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My wife and I saw a great news brief on how children need to be disciplined by the age of 5 or they are basically "lost causes". We've also personally experienced both sides of the equation, as my wife was a teacher in pre-care for many years. Sadly, one of the sorrier examples we've seen is our neighbors child. The neighbors themselves are very nice people, but their child, while having a very sweet temperament, is somewhat out of control. He's not a monster, but he lacks basic discipline on things like not running out into the street, not strolling into people's homes and playing gently as not to cause lethal harm to other children. Of course it's the last one that concerns us. We do not allow him to approach our children unsupervised, nor permit our children to go to his house, as we are not convinced they would receive adequate supervision.

The parents over the past year and a half have slowly come to realize some of these truths on their own without us having to make any comments. We limit ourselves to excuses like "it's dinner time or they have to study", which is true a lot of the time because my wife spends about an hour and a half reinforcing the children's education every day.

Originally the neighbors thought their child was "bored" with school because he was "gifted". They were crushed as every special school they applied for rejected him because of his lack of focus and discipline. I can tell you that the child does not have any apparent setbacks as far as intelligence. IMHO, he more likely seems to be a victim of the lack of any reinforcing discipline, or he is truly a real-life case of ADS (which I believe may also be another label for "active, healthy boy", but in his case I would consider the alternative.)

I think the bright side is that he is a sweet child, angelic face and all that. Yet when we first came to know him, we had allowed him to play with the children in our home. He proceeded to wreak havoc by trashing the room, climbing up on furniture and one time I caught him just before he jumped off a dresser onto my son. My son was unaware of this at the time, yet also he was in such a position where the only likely place for our "guest" to land was his neck. Only God could have sent me there at that moment.

We have by now instructed our children on how to behave with the child. They are taught to treat him as you would a dog that you're not sure will bite you. it's the safest thing for them. The child has hurt two other children in the neighborhood and really doesn't have anyone to play with now, which is sad, but no one is willing to risk their child's safety around him.

I'm rambling, but in the end we have a child who seems quite intelligent, but has not basic idea of how to safely interact with other children. What kind of future is he going to have? He's basically experiencing self-imposed exile from society right now.

Our neighbors are having another child now. I pray for the little one's safety, I don't think this is going to be pretty.