My daughter's children become total brats but are not harmed as far as I know, although one day, the three-year-old wandered down the road while Sara was in the kitchen. None of my children at any age spoke to me like my granddaughter speaks to my daughter. I reprimanded her several times. We all did. Her older sister, my daughter's friends, and even a young cousin. But not her dad, who sat in the kitchen and made comments occasionally. I could not wait to leave. The little one threw a tantrum in the living room over something he didn't get. We were all in the dining room. I said to ignore him, and he would stop when no one paid attention. You would think I told my daughter to throw him into the river. She did sit and waited, and sure enough, a minute later, he was back in the dining room with us, playing with something. I told her if she did that more often, she would be less frazzled, but she wanted to run in there and coddle "her baby." I told her not to give positive reinforcement for bad behavior. But she will.