Kudos! I remember when DS #1 was in fifth grade, I told him he had to pick a sport for the year, any sport. He chose baseball (never played it before). Not athletic at all. I warned him he would be playing with kids who had lived and breathed it before they could walk and he was OK with that (i.e. had NO frigging clue what he signed up for). Of course he struggled, but I had warned the league that he was a non-player and they wisely put him with a coach who was more interested in character building than winning. One day the coach was speaking to the team, and some of the boys were goofing off. My son told them off, that they were being disrespectful and should be listening to the coach. They straightened out. He got the Best Sportsman award for that one. I can only hope that incident shows that he has some of Colleen's daughters' stuff when that kind of incident goes down!

Garden60, I want you to know that I am copying your letter to forward to my hubby's email! He just has to read this for himself, because it is so like my situation with our dil that it's surreal. My dil wasn't quite as nasty as yours, but she was right up there, nearly neck and neck. Yes, it is the groom's parents who get to pick the place for the rehearsal dinner as well as any plans for it. Yet, my dil also took that small part I had to play away from me, on the sly! She lied to me, & my son, and of course he bought it as he buys every single thing she tells him. It's as if he is hypnotized....or more accurately, brainwashed! It is going to be a tough month for you! However, with your younger sons b-day now also, I would focus all your attention on him. I can't believe the way your son snubbed his brother at the wedding! My son also couldn't choose my youngest son to be his only best man, so he chose two best men! I had never heard of this, and it infuriated me that my son would not just have his younger brother be his only bestman, which is certainly usually the case. I know it was dil. In fact my son told me that dil told him that many grooms choose two best men! This is when I expressed surprise about him doing this. We had to tell our son hours before the wedding that his brother should at least be the first down the isle, and not his best friend. Imagine that we had to tell him to do that?!! At least he listened to us on that one. I'm surprised dil didn't step in and put her foot down that it wasn't going to be that way. My son still had part of his brain in his possession at that time. The similarities between our two sons is hard to believe! I know I've said this over and over again, but I just can't get over it. There are many similarities with all of our stories to be sure, but ours is the same sex, with a younger brother, a NPD dil, etc. I imagine many of the children being talked about on this forum are NPDs too, or else their mates are. They can also have a mental illness such as Ginny's daughter. Garden60, as far as your husband goes, here are my thoughts. I've never heard carrots or raw vegetables are not good for them! They are some of the best things they can eat, and especially in between meals since the carbohydrates are so low! Fruit has a higher carbohydrate than most veggies, so that will need to be worked into the diet, unless of course he is having a low blood sugar. If he's having a low blood sugar, that is an excellent time to have a small glass of juice followed up by a piece of fresh fruit. Fruits have a wide range of variation regarding carbohydrate too. For instance, Strawberries are very low in carbs and high in fiber. As a fruit exchange, one can have lots more strawberries than say grapes. I'd be happy to share my knowledge with you if you'd like. I've been doing this for over 20 years and know it all too well. I just wrote a person today giving them information and advice on how to handle a newly diagnosed little girl. I volunteer to do this since I remember all to well how difficult it was when our baby was diagnosed. It is my chance to help others. A cheese stick or beef stick is certainly not a bad choice as long as it is not the snack he has every time. The biggest reason behind either of those two snack would be the fat and salt content. Protein has a very small effect on the blood sugar since it is digested very slowly, thus avoiding any spikes. In fact, when my son was very little, we would always give him a fairly high protein snack to make it through the night since it lasted so much longer than anything else. He still does this after he has worked out, or just been overly active. With all the low fat and low sodium items out there, I wouldn't be surprised if you couldn't get the beef sticks with less sodium. Even if you don't, one beef stick is certainly low enough not to worry about it, it's only if he intends on sitting down and eating a handful or more that would cause concern. I know you can get low fat cheese, which would eliminate at least some of the problem. Is your husband on insulin, or just diet? If he's on insulin, there are many things I can recommend to help his numbers improve. If he is on diet only (or using pills that boost the amount of insulin his pancreas makes,) then I can still give advice, however it's much harder making your numbers good with diet alone. When he does have higher readings, tell him to drink plenty of water since this help flush the glucose out of his system quicker. Even modest exercise makes a huge difference, such as a stroll right after dinner, or leisurely bike ride. Let me know some of the details and I'll be happy to give more advice. If you'd like, you could post your email and I will send you the advice that way. I do understand if you don't want to post it at this forum though. The only reason I don't want to post mine is that I'm afraid that my son would find this site by doing a search for my yahoo address. This is exactly how I found out all the information about him, and I certainly don't want him reading anything I write here. If you have an email account that is less used, such as google mail, that would be a better choice. That's entirely up to you though. Hang in there with the difficult month you have. I think your making the right choice with the b-day card. From what I've read on this site, it doesn't seem to matter how many cards, phone calls, or other methods of communication we make, they are all rejected, ignored or not acknoweldged. anniebal

Vacations and $2k on family pictures? Well then that is entirely different story all together. Growing up, my family (sadly) never went on vacation and the only time we had family portraits done is when we would get those "freebie" 8x10 certificates for Olan Mills. LOL! You know, where they say "free setting and 8x10" then they try to get you to buy a big package. My momma always took the free 8x10 and thanked them for their time and effort. justnotmartha, the grandparents do not have a clue...or else I am fairly certain they would start sending actual gifts as opposed to gift cards. I no longer have contact with BM's family, but did at one time, and the impression they would give me was always that they thought she was a piece of trash who cared more about herself than her children. (I never joined in and agreed with them...I just listened...I'm waaay to smart to stick my foot in my mouth like that!) I'm sure they would have a lot to say if they knew she was taking their gift cards. Vivian, still, if it hasn't or doesn't become a common thing, I would think this is something that could be spoken of in only a positive manner. "You helped out your family! How commendable and helpful of you!" Unless it became common, I wouldn't join in on any negative talk about the matter at all...that could feed hostility about the situation when it could be made out as a positive thing on SD's part...hopefully it was a one time situation...because if it wasn't/isn't I would definitely voice my opinion on the matter myself.

You may be right about the first scenario, I don't know. Perhaps you were in a position to hear everything that went on and your judgment is correct. But I have been guilty of something like scenario number 1 when my kids were little, and my kids didn't grow up entitled at all. Situation in my case would have been something like one of these cases. I might have been in a hurry, made an uninformed decision and told my kid I didn't have time, and my kid might have reminded me that he didn't eat because he was at the ball field all day, or some other good reason. Or, my kids have often negotiated with me to get what they wanted. When I was busy I often encouraged my kids to trade with me by doing extra chores for me so I'd have more time to do what they wanted. They were doing that by age 6 or 7. A lot of moms today are so busy juggling work and home, sports, PTA, and all that goes with it. I can certainly see busy parents rethinking their decision and waiting for their little girl to have her hot dog. I'm so sorry you see so much entitlement of children today. Certainly I see some, as well. But I see many hard-working, responsible, well-brought-up kids, too. I help kids who drop out of school prepare for their GED exams, and some of them do have an entitlement mentality. But many of them work very hard under difficult circumstances, and I am so proud of them for all they accomplish. Most of my "kids" I help prepare are polite and grateful for the help, and I get a lot of thanks and quite a few hugs. They always offer to carry heavy books and crates, put up tables, pick up, etc. They always wait politely for me to help others. Not trying to argue, just wanted to offer a different perspective.