I’ve been wondering about this for quite a while.
Whenever I babysit my cousin’s 6-year-old daughter–as I have since she was an infant–things are just fine. I’m not strict or mean, we have fun, she cooperates, etc. But her mom always complains about the kid’s rotten behavior. Not that I don’t believe her, but I have never seen any of it.
This is not the only time this has happened; I’ve babysat a lot of kids. Since I don’t have any of my own, I will ask the parents out there: Do kids “save up” their worst behavior for their own parents?
IANAP, but speaking from memories as a kid, I always tried to behave in public, when babysitters were over, with company, etc. With just the immediate family…not so much.
I rather doubt children have a lock on the behavior; people in general tend to take out the stresses of life on those closest to them, because they’re most comfortable “being themselves” around those selfsame people.
Actually, I think that they do. I remeber when I was that age, I acted like an angel around grandparents and babysitters, but like a little demon around my parents. I’m not sure why. 