DEAR ABBY: Our daughter and her family live an hour from us. She got a late start on marriage and children; their girls are 10 and 8.

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The little one is sweet and shy, but the 10-year-old is a nightmare to be around. She’s very smart but also manipulative. She lies, cheats and steals. She is rude and seems to always do exactly the opposite of what an adult tells her to do.

If her parents see her being sassy or ugly, they will put her in timeout for 10 minutes, but nothing ever changes.

None of their neighbors wants this child at their home. To make matters worse, she has begun puberty. We can’t stand being around this 10-year-old because it wears us out. We are both in fair health.

We love our daughter and would like to have a good relationship with the whole family. P

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