Michelle D

I will try to keep this as clean cut as possible. These children are like my own, I love them dearly and so does my best friend, their mother. Her and her husband have tried everything and I have done my own research (their schedule is incredibly busy) and am worried.

The older child (lets call him bruce) does okay. He used to be just as bad with his behavior but he has grown out of it, from what I gather. He still lies and does what he wants from time to time but for the most part seems to be pretty normal. I do believe he does manipulate the adults more than meets the eye, however I also understand that every child does this to a certain degree. The bigger problem here is the Bruce's younger brother (we'll call him Wayne).

Wayne is five. He is not a bad child that I see. But it is like he has a compulsion to continue bad behavior, like it is an itch he cannot scratch. He urinates himself at night, especially after a bad day where he has gotten into trouble. Lately, the problem has escalated to defecation in his pants during the day. At school, he refuses to do his work and though I understand he is only five, he outright refuses to behave for any reason it seems. He is very smart and remembers almost everything. But now he is committing vandalism too. He went to the bathroom at school and drew on the wall with markers, and does the same at home no matter what punishment is given, no matter what is taken away, no matter what chore is assigned. He steals things often as well, from food to toys to things that belong to adults, such as cell phones and iPods. He sneaks out of his room at night to do these things. He has a hard time sleeping, or going to sleep. He is also fascinated by fire, I have caught him with lighters several times, as have his parents. He throws tantrums very often, although they do not last long anymore because we told him that fake tears do nothing. The first time he heard this he immediately just stopped and looked at us with no problems. These tantrums used to last anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour or so depending. He lies without any hesitation as well, even when we know the truth, caught him in the act, he will still look at you and lie. But he is also sweet, or at least he acts like it a lot of the time. One other thing that has caught my attention is some of the things he has said, like "I am going to chop your head off." to his brother, and he seems to also be fascinated by death. We had an incident where my cat died and he talked about it non stop for a while, mentioning it every couple of days. The thing is the roughest movie he has EVER watched was Get Smart. Seriously, these kids are disney maniacs and watch hardly anything else. So it can't be movies or tv, they do not own cable. He also smiles during punishments, like time outs and what not. I hope I am wrong here but I have told my friend, who agrees, that he needs a psych evaluation at the very least. Is it possible he is a sociopath? Though I understand that only a doctor can make this claim I would like opinions and any other help I can get. I am very worried about him as are my friends.

My son is 14 months old. I know for a lot people this seems early, but I am wondering how to go about potty training him. I do not expect him to get it right of the bat, if nothing else I am just going to begin introducing the toilet to him, I already bought him his own little potty. I am just wondering if anyone has anything that has worked pretty well? I think he is ready for it. He grabs at his diaper when he messes or pees in it. He is walking around and he helps me with stuff, he always tries to grab the broom when I clean up, and he already helps me put his toys away. He talks ok for only being 14 months old, and is pretty independent. If I ask him to throw trash away or his diaper he does it. So I do think he is ready for it. Any suggestions???

My son will be a year old in June. He is a good boy, he usually is a good baby, until something frustrates him. Then he will get mad but usually gets over it. Lately however he has been getting angry (usually when I say no to something he wants, like a power cord or if I do not pick him up right when he wants me to) and when he does the screaming gets so severe that he begins hiccuping and and gets exhausted. I mean so much that his tongue will stick out and his breathing gets heavy. I know that he is fairly intelligent for his age. He already knows how to work my ipod a little bit. (No joke. He scrolls through pictures with his fingers.) And when we go somewhere if there is another child throwing a fit he will stay incredibly quiet, but he will stare for the longest. I am not claiming my child is genius, I just want to know if there are other parents going through this and if they have any suggestions. I usually can handle it fine, I just want to know someone else's approach to this type of situation. And I have nothing against other parenting styles but I would like to go ahead and state that I have my own way, and forcing yours upon mine will get no result. So please, no childish comments or by-the-book parenting critics.

It is hard to explain, but this love I have for my friend is powerful, beyond words. I would do anything to make sure they are happy. I would do anything to help them achieve their dreams. It is not a romantic or sexual love in any way. They are in a relationship and so am I, and we both love our significant others. I am just wondering if this is something anyone else has felt? I almost feel like we are soul mates in a way, but not like that? I do not know how to put it in words...I guess many of you are probably like, "Oh jeez, lol omg." But I just want to know if anyone else has felt this way to their best friend, or maybe a relative. We are very different. But that does not interfere at all. If anything it makes it more awesome.

I am going to start a story and I am just curious to see where people take it.

She hated yellow. Yellow was too bright, too intrusive, and obnoxious. And her mother was insisting on it.

My husband wants to ask this question:

I have a car and I owe 13,500. It has a six percent interest rate. What would I need to pay per month in order to completely pay it off in 18 months?

My skin tone needs evened out in my face and my pores are large. skin on rest of body could use some tlc, so I wandering from those who have experience what kind of products work really well?

My son is about 3 1/2 months old. He is developing great according to the doctors and in fact "advanced" because he can hold his head up when you are holding him and follow people walking in the room. He has said "Blue" plain as day and "Hi". He seems to be pretty happy but when he does get really fussy (and I mean so bad it seems bi-polar!) we try to get him to smile but we do not get overly crazy with trying to calm him. Instead we just let him cry it out for ten minutes and usually this does the trick. He wants to be comforted a lot and so he sucks on his hands. People have told me to buy pacifiers and we did for about three weeks and it got to where he wanted something in his mouth all the time, so I threw them out. I got so much hell for that! He sleeps through the night and I only feed him by demand. And I get crap for that, too. If he is doing so well, why am I getting so much grief?

