You can't force anyone to do anything they don't want to do, except for some small children who seem to be more compliant than others, and if they're willing, then you're not forcing them. So that's not forcing.

You can't force your child to clean their room, but you can do it with them and have fun. Well, some parents would argue this point saying you can force them to clean their rooms, but you'll end up with loud voices, maybe crying, and that's not as much fun as the first idea.

Here's one that makes me laugh. A psychologist says you can give your child a 'time out' to 'force' them to think about their behavior. Any time I gave my kids a time out they played in the corner, sang songs and made the best of it. Most of the time they couldn't remember why they were sent to the corner. Great!

You can't force your husband to do anything, but you can influence and lead him, and do nice things for him so that he melts with your kindness and comes begging on his knees to do whatever it is you ask of him - right?

The old saying goes, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make (force) it to drink." True, if he's thirsty he'll drink and that's not forcing. You can't force any animal to do anything, but you can train some of them.

You can't force money from a tree. No contest here, but I could tape a few bills on for fun and show my husband and say, "LOOK! Money on trees, can I go shopping?"

My husband says, "The law and police can force you to do things." True, but there are some limitations.

My girl friend reminded me that you can force labor. True, some doctors will do this, and some patients will request it. Out comes the pitocin, (the drip to induce or speed up labor).

There are some who say you can force labor in the labor force; and then there's the task-force and the air-force.

You can't force creativity. In our writing group we read a descriptive piece of prose where the author forced the words trying to be creative and original. Unfortunately, no one could figure out what he was saying. Like the girls in the Kellogg add, we were puffing our cheeks saying, "I don't get it."

Forced creativity comes out flat, but if we are in the habit of letting it flow, it appears on its own like the flower which blooms from the planted seed. After planting the seed it either grows and blooms, or it doesn't. In my case, it often doesn't grow, the seed that is. I don't have much luck and expertise with plants. Seeds cannot be forced to bloom.

Although, after having said that, there is an expression among florists, that one can force a bulb. In truth, we don't actually force it, we simply give it early opportunity to bloom in a healthy warm environment. I wonder if there's a lesson here from nature?