Nardy Asks: I am A Huge Fan Of Justin Bieber, and I want to go to his tour, which is two hours away by car. But my Mom & Dad don’t want to go, they don’t like Justin!! But that’s my dream to go there. What can I do?
Hi Nardy –
Okay, this is one of those times in life when you begin to learn major adult skills. It’s like with me — when I was a puppy, I could get pretty much anything I wanted from Handsome, just by giving him big eyes and a happy, wishful face. But after I grew up, it got a bit harder. And if there was something I wanted reeeeeeeally badly, I needed to figure out exactly how to go about getting it. Play too puppyish, he’d think there’s something wrong with me. Be super-nice, he’d just think I’m feeling very loving that day. Be aggressive and demanding, and he might refuse to reward that behavior by giving it to me. So I had to learn to think, really hard, about how to (and here’s the most important line in the letter) get him to want to give me what I wanted.
That’s your job now, Nardy. To get them to want to get you to the concert.
Now they don’t like JB’s music, and don’t want to see the show. That’s okay. Don’t push them to do that. But are there other things they might like to do with an evening in Dubai? Do they have friends or relatives there? Maybe they’d like to see them. Or Dubai is so famous for being so splendid: what if you offered to pay for them to have a nice dinner there, while you were at the concert? And if you don’t have enough money now, you could offer to do extra chores to pay for it?
Think, really hard. What is there that they want? They haven’t told you that they’re against your seeing Justin’s show (at least as I understand it); it’s just that they don’t want to see it.
I might not be coming up with the right answer here, Nardy. But that’s because I don’t know your parents at all. You’re the only one who can think it up: What Can You Give Them, That They Really Want, that will get them to drive you, or let you go with friends, or whatever…?!
And now, I realize you’ll have all sorts of negative voices in your head, telling you it’s impossible. But it’s not! You just need to stay positive enough to think of a way. After all… Everything starts from something, but something would be nothing, nothing if your heart didn’t dream with me! Where would I be, if you didn’t believe… in helpful dogs?!
GOOD LUCK!!! I’M SENDING ALL MY BEST WISHES!
Shirelle