"Particulary taking out kids- you can most often predict whining if you force them into your adult agendas."

Boy, that's for sure. And so much of their behavior (and ours?) depends on bloood sugar, rest, etc. As our kids grew up, we learned to detect the Early Warning Signs of approaching meltdowns. Yeah, forcing them forward at that point might have made them "mentaily tough." But a quick snack put everyone back on an even keel, and ready for more. No need to push on to meet an imaginary schedule or timeline.

I knew my daughter was in good hands when she was having a difficult emotional time and her fiance asked her: "Baby, what have you had to eat today?" Turns out she had skipped lunch to run a bunch of errands...ahem.

I loved Daisy's post above, about working with the limitations of the people in the group. That's true teamwork--and in some ways, more valuable than mental toughness.