Today I was at the gym shooting baskets. Its a full basketball court with a hoop at each end and one in the middle.

At one end there is a little kid, maybe 4, and his mother. At the other two baskets there is an adult like myself shooting.

In normal times, all three baskets co-exist in harmony. People know to to respect their space and share.

I join one of the guys and he soon leaves, leaving the basket to me.

The next thing I know, the little kids' ball whizes over. He is trying to kick the ball into my basket.

A few minutes later, he is trying full court throws and his misses are bouncing onto my court again.

I am annoyed. This kid has no respect for boundaries or others. It's all about him and his mother, standing right there, is enabling it.

Shortly the mom is calling for "Dylan". Its time to go. He ignores her and keeps running around and kicking the ball. Dylan doesnt seem to respect his parents either...

There seem to be a lot of indulgent parents out there that teach their children that they, the child, is the center of the universe. Everyone else revolves around them and they get to do what they want. There are no consequences; no responsibilities.

I have read about this. I have seen it. It is a bad thing. Children need to learn to share and to respect boundaries. If parents wont teach that, who will?

The kicker of the story for me is the name, Dylan.

I have learned from my wife, a grade school teacher, that every class has a trouble maker or two. There is always a kid with problems at home that become immediately obvious in class. In the better schools the cause is usually overly indulgent parents (or divorced parents) who dont set any boundaries for their kids. As a result, the kids act out and act up. They take the teacher's attention away from the rest of the class.

None of this is probably a surprise but what I did find surprising is that these trouble kids often have the same names. Dylan and Zachary to name two.

I love patterns. Why would the trouble kids have the same names? I know that names are fashionable and follow trends but what is the connection between the decisions parents make to create trouble kids and the decision they made to pick a name?