I think it is rare and it is always a mistake to confuse bad behavior caused by upbringing, experiences, issues (such as ADHD), etc. with “being bad.”

Usually once you figure out the core problem you can correct the behavior (although often nothing you can do about the core problem – especially if it is environmental in nature).

I think the longer the child’s root problem is not addressed, the more ingrained the bad behavior becomes, and the less you are able to alter it until it becomes a point where the child is beyond what most people can reach and address. The behavior and the child are less able to be separated. Does this make a “bad child”?

And, in truth, there have been children – even young children – that have come across my path where there is no definable explanation, no reason for their behavior. All reasonable attempts to modify it have been moot. I don’t think it is their choice – I think that there is something almost sociopathically wrong that can not be diagnosed. But non-the-less, there seems to be little that you can do to shape the behavior.

He came from a pretty decent home and had two parents that loved him very much. Yet, he was a very troubled child and would act out often. His parents tried everything to help him and were very concerned because his behavior was getting out of control. Eventually, they took him out of school and placed him in a private school or something. The reason that I say he was bad is because I always felt that there was something that was not quite right about him. He was very dark and cold. I honestly feel that in 15 or 20 years I’ll see him on the news as the next Dahmer or something.