There's a lot more only children now, some who are children of only children, so they don't even have cousins. And not all siblings will be of opposite sexes. I know plenty of families with all boys or all girls. There is a family in my area that ended with 8 or 9 boys while trying for a girl.

How about getting some in rural areas. We don't even have any choice no matter how much we can/will pay. It's public or Catholic. That's it.

And that is a very typical thing for gifted kids to do. They don't even bother doing "busy work". I've let my son take zeros on occasion because even I thought the assignment was pointless. FWIW my son is highly if not profoundly gifted and has already skipped one grade due to lack of challenging material and no…

It just makes me leak, and clots slide right past it and into my underwear. Try Wal-Mart. That's the only place in my town that still carries the Flid-Lock kind.

Yeah, the Pro Comfort sucks. I have to go to Wal-Mart to get my tampons because they're the only place in town that still carries the fluid-lock OBs.

Uh, I'm having a hard time finding the original fluid lock OBs in my area. Everyone is carrying the silk touch or some such shit. It glides in smoother, I guess, but it also falls out easier, and on heavy days with clots, it doesn't absorb as much and the clots slide right past it instead of sticking to it.

As a picky kid, and now a picky adult, I beg to differ. While you may be right about the majority of picky eaters, some kids are picky eaters because their tastebuds are hyper sensitive. Mine are. I can't eat any food with even regular table pepper in it. My mouth will be on fire for hours. I eat a wide variety of…

It is. My son has been making his own lunches since the first day of kindergarten(ok the second, first day was only a half day so no lunch at school). Even my 19 month old will help pick out what snacks she gets to bring in the diaper bag for a day out.

My son son is a skinny kid on ADHD meds who has trouble gaining weight. He burns an enormous amount of calories a day. Unfortunately he needs the all the fat and carbs and proteins we can get in him.

Trust me I would rather have grilled fish and fresh asparagus than Hamburger Helper. I'm lucky to afford that once a week. Ground beef, potatoes, rice, and noodles are the staples in our house out of necessity.

Fruit is not enough to get my 9 year old through 2 and half hours of ballet, jazz, tap, and tumbling classes. 5 is dinner time not an after school snack. He goes to bed at 8:30 PM. It's also usually only once a week.

My son has been making his own lunches since K too. If he forgets, then he's stuck with the hot lunch whether it's something he likes or something he hates.

The occasional Lunchable or frozen meal is not gonna hurt a kid. Sometimes its all there is time for when Dad is working nights, Mom get off work at 5 and 9 year old son has to be at dance class at 5:45. I'm lucky if he has time to wolf down a Lunchable or Hot Pocket. That being said, I make a point to cook when time…

Hamburger Helper(at least the generic store brand) is actually a good way to stretch the food budget and feed the entire family for about $5. If you use lean ground beef and low-fat milk it's not too bad.

You might try advocating for subject acceleration instead of grade acceleration. That's what we did with my son before his ADHD was diagnosed and treated. No one even considered ADHD until my husband was diagnosed at the age of 36. ADHD looks VERY different in gifted people than it does in the general population. It…

It seems like none of these kids can win. Rural, urban, poor, lower middle class. I'm sure there's a few more kids in the district like my son, but my husband and I, with an Associate's degree, 2 Bachelor's degrees, and a Master's degree between us, are some of the most highly educated parents in the district. A good…

Yeah, in second grade my gifted son was placed in an REI classroom. Half of the special ed kids in his grade were in it. He came home in tears almost every day until we convinced the school to subject accelerate him in math and reading/writing. Things were better after that, but got worse again the next year and now…

I feel for you. My son just turned 9 and I can't tell you how many times these last 2 years I found myself wishing he were just average. Once I broke down with a friend and sobbed that I wished he was special ed instead, because then we'd have legal recourse to get him the education he needs. It was not a proud…

You must live in a very different type of community than I do then. I live in a rural school district with 1 k-5 building and 1 6-8 building with 75% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch. Its the smart ones who fall through the cracks there because there are so many low and/or ELL students who, by…

Unfortunately in most states these kids at the high end of the academic bell curve can't get the help they need because there's no money and no government mandates like there are for special education. There were times when I was advocating for my bored and gifted son these past few years, that I broke down and cried…