Category Archives for "Life Skills"

0 How to get forgiveness from a sibling you’ve hurt

nardy asks: I have an older sister. On our PC there are some bad pics of her. Once I really got mad at her and sent one of them to one of my friends and said she is ugly, and she saw it and cried and said she hates me and she will never EVER forgive me! I apologized, but she asked me to go away and she now never talks to me. I posted on Instagram a pretty pic of her and said that she is pretty and I love her, but she just told me to stop posting pictures of her! What should I do?

Hi nardy –

My advice?  Give her time.

Sometimes I get mad at Handsome, and he tries to do something nice for me, and I’ll stay annoyed (but if it’s him giving me a treat, I will eat it.  I’ll just walk away from him afterwards).  Give her space and time, but keep trying to be nice.  I imagine she’ll forgive you eventually.  But for now, just keep letting her know that you know what was wrong about what you did, and that you’ll never Continue reading

1 How to teach children creative writing

tarika34 asks: My daughter has very poor creative writing skills; what can I do to get her to improve?

Hi tarika34 –

I’m really honored that you consider me a good-enough writer to give advice on this (most dogs aren’t known for their writing skills!).

Of course, just going to school should help your daughter a lot in her writing.  Hopefully she has smart, inspiring teachers, who will help her with the really tough stuff, like organizing her thoughts into clear sentences and paragraphs, and building her vocabulary (and, of course, the always-annoying disciplines of grammar!).

But when it comes to creative writing, what she really needs to develop are Continue reading

0 What to do if a friend asks you out when you want to date someone else?

sazuna45 asks: My friend A told me she likes one of my other friends, B. They keep on flirting with each other, I think they’re inches away from dating. Meanwhile, one of our besties, C, asks her out! And A doesn’t know what to do. She can’t say ‘yes’ cause she likes B, and if she says ‘no’ then their friendship is going to turn awkward, because they’re really close. What should she do???

Hi sazuna45 –

Wow, you do come up with the most amazing situations!  You’re such a good writer, I wonder if you’ll find a way someday to put these adventures of your friends and you into a novel, a play, or a screenplay!

But in the meantime, again, you’re being a great friend.

Okay, so A is in a serious quandary!  She likes this B, who clearly likes her back, but there’s C asking her out.  I’d say there are two ways she can go.

The first is to be completely open with Continue reading

0 What to give as a gift when you have no money

kavin24 asks: Our mum’s b’day is coming up. My younger brother (7) and I (12) don’t have any money with us, and even if we had any we couldn’t go to a shop as our mum always comes with us (our dad works abroad). Can you suggest some things to surprise her?

Hi kavin24 –

I love this question.  Because it brings up a really important topic.  You see, our world today largely relies on economics, which means people buying and selling things.  And in order to keep economies going, people are taught (by other people, by economists, and especially by advertising) that they want to buy and buy and buy, and that their value is determined by what they buy.  So here’s your mum’s birthday, and you can’t buy her anything, and you’re totally Continue reading

0 How to get your parents to do something they don’t want to do

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 Continue reading

0 What to do for a science project

wish_ROX asks: What should I make for my science project?

Hi wish_ROX –

I have a simple answer for you, though you might not like it.  It’s “Whatever You Want!”

But I’m not saying that to be bratty, wish_ROX.  What I mean is that, if you’re going to devote a lot of effort to a project, it should be about something you find interesting.  If you’re super-interested in animals, and find machines a little boring, then you shouldn’t be trying to build an engine.  And if you’re obsessed with powerful things that make bright lights and noise, you shouldn’t be bothering with breeding mice.

What really excites you, wish_ROX?  Think back over the last Continue reading

0 Should teenagers answer online surveys?

kavin24 asks: I’m 14. I want to earn money. I’d prefer to make money online. Is it a good idea to use a paid survey?

Hi kavin24 –

I have to be honest with you; I really don’t know much about these surveys.  But I’m a huge fan of kids finding ways to earn money.  As long as two things are true – that what they’re doing is legal, and that it’s safe.

I’m a very protective mutt, and if there were a way for me to sit with you and look at each of these surveys, I’d be very happy to do it.  But of course I can’t.  And one thing about being 14 is that, no matter how smart, even brilliant, you might be, there’s stuff about life you just Continue reading

0 How to keep information in your memory for a test

daisymimi22 asks: I learn things before I take tests, but when I am writing on my test sheet, I forget everything. What should I do?

Hi daisymimi22 –

I sure do relate.  When I was getting trained, I would learn all the things I was supposed to do – “Come,” “Sit,” “Stay,” “Heel,” and such – and really have them down.  Then Handsome would take me in front of some friends of his and say, “Shirelle’s so smart!  Let me show you!  Okay, girl, Sit.”  And I’d have absolutely no idea what he was talking about!

How wildly irritating!  He’d be embarrassed, I’d feel dumb, and his friends would be condescending, like “Well she’s a cute puppy anyway, that’s enough.”  Oh how awful that felt!

So here’s the problem I had, which I imagine you’re also having.  Brains (both dog and human sorts) have sections that store different sorts of Continue reading

0 What to do if you’re addicted to Facebook

Hachiko asks: I have been getting addicted to the Internet (especially Facebook). I can’t close it because my best friend and I live very far so we can talk there. I also play a game there called Youville, and am addicted to that too. Could you please help me?

Hi Hachiko –

Facebook is, I suppose, the most profound change in humans’ social world of the last decade.  I don’t even know what would come in second place!  It has exploded in popularity and importance so quickly that most of the world has been struggling to keep up with it – including trying to grasp what its advantages and disadvantages are.  Besides its original intent to create a place for friends to meet online, it has contributed to the fall of empires, to countless reunions of lost contacts, and – yes – to millions of acts of thoughtlessness and cruelty.

I’m only a dog and don’t have nearly the imagination or wisdom to know all the advantages or disadvantages inherent in Facebook.  But there are a few things I do know, and they all have both in them!

1)    Facebook is an amazing way of getting news about yourself out to a Continue reading

0 How to find a tutor

zipingo asks: I am a special child – I can’t walk and am in a wheelchair. I need a tutor to teach me in Urdu. Can you help me?

Hi zipingo –

I don’t know enough about your specific situation (where you live, etc.) to give you exact information, but I think the Internet is your best bet.

Let’s say you lived in, oh, Paris.  Well I imagine you could go onto a search engine like Google or Yahoo or whatever, and type in “Tutor Urdu Paris” and that a number of names would come up.  Then you could check with all of them, and see who you can trust and like the most.

But also, I would imagine, if you live in a city, there will be places that provide tutors for Continue reading