<p>When my S was small, all of our closest friends had girls, all of whom were master manipulators. All of them showered their little queen bees with attention all the time. None of them could amuse themselves for 5 seconds without parental supervision. If we were at their houses for dinner, for example, mother had to disappear for and hour or more because Gs supposedly could not go to sleep without that length of undivided attention from mother. All of them were tattletales, and sore losers who would cry and whine if they didn’t win games. Typical scenario: we are at a ski lodge, and S and G are amusing themselves by racing between two points while we all wait for something. After a few minutes, G comes crying to mother that S isn’t being nice to her. Why? Because she hasn’t won yet. Mother suggests to S that he ought to let her win. Another time/place, kids are playing. S runs by chasing G. Moments later, G runs by chasing S. Rinse and repeat. After a few more minutes, G appears in room where adults are, whining “He’s chasing me!” Mother of G would normally jump in and affirm her manipulativeness, ask S why he was chasing G, commiserate with G because he was supposedly chasing her, and so on. I usually remain silent. On this occasion, G miscalculated because mother was not in the room, only father. Completely sick of this, I intervene, saying, “I saw you chasing him and him chasing you. I’m sure you both know how to get along. If you can’t get along you’ll have to stop playing together.” Little girl looks at me wide-eyed, and goes away. Kids proceed to play together without fuss.</p>