I have a 2 1/2 year-old son and we also struggle with working in the yard at times. IT is better this year here are some things I have done... Let them water your containers or play with water. Drexler now tells me the flowers are crying because they are thirsty. I then give him the hose and let him have at it...last night he was right. One of my pansies was thirsty! Get excited about things. Right now EVERY DAY when I get home from work my son asks to go pick the strawberries. We go out and usually a new one is ripe (can't wait a few more weeks). He is still working on not picking the green ones, but he'll learn. Teach them what is yummy. Last year we planted carrots in a container and he would go out and pick a carrot out, wipe it off and eat it. Clean soil, no chemicals and hey he was eating carrots. Teach them to love flowers. How does it smell? How does it taste. Have them help you pick out what ones to pick. Drexler and I will do this together, go into the house and put them in vases and then talk about how pretty they are. I have a small vase by my bed that he empties out every day and replaces the water in...and then the flowers. A bit of a pain, but he is learning to appreciate my yard. Don't freak when they step on a plant, but do teach them to be nice to your plants. I have a large yard and Drex has hurt some of my plants, but we talk about how to treat them. Teach them to watch for bugs and to be interested in them. Ants can keep a kid busy for at least fifteen minutes. Tell yourself you will most likely not get a lot accomplished with your helpers so when you do accomplish something it feels good. Make them an area that is all theirs.

Let me tell you that if I saw pictures of my DH in bed with another woman, even fully clothed, he'd have lots of explaining to do. But, after finding these pics and seeing as how she was hiding her phone and finding out why....I'd just wait it out and see what her future and current behavior is. If she has plans, meetings or outings that are out of norm for her, I'd check those out. If her appearance changes as far as weight, hairdo, clothing...I'd look into the reasons why. If she went looking elsewhere because you're stubborn and a non- talker, then change your style because it ain't working for you. If you want things to work, then you both need to meet in the middle. She may have slept with this man. but if she did and you love her and don't want to lose her then just deal with it. It may have been just a fling to prove that someone else found her attractive because you didn't make her feel that way. if she's got what she wants at home, she won't go looking elsewhere. Hope it works out for you.

Well, I'm the mother of a 6 yo girl and I am sometimes surprised by the things she says and does that seem very adult-like. Mine has been talking about getting married for 2+ years now (roll eyes). I think kids (especially at this age) tend to mirror other kids, and that can include a lot of older sibling behavior for 6 year olds (and not just your older DD, but perhaps behaviors taught to the 6 yo by her classmates who subsequently got it from their older siblings). Mine is an only and I see this pattern strongly-- like when she came home and announced, very matter of factly, that her friend doesn't associate with people of a certain color. Five year olds don't come up with that on their own, they get it from parents and older siblings. Of course, this was one of those situations where I asked her a few questions as to how she felt about it, and made sure she understood our values and that the other girl might be misguided (but she already had that figured out thankfully). 6 is also an age of narcissism, so I would not put too much bearing on her being caught up in her appearance and what other people think of her based on it. ALTHOUGH, I would definitely spend the next few years correcting her beliefs and continuing to communicate with her the values of "pretty is as pretty does" and that boys who are only interested in her for her appearance aren't much of anything themselves. It's a process, but that is the only way for your beliefs to make an impression is if she hears them consistently. It's especially important to keep on with it since we live in a society that is so caught up in outward appearance over inward virtue. Keep with your beliefs and give it time, and hopefully it will stick and she will outgrow this. You say she has a good relationship with her dad, which is very important, since how he treats her should eventually be reflected in the boys she chooses to associate with. I'd examine that relationship to make sure that her dad is encouraging her on a psychological and social level, and that he isn't inadvertently encouraging her need to be accepted by appearance. It is something he might do without even realizing it- if he consistently compliments her on how nice she looks after she gets herself dressed, but then fails to compliment her on her kind treatment of others, it could cause her to unconsciously value appearance over other things. It's easy to do this sort of thing with your kids and not realize it too. But again, 6 is an age of being strongly self-absorbed, and with some firm guidelines, boundaries, and positive encouragement on your part, I would hope she would naturally grow out of this and into a more rounded individual.

