Kids pitching fits automatically activates my stubborn streak. That applied to my own and it applies to kids on my caseload as well. If Dawn pitched a fit because I changed the channel, I would have turned the thing off completely. End of discussion. I never heard of a child dying or suffering irreparable damage from a temper fit. If they learn that that kind of behavior gets them what they want, well, guess what. They are going to keep behaving that way, and what's worse, they will carry a form of that behavior into the adult world. (Hint: they will vote democRAT).
My middle grandboy used to throw hissy fits. He didn't get what he wanted, but he still threw them anyway. We just walked over him lying on the floor screaming and flailing. Once PaPa told him that it was the best hissy fit he had ever seen him throw. Jeremiah sat up and looked at him as if the say...whoa, this isn't how its supposed to work. LOL
His mother, unfortunately, was just looking for the path of least resistance. She was a "single mom" - the boy never knew his sperm donor father. His mother had a string of boyfriends until she got married about 6 years ago. She had a full time job and was in night school. Her time was divided among boyfriend, job, school and studying, so she didn't have much left over for her little boy. His grandmother, who was frail due to chronic serious illness, took care of him most of the time, and did the best she could. But she wasn't physically able, nor did she have the mental toughness to raise the boy.
It was really hard to see that poor kid go through what he did. Not much we could do, as we didn't spend that much time with him, and we couldn't really discipline someone elses kid.
Since she's gotten married, though, I must say the boy has grown up fairly well (he's 16 now). Too early to tell what kind of adult he'll be.