So, for two weeks now I have been doing a program called INSANITY. I have changed my diet for the most part: I have substituted all pork with turkey and fish, and only eat lean beef once in a while. I eat eggs in the morning for protein, and have replaced my milk with almond and coconut milk. All sweets have been pretty much tossed out of the window except for some frozen yogurt whenever I get a really bad sweet tooth. I don't eat a lot of bread anymore, and if I do, it is whole grain/ flat bread. I do eat some rice, only because it is cheap and better than potatoes as a side dish (or so I have heard). I replaced dinner with a lean shake from GNC, and have put peppers in EVERYTHING to help the burn. I drink water all as much as I can. I want to join the military really badly and unfortunately still have quite a bit to go. Are there any other tips you guys can offer? Recipes, great programs that have worked? I will try anything when it comes to recipes/ diet tips, and after this program will try anything!

I am not going to go crazy--I just plan on having about a half a glass of some Moscoto white wine at Olive Garden on my Birthday. I just want to know how much I need to pump beforehand so that I give myself adequate time for the alcohol to leave my system before another feeding. I know that I should drink tons of water afterward and in between sips of wine. Are there any other suggestions?? (And please don't bash me I think I am a good mom for at least asking.)

My baby is three days old and I plan to breastfeed. Shortly after nursing, he usually spits up yellowish curd looking spitup. Normally I wouldn't worry because according to books this is normal, but he also only feeds for five minutes on one breast (my milk JUST came in), wakes up usually in about forty to fifty minutes later and feeds for another five. That is it. He has the normal number of dirty diapers but i want to be sure he is getting enough. How can I tell?

Also, he sometimes spits out my breast and sucks on my finger or his hand instead. I try to offer again and he has a fit.

My mom is 40 years old. But she does not act like it at all. She smokes pot. I don't usually care about that, because it is a you can do it, just not around me kind of thing. But she spends ALL of her boyfriends money on her habit, plus I think she is onto cocaine. She drinks very heavily. SHE HAS A SEVEN YEAR OLD IN THE HOUSE.

Now, I am on my own and married. However, not only is the seven year old my half brother, but two weeks ago she was found with non-prescribed medication, she drank, and took her boyfriends work truck and wrecked it, almost killing the seven year old as well as one of her other side boyfriends. She resisted arrest and got pepper sprayed as well. All of her counts are: DUI, Child endangerment, Driving intoxicated with child in Vehicle, Resisting arrest and driving without a license.

I had enough when I was 17 and moved out, with her drama. However this new level is very serious. Her court date is coming up in two weeks, and my husband refferred the possiblity of recommended mental and drug rehabilitation to the judge by me, as the situation calls, I am the only one who can do it, besides her husband who is not responding to any of this. This may be my only chance to get her some real help. But I don't want more drama than neccesary, and I don't want to get to into the situation if it may be over my head. What should I do? I am almost 19, about to go into the military and trying to get my life started. What would you do????

There is this girl (who is still in high school, 15) who is really creating trouble with people and thier "significant others", especially this couple who just got married. My friend, "Jane" got pregnant last year and the two got married. (She is 19, and he has graduated.) However, there is this girl, "renne" that has been bugging them for THREE years, and is obviously obsessed. My friend has tried eveything to get her to back off, and I mean EVERYTHING. "Renne" shows naked pictures to my friend's husband on his cell phone and sends sexual texts to him. My friend tried calling the network and they cannot block the number. "Renne" has also tried to come onto my boyfriend as well. Lucky for me, he was able to push her off. Plus we don't live near them anymore. But She has done this to a number of people at school, and we don't know how to make her stop. (We have tried talking to her parents, and they don't believe a word of it. And, unfortunatly, my friend deleted the proof.) PLEASE HELP

Ok. I have been accepted as a part of my boyfriend's family, they even gave me his mother's engagement rings, and everybody wants us to get married, which is great. But right now, i am living with his parents, and he is helping his grandmother with her bills. His older cousin, "Richard" lives there too, and does NOT want my boyfriend there. He comes in every single morning and threatens and screams and yells every morning to my boyfriend, and it is causing a lot of stress with EVERYBODY. I can't really do anything, but it wasn't a serious problom until i found out Richard has beaten his past girlfriends and his younger sibling. He is also extremely bi-polar. It would be TONS of stress on his grandmother if he and my boyfriend got in a fight, and Richard has alsready physically tried to do so. He can't move in here because there is no room, and his grandmother needs him right now, plus he has to save up to move out. WHAT DO WE DO?

Every time I don't show emotions for a while I become numb and I can't show them, even happy ones and it takes a significant push to do it. And when I do it hurts, sometimes literally. Is there a condition for this? I don't think it's depression, because when I go into those I feel totally diffrent. I am hurting other people without meaning to and I want to stop but I can't. How do I stop?

I am 17 years old, 5'7, but I wiegh 197 lbs. I have prom coming up in about 2 months, and I really want to lose weight fast. I especially want to lose weight in my arms and my back and tummy. anybody have any points they can give me here?