Children have an obdurate desire to be central in the lives of their parents, and almost no amount of bad behavior on an adult’s part can change that.

obdurate (adj) 1: stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing [syn: cussed, obstinate, unrepentant]; 2: showing unfeeling resistance to tender feelings [syn: flinty, stony] – source: The Passion of Alec Baldwin