Yes, your son is being a jerk... and is "just 2". But as a parent you can't give up because your kid is behaving like a rotten little fartknocker. It simply means you have to work harder to eventually get a decent adult out of the cute little poop-making blob you've created.

After having three kids, we found that each child indeed has a different personality. (What can I say? We're obviously not that quick on the uptake.) Sometimes frighteningly different, though. Our oldest two were mild-mannered, well-behaved, mellow kids. Youngest? Eh, not so much. He can be a dick at times. But that doesn't mean we either accept or allow his behavior to go unchecked. Little man has his ass handed to him when necessary. Just like everyone else in our family.

Being a dick is sometimes just a person's basic personality. But that doesn't mean it has to be accepted. When it's your kid who's acting like an asshole, do something about it so the rest of humanity doesn't have to suffer when he's an adult and believes he should be able to get away with it.

Sorry, but Cary's advice sucked, if you could even find it in that mediocre verbosity he forces hapless advice seekers to wade through. Ugh.

To the letter writer:

You're an adult. It's time to put on your big boy undies and deal with life, even the messy bullshit, like an adult. Do NOT allow your parents to make you pick a "side". Tell them both that you're done with this. If they want to sue each other into oblivion, that's their choice and that you REFUSE to discuss the issue ever again with either of them. Ever. And then stick to it.

Yeah, yeah...I know. It's easier said than done. So is childbirth. But just like childbirth, it's messy, gross, painful and at some point unavoidably necessary. Electing to not deal with it doesn't make it go away.

All kids, whether typical or not, have issues that drive their parents and/or step-parents bonkers. It's just the nature of kids. It rarely signifies that something is wrong. Different maybe, but not necessarily wrong.

Carey's advice was spot on. LW needs to move on as she's unwilling to actually do anything to positively impact the only person incapable of removing herself from these whackadoodles.