There is a kid lives upstairs from me. I hear him tantrum all the time. One day last summer I was enjoying having a rare meal on my balcony when, after a long tantrum, screaming pounding his feet, running around, throwing things, the window above my balcony opened, after he'd been screaming 'I f***ing hate you, I hope you die! Now he's changed tack, and screams "Right that's it, I am gonna jump!" I guess he was talking to his mom or whoever was his guardian at that moment.
This was way out of my experience as a parent, and a father, and one time swimming instructor of kids, I never heard or experienced any kid saying or doing stuff like this.
To me, that kind of disrespectful behaviour of both himself and his parents should have been nipped in the bud, maybe the first time he ever tried being cheeky.
And besides, if I saw my own kid of his age, maybe seven or eight, or even ten, perched on the edge of a window six floors up (seven in their case), I would have been beside myself literally physically pulling them back, call that physical assault, I wouldn't care as long as it removed them from the potential deadly harm.
I don't know if he even has a Dad up there, or if there is, what kind of constraints might be on him to just keep his mouth zipped, because if he's there he doesn't say anything I hear.
Anyhow I thought since we are six tall floors plus a shop floor up, with a good 40 metres or so to the street below, this kid certainly wasn't old enough to know the damage he would to to himself if he did carry out his threat to jump, he would easily clear my half meter wide balcony and carry on to the street, maybe 40m below.
And besides, if he did land on my balcony he'd ruin my lunch.
So I thought for a bit before I decided to intervene, and said to him "kid, you are gonna have to stop with all those tantrums, I hear you every day, two, three times a day, but you won't get anywhere with that, you'll just end up losing everything you care about, one way or another".
I didn't want to say anything more that might cast aspersions on his mum and or dad, I didn't want to start any neighbor to neighbor tensions, any more than there were already, by this kid causing me to have to spend time thinking about him, rather than whatever I might be doing when he threw yet another tantrum.
He just looked down at me with a blank stare, but I couldn't help noticing how cute he was, like a teddy bear, he had a huge shock of rich frizzy hair, now maybe I saw a little of why his parents might not have had the heart to really be tough with him, he looked a little like the little girl who was vamped by Lestat on Interview with the vampire, but with dark hair.
The only reason I know he's a boy is his temper, and his strength to pound on the floor (my roof) actually, but even then he screams like a girl in every sentence, like a cat that's been tormented to distraction, he's full of adrenalin, when he isn't tantruming he's screaming in delight.
Anyhow, his mum said nothing, I was expecting maybe she would realise I was on her side, and say something to him like "You should listen to that man" to him, but she didn't. She didn't even come to the window to see who might be scolding her son, I still don't know what she looks like.
I know this kid and maybe his sister is shunted between parents and nursery carers every day, his parents will have to do, to pay the rent of the shared ownership flats we live in, it's normal now, for folk to only spend a small portion of every day with their kids.
If a kid has an attitude like that, it will probably be officially noted as ADHD or something, and the parents will go along with that, rather than blaming themselves and /or the system. They actually don't have a choice, the system forces them / us all to live like this.
But that kid, when he gets to man sized, is gonna be a nightmare, no matter how cute, if he doesn't settle down, I actually fear for his mom in particular.
This is why sometimes kids need dads, imho, it's the reason we should value dads a little more than they are valued.
I am not sure if this is what you were writing about, apologies if it wasn't.