What are we teaching?

At the playground with my granddaughter last week, I observed a woman (sitter? grandmother? but too old to be mom) who was caring for a 2 1/2 or so year old boy.  He was on one of those small structures that has multiple slides and stairs that all lead to a large platform upon which he was grandly sitting and ignoring her repeated demands.  She demanded him to go down the slide.  He ignored.  She demanded he come down so they could go home, that he move to accommodate my granddaughter (who he was not bothering), he ignored.  She repeated these demands over and over.  He ignored, and then I saw a smile on his face, reveling in the glory of his power to ignore the demands of his caretaker.  Curiously, the woman could have easily walked up the stairs and scooped him up and forced his compliance, but didn't.  Maybe she has a bad back?  She certainly has taught him an important lesson about what happens when demands are made of him.  Absolutely nothing.  By the time we left, he was still king of the hill.