Seriously, this is damn national problem. I was getting some tests done, and this "baby sitter" with 4 kids (2 of them hers) could not control them worth a damn. And she always used the same pleading voice, like " '____' come here...", or " '_____', please sit down, you're not being nice".
I know my mother only had to say something once, and give me "that look", and if she had to say it twice, that was my ass. Even my babysitter would light me up on occasion.
Lack of stones when it comes to discipling kids is what causes many of these kids to become bad apples when they are in middle or high school. And the parents wonder why their kids talk back to them or have no respect for them...well, they didn't instill it when they were kids.