Well, my nephew always managed to misbehave in public and punishment never worked with him. He was spanked, talked to, sent to his room-nothing worked. He was just a hyper kid. He threw something on a ladies white pants at a party and as his father was dragging him up the stairs to his room he kept saying "But, but Daddy I don't know what makes me do those things!" His younger brother and sister were entirely different. I always felt sorry for the poor kid-these days they probably would have him drugged up with Ritalin.
He did grow out of it. He is in law school in Alabama and politically very conservative.
All's well that ends well.