"It must be soo cool to have a kid like that!" I can't tell you how many times i've heard that and wanted to offer to give them a turn!
It's very hard with these kids to say "because I said so", but sometimes you have to. If I gave my DS6 the option of picking out his own clothes, we'd never leave the store. His little perfectionist bug would kick in. As far as school goes, I agree with whoever said to give it a month. Let her know that school is different for everyone and she has to try it for herself.
We have a ritual that we do every night at the dinner table. Someone turns and asks the person next to them how their day was. The question gets answered, then that person asks the next person. If you start this now before school starts, then when it does you'll be able to get a much clearer picture of what's really going on. I've learned many things during these brief conversations. My kids have gotten so into the routine that they often times "spill" much more than they intended (especially my teens)
