

Why do you put maliciousness in quotes?
Kids absolutely can be malicious. Sure, it’s a small scale but kids can absolutely manipulate. Asking for an apple , if they really just want an apple, is not manipulation because it’s not malicious. Little Susie telling her sister Jess to give her her soda or shell tell their parents about how the window broke is 100% manipulative though.
Honestly, I bet he has the skills, he just didn’t use them because he didn’t care, or is overworked, or for whatever reason.