Here's a virtual hug for you:

Not sure how old your grandchildren are, but remember they WILL grow up and out of these phases!

In the meantime, try to enjoy their bountiful youth, along with the broken glasses and plates of half-eaten food!

for good measure.

The best-behaved of them all...

On edit: by 'half-eaten', I mean that they habitually serve themselves far more food than they will actually eat, despite being told to take small portions, and return for more if they want. The balance goes uneaten and left to rot.

I would take the job.

I know you'd rock it...

Do they like making mud pies.

They're good at making messes, that's for sure...

Ages 8-14? You need to have a serious talk with their parents, as well as with the kids about the house rules.

She never hesitated to tell us what was what if we dared put a foot wrong.

Because her parents apparently can't handle her and her six year old sister. We used to just babysit, but now it's full time. The older one was - and is - nothing like this.

After getting to the point she only had to concentrate on figuring out when she needed to go #2, she has now decided to stop being potty trained, and throws horrific tantrums every time her diapers need to get changed. She'd rather sit in a dirty diaper than get it changed.

She's turned into a runner, refusing to hold hands, sitting in a stroller, or being carried. Except for her daddy, who carries her everywhere whenever they have her. She gets into everything; we had to put heavy duty gates around the house to keep her out of the kitchen and the laundry/tool room and keep her in the rooms her grandfather can manage her during the day - and move anything that could damage her or get damaged by her in those rooms. Up out of her reach is near impossible. She climbs bookcases and pulls herself up to get on top of tables and countertops without stools or nearby chairs.

She also has an oral fixation. She's a biter. Everything has to go in her mouth - including the six-year old's homework, school projects and kitty's tails. Everything except a healthy meal, of course.

We can't wait until she grows out of this stage. Part of it can be traced through the difference between the way she acts with her parents and with everyone else (along with a developing younger sister syndrome and probably a feeling of abandonment now that helicopter mommy and "fun-time/play-time" daddy aren't around all the time), but she has always been stubborn and scary smart, even as an infant.

On edit - Sorry for hijacking your thread, but I just had to get this off my chest.
We go by the "never put anything on your plate larger than both your hands" rule at our home, and plan to keep to compostable paper plate insets to wicker "plates" and sippy cups until we see the girls able to handle plates and cups without dropping them.
One of our cats also acts as the "chicken and fish" hoover for leftovers, so whatever leftover food goes in the compost heap.

Haele

Scary-smart is good. Stubborn, not so much.

Hope she grows out of it soon...

She refused to be toilet trained until around five and screamed about inappropriate touching when she had to be changed.
She is scary smart and graduated college at twenty and went on to get a masters in chemical engineering. She was accepted into a special program in Germany and they paid for a six month stay just to learn the language first.
Just to say that your granddaughter still has a chance.

I had an ADD child with clinically diagnosed oppositional disorder. It was hell, especially with a passive father. Thank the stars, he grew out of it (my son, not the hubs ).

A few quotes to help:

"I defy any parent who has been on a trip with a child who kicked the seat for 50 miles, threw his shoes out the window, lost his pet snake in Cleveland during the five o'clock traffic and spilled his slush down your back to tell me she has never considered abandoning him at the next Shell station."
- Erma Bombeck

"As a housewife, I feel that if the kids are still alive when my husband gets home from work, then hey, I've done my job."
- bitch Barr

"When you grow up, tell it to your therapist."

deliberately smashing plates and glasses that were stored in a cabinet. Old everyday set of dishes and glasses. AND they were barefoot.

I told them to stand still so they wouldn't cut their feet. I then had to lift both of them out of the circle of broken pottery and glass over to the steps.

Thank goodness there won't be any grandkids. I doubt I could survive.

My sympathies.