Grinity had a good point that making parents crazy can often be reward for kids...much like the way teasing a big sister is fun despite the fact the teasing is usually followed by a hard punch. I know Transforming the Difficult Child has been mentioned on these boards before. I like to combine the concepts of Dr. Phelan's no-talking, no-emotion approach (123 Magic series) and the ideas from Howard Glasser about a "difficult" child's motivation for misbehavior.

I also see Dude's point that this is true of all kids...some more than others.