Disengaging, that is cute about "doctor", but in order to get into med school one needs pretty good grades. They do matter. Not necessarily. First of all, before you can even apply to medical school, you have to either complete your undergraduate degree, or demonstrate a certain level of maturity and academic acheivement which may enable you to gain "early admission". I don't believe high school grades are even taken into consideration,and there's plenty of time to improve on grades during undergraduate coursework. Second, my older sister is a doctor, and the highly prestigious university she received her undergraduate degree from didn't HAVE a grading system. It was pass or fail, period! She had no problem getting into medical school, and neither did the over 90% of the other students in her ungraduating class who applied. The stellar reputation of the university, coupled with other factors such as their score on the MCATs, recommendations from professors, and extracirriculum activities, were more than sufficient. Third, my husband's brother and his new wife are currently attending medical school. His brother's grades? Not so good, but he's been practicing as an RN for many years. That, and his volunteer work as a paramedic, coupled with his MCAT scores, and oh, not only do they live in a remote area where there is a serious shortage of doctors, their medical school is affiliated with the hospital they work at so they got a real sweet deal! Under their agreement, they receive free tuition providing they work for a certain number of years for the hospital following graduation, and if not, or they decide to leave early, they will have to repay at least a potion of the funds expended on their behalf. There's a number of other medical schools offering all kinds of similar opportunities. I understand a brand-new one, I believe in Florida, is currently offering a FREE ride to every single student accepted for their "grand opening" inaugural class. Fourth, the world is full of crappy undergraduate universities where even a perfect 4.0 won't go very far towards gaining entrance to medical school. Like almost everything else, other factors can be far more important, such as; attending a highly rated university instead, MCAT scores, recommendations from your undergraduate professors and/or respected members of the medical community to demonstrate that you've made a good impression, extracurricular activities such as volunteer work to show your concern for your fellow human beings, preferably also in a medical field to demonstrate your clear interest in your chosen profession, oh, and the ability to interview well as medical schools generally require you to "pass" an interview not only with the entrance committee, but also faculty members and professors as well. So much for medical school. As far as gaining entrance to other universities? Well... After returning home from Florida, yeah, I entered college originally intending to become an RN, but after completing my LPN, I realized I wasn't "cut out for it" after a couple of patients I cared about died, so I dropped out and floated all over the country and Europe before deciding to settle down and return to college. To my surprise, what I discovered is that if you are a mature, "non traditional student" over the age of 25, most universities don't have any "entrance requirements" other than showing up with your high school diploma and checkbook! Oh, I attended a GREAT university, and during my first year, I also discovered that for "non traditional students" there were so many unused scholarships available, that I never had to pay another penny except for my parking permit! Should we talk about passing those "professional exams" next? Even better. Forensic accountant, remember? I have a whole string of initials following my name, including, CPA. Do you know that only roughly 12% of all first-time applicants who sit for that exam pass, and only 30% of all applicants EVER pass? I know people who have been trying to pass that exam for over 10 years. That I passed was the biggest shock of my life, and not just because I didn't study, passing was not my goal. I wasn't planning on pursuing an accounting career at the time, my degree's actually in business administration. I only sat for that exam because the way our professors told us the essays were graded seemed so implausible, I decided to "prove them wrong". So I wrote my essays, intentionally "screwing with them " in ways our professors told us would be completely ignored, while also including the CORRECT answer, and Oh my God, I passed! Guess they were telling the truth after all. Oh, and the reason I was even able to pass? My parents sent me to all kinds of special classes in their desperate attempt to control my ADD nature. All those speed reading, memorization, focus, concentration and even classes to get me to slow down my speech enough so people could understand me didn't quite have the desired effect, but they did provide me with really good test taking skills. Steve, My sincere apologies for the "highjacking" on your thread. No matter what, I promise not to respond any further on your thread.