[MR] How does one deal with difficult children of nobility?

[Jennifer Dobyns]

Greetings unto the Tavern,

I am sorry, I cannot think of a more delicate way to ask the question  
in the subject line.  So there it is.

Let's just say this is a hypothetical situation.   A child whose  
parent is "somebody"  decides that s/he wishes to interrupt court for  
a non-emergency.  S/he is advised that it would be inappropriate to  
do so just now, that the situation for which s/he desires to  
interrupt court can be easily dealt with to his/her satisfaction once  
court is over (a matter of a few minutes).  S/he then tells the adult  
in a way that implies "you'd better not mess with me or it will be  
very bad for you" that his/her parent is an "important person" and  
that s/he can go in and interrupt if s/he so wishes.   The issue here  
is not his/her interrupting court (there could be a very valid  
understanding about this between parent and child), _it is that s/he  
feels it is appropriate to adopt a threatening attitude about being  
able to do so because s/he has a parent of rank within the society_.

This same child has acted in a bullying way to other children in the  
children's area during the day as well, shoving them aside as s/he  
chooses to get to things s/he wishes to see/do or just, apparently,  
to take away what is pleasing others (a cry for attention, perhaps,  
in all cases?).

What should one do?  I can see the potential for a parent to be in  
such a state of denial about their child's behavior that any bearer  
of bad tidings could be in serious trouble.  I suspect that in such a  
case as the one set out above that it could be that the child really  
needs/wants attention and has found a way of manipulating the system  
within the society to get it and that the parent might be completely  
clueless that this is going on.  But being threatening towards  
another adult is troubling.  Bullying other children is troubling.   
And what message is this sending to the other young members of the  
society?

Food for thought, eh?

Genevieve D'Aubigne
who is currently dealing with her own sometimes difficult child