Category Archives for "Kids"

0 Is Shirelle a girl?

popopants: Are you a girl? They understand better.

Hi popopants –

So often on here, my answer comes down to the meaning of words.  “Girl” usually means a young female human.  Well, in people years I’m pretty young (after all, no dog ever gets as old as a middle-aged human).  And I’m definitely female.  And I’m definitely not human.  So am I a “girl?”

Well, when Handsome is happy with me, he does often say “Good Girl!”  And one of his many nicknames for me is “Girlfriend to the Continue reading

1 How teens can protect themselves in cyberspace

Chrissy M asks: How can a teenager protect himself/herself in cyberspace?

Hi Chrissy M –

This is a great question.  Online safety is such a huge issue today, and there are a number of differences between what parents can do for their children and what teenagers can do for themselves.  The biggest difference, of course, is that as a teenager, you need to make more decisions.  While a supervising parent can keep a child from going to certain sites or chatting with certain people or posting certain information – as a teenager you need to make those decisions yourself.  And that’s often very difficult (especially with peer pressure coming at you from every Continue reading

0 How to be more noticed

shae asks: My friend’s daughter told her father that I am quiet and it really hurt me, and now my daddy calls me his “quiet daughter,” and it makes me go in the bathroom and cry. What should I do when people say they do not notice me and it hurts my feelings?

Hi Shae –

Well first let me just say that a lot of our neighbors here wish I was quiet, and would like me a lot better if I were.  So being quiet isn’t necessarily such a bad thing!

And I’m curious about why it hurt you so badly that someone called you that.  What’s so bad about being quiet?  Lots of people prefer quieter people as friends, employees, coworkers, etc.  There are all those old proverbs like “Flies don’t enter a closed mouth,” telling people that silence is often a virtue.  There are SO much worse qualities!  People could say you’re mean, or you’re unlikable, or you’re a Continue reading

0 Do you believe in Magic?

Hasitha asks: Do you believe magic?

Hi Hasitha –

What a great question!  It’s a rare and special person who’d write a dog to ask if she believes in Magic, but you are just that person, and I appreciate it!

Now to give a decent answer, I need to clarify what you mean by Magic.  If you mean to ask whether I believe it when people perform magic tricks, I have to admit that, as a dog, I’m very gullible.  I believe whatever I see.  If someone shows me an empty hat and pulls a rabbit out of it, I’ll believe they just pulled that rabbit out of that hat.  But I have that same kind of surprise every day.  Handsome will walk into the house with a paper bag, and out of it comes a can, and out of that can comes my Continue reading

4 How to stop someone from bossing you

Katie asks: how do you stop some one from bossing you around?

Hi Katie –

Hey Handsome?!  Are you listening?!   Katie here is asking me about how to stop someone from bossing me around.  Do you think she means “bossing” like when you’re always telling me “Come,” “Sit,” “Stay,” “Heel,” or “Shut Up?!”  Or when you say “Hey Shirelle, get your lazy self up off that bed, you’ve got letters to answer!”  Or when you really get upset and yell “Get your nose out of my dinner plate NOW!!”

Nope, Katie, he’s totally ignoring me.  So I’ll just answer your question (and I’ll bet he’ll read it later!).

The really tough question here, Katie, is what kind of “bossing” you’re talking about.  If it’s your parents telling you that you have to do your chores and homework, or a teacher or school administrator telling you you have to follow the school rules, there’s not a whole lot you can do.  You can do things to try to make their bossing a little less Continue reading

0 How to deal with a jealous friend

brena asks: My friend told my boyfriend she was in love with him, and that if she broke up with her boyfriend, he would be her backup plan (at that time my boyfriend and I were not together). Now we are together again, but it looks like she is jealous over us: she is always calling him to do things for her that I don’t ask him to do for me. His mother baked a cake and told him that I was to get the biggest slice, but instead the girl took out the bigger slice and ate it! I was so upset! I don’t trust her because she made my life hell when I was 15 (she made me talk to her 19-year-old cousin and they lied about his age, and he broke my heart! And she knew he was cheating on me, but because she was afraid of him she did not tell me). I once thought she was a nice person, but I don’t know what to think anymore. Because of this my boyfriend keeps reminding me about my past with her cousin, and it hurts so bad that sometimes I cry.

