In Charles, what do you think of the way the parents deal with Laurie ?

This is, to some degree, dependent upon the reader's
beliefs about how children should be raised.  I, personally, am appalled at the way that
Laurie's parents deal with him.

The two things that stand
out most to me are the way they deal with him when he takes the cookie without
permission and when he tells his father he is dumb.

When
Laurie leaves the table and takes the cookie, his father allows it -- he says "see here"
but Laurie leaves in the middle of it.  A parent must not let a child leave in the
middle of being scolded or told what to do.  That is disrespectful on the part of the
child and weak on the part of the parent.

Similarly, when
Laurie says his dad is dumb, his mom quickly changes the subject.  Laurie's parents must
at least talk to him at this point about what is and is not appropriate to say to
authority figures.

These interactions show that Laurie's
parents do not deal well with his behaviors.