Most parents are loving and caring, in reality, all parents should be that way. However, there are a few screwed-up ones out there, the ones we read about in the news, who do all kinds of weird things to their children. I think some people do not realise just how much influence a parent has on a child. A parent is a child’s first teacher; what you teach them is what they learn!Yes, children are born with their own, unique personality and sometimes seem "evil” even when they have loving parents, but in most cases, if a child is screwed up, trust that the parents are even more twisted. Some parents choose to dot on one child as if the rest do not matter. Kids are not stupid, they see this, and it is enough to drive any child astray.  Parents must understand the need to balance their affection for their kids regardless of whether one child is smarter than the other. Even Siamese twins think differently!No one is born bad-mannered.  If that were the case, murderers would walk scot free claiming they were born that way and therefore can’t be punished for something natural! It’s up to a parent to groom a child into a respectful and well behaved individual and should that child still grow up to be a murderer, well, then there are mental institutions for that. Most of us all stole sugar at one time when we were young. Our mothers beat us, talked us out of it or used other techniques to get us to stop the habit. On the other hand, some mothers chose to look the other way thinking it was harmless, not realising that they were grooming thieves!Children are like photocopying machines. Talking, gestures and behaviour are all copied from the people around them. In this era where both parents work and children are left with the maid for most of the day, who is to blame if they pick up all sorts of shady mannerisms?  We are completely dependent on programmed response, operant conditioning, behavioural modification, and culturalisation (all really being the same thing,) which determine how we cognitively develop, and who we become in life.  Our behaviour/personality is not innate; it is a learned response.  Who we are is a reflection of all our experiences coalesced into a cognitive personality.  And all this is learned from the people we spend the most time with - that is either our parents or the maids our parents left us with.