it was an ideal excuse.
His teachers don't have any problems during school lessons, his Grandma never has any issues nor do we when he's at ours and that in itself says an awful lot. He's such a smart kid but still a little bastard and has very little left in the window of opportunity to find him a suitable outlet and channel for all his smarts and energy.
"He can't help it's - "
Get fucked he can't help it. How come he helps it when he's at ours and manages to consistently and continously help it for days?
Pricks 