ABSTRACT
The Vernon family—parents and five boys, six to fourteen—came to be interviewed at a Family Education Center. The parents, it soon became clear, had no control over their children. They awakened the boys in the morning and then fought with them throughout the day—to make them eat properly, do chores, do homework, stop fighting, share the television, get off the telephone, clean their rooms, use their toothbrushes, take baths, go to bed on time. The parents ranted and raved; the kids didn't even pay attention.
