YES! I have two boys and they are like apples and oranges. My oldest is intense and sensitive while my youngest is carefree and easygoing.

My oldest does not want his freedom of making up his own mind taken away from him from as long as I can remember. Giving him two choices was better than telling him what to do. He taught me never to tell him "NO" because he would try to figure out "why not?" and then decide if the consequence was "worth it" frown. I guess if you believe in the ideas of possibility empowering you to achieve great things... this isn't such a bad trait.

Some tricks to encourage him to mind his manners was to pretend I couldn't understand what he said when he whinned, yelled, or was rude. I would 'magically' understand when he used a nice pleasent voice and ask politely.