Hi Brena –

Now I know that there are at least two sides to every story, and I’m sure this girl has her viewpoint.  But I have to say that, from everything you’re telling me, she doesn’t sound like much of a friend at all!  The incident about her cousin sounds pretty innocent (I don’t notice most humans telling people the ages of the people they introduce them to – “Hi this is my cousin Donny, and he’s 32” sounds weird, you know? – and you even say that she didn’t tell you about his cheating because she was afraid of him).  But this other stuff is really weird.

Let me make sure I got it straight.  When you and your boyfriend were broken up, she told him he was her “backup plan.”  In other words, he was the guy she’d go out with if anything happened with her current relationship.  Now why would someone say such a thing?  What effect did she want to have on your boyfriend?  To get him to wait for her, out of hope that her relationship would Continue reading

0 How to get rid of flab

spectro.patronam asks: I am 13 years old and I have a serious problem which is hampering my studies, my life, and my decisions. I have excessive belly fat and love handles. The rest of my body parts are fit and ok, but I have not been able to do anything about those. I know that you would suggest me to exercise, but I don’t get enough time for that. And my friends tease me. I have stopped dancing (although I am a good dancer and have already received many prizes for winning dance competitions) and I also have stopped taking part in the activities that I am good at. Can you help me by suggesting some ways to reduce my belly fat and love handles?

Hi spectro.patronam –

Your question brings up a lot of issues, but I want to primarily go after one.  You say that you don’t have time for exercise.  I disagree.  I insist that you don’t have enough time to NOT exercise!  Imagine if someone asked you if you had time enough to breathe.  Let’s see, if you didn’t breathe, you’d probably only live for a few minutes, right?  So no, you have to breathe, so you’ll have time to do the other things you want or need to do.  Well exercise is only a little less drastic.

The biggest health problem in the industrialized world today is a mix of eating unhealthy food and lack of exercise.  And as a person (or dog) progresses with junk food and non-exercise, they lose Continue reading

0 Advice for a twelve-year-old girl thinking about dating

epic1999 asks: I’m 12 and I met this boy who is 13, nearly 14. We get on really well and he knows every thing about me and I know every thing about him. I have never felt like this before about any boy. Because he is older than me he asks me questions and I feel ok answering them. But my only worry is that he will want something from me and I will get hurt in the end. I have talked to all the family members I can trust, but they say that I’m too young to be in a relationship. So I just need a bit of advice.

Hi epic1999 –

I have many pet peeves – squirrels, cats, the sound of skateboards – but one of the big ones is the word “relationship.”  It’s SO vague!  Hey look, you and I are in a Relationship – because I’m writing you an answer to the question you asked me.  You’re in a Relationship with the computer you’re reading this on.  You’re in a Relationship with the chair you’re sitting on as you read this!  And of course you’re in a Relationship with every family member, friend, schoolmate, neighbor… in the end, you’re in a Relationship with everyone and everything there is!

So when your caring family members say that you’re too young to be in a relationship, what you’re really talking about is dating, romance, and (to some degree or another) sex!  Yes, even if that’s just holding hands or kissing on the Continue reading

0 What is high school like?

Wolves asks: What’s high school like?

Hi Wolves:

My answer won’t tell you much!  On one hand, high school is usually different from the earlier years in that students don’t have “a” teacher or class, they just move from classroom to classroom; students have a lot more freedom and responsibility (you’re expected to do your homework without any help or reminders from teachers); and there are more varieties of classes to take.

But I’ll bet that if you ask high schoolers what’s different between high school and younger grades, they won’t mention those things at all!

Here’s what high school’s really like:

–       Everyone is Continue reading

0 What to do when you worry people are talking about you behind your back?

prettyndsweet12 asks: Dear Shirelle, I’m always worried that, whenever I’m not at school, people are talking about me behind my back and sharing my secrets. Can you give me some tips on how to relax and trust people?

Hi prettyndsweet12 –

This is a problem for just about everyone, including all us dogs.  You’ll see when we meet each other, our tails usually go between our legs, and we carefully walk around each other and sniff.  This answers two questions – first, have we met before (and do I remember something that tells me whether or not I should trust this dog), and second, will the dog let me get this close.  Trusting is hard, and although we want to trust that dog, we also fear that it might hurt us.  So we do the best we can.

Your situation is a little different, though.  You’re not so afraid of what someone’s going to do when you’re there as you are of what happens when you’re Continue reading