It all started when little Jake was one month old. He quickly learnedthat boisterous wails would cause his grandmother, Betsy, to rush to his crib. He was well on his way to becoming a little dictator.Betsy, being a kind-hearted and compassionate woman, felt sorry for the boy because he had no father or mother to speak of. Betsy would perform on command every time the child uttered a whimper. Her doctor suggested that she let the boy cry. He further explained that, in time, the child would get the hint that no one would be coming at his every whim.Jake's rein of terror would have ended if his grandmother had taken her doctor's advice, but she ignored the suggestion. The effect waspredictable: soon, Betsy was suffering from exhaustion.Is it any surprise that, by the time Jake reached his first birthday, his first word was "no"? "Jake, please don't throw your toys," his grandmother would plead sweetly. "No!" was Jake's reply as he hurled a hard plastic ball at Granny. "Eat your cereal," his Granny would say. With a sweep of his little hand, Jake knocked the cereal bowl to the floor while he bellowed another "No!". "All right, Jake," Granny replied, "If you don't like the cereal, I'll fix you something else." Filled with hope, she mistakenly thought the boy would outgrow this behavior.By the time he was five years old, Jake did not hesitate to throw very public tantrums. He once sprawled out on the department store floor, kicking and screaming because he had been denied a toy he wanted. Embarrassed by his behavior, Betsy quickly placed the toy in the shopping cart and proceeded through the checkout line. When they arrived at home, Betsy informed Jake that his behavior had been inappropriate. "We don't act like that in public," she explained. I am certain that the boy was thinking, "Why not? It works."When Jake was ten, Granny warned him that if he did not do his homework he would not be allowed to go camping with his friends the follow...
