…since the topic keeps coming up.
The worst-behaved kid I knew when I was a kid…. He was a terror. Used tantrums, whining, fits, sneakiness, or whatever other unpleasant behavior he could come up with, to get his way. By age 8, he was an accomplished thief, played perennial hookie, chain smoked whenever he could, picked on other kids, and had the foulest mouth I’ve ever heard on adult or kid. He shot my brother with his BB gun on more than one occasion and had an ongoing agenda to try to convince me (at age 5) that I wanted to become a playboy model and shouldn’t I start practicing now? (fortunately, I wasn’t quite that naive).
He’s now a fine, upstanding, law-abiding, apparently normal father of three. I find him terribly reassuring evidence that any kid can grow up OK.