Category Archives for "Life Skills"

0 Advice for teenagers who feel they don’t fit in at school

Ashley asks: Do you have any advice for teenagers who have trouble fitting in at school?

Hi Ashley. I have tons and tons of advice for teenagers who have trouble fitting in at school. In fact (and I know this sounds crazy), every word I’ve ever written to teenagers is for ones who have just that trouble. Because every teenager has trouble fitting in at school!
I know, it’s hard to believe! What about the head cheerleader, or the football quarterback, or the kids who do all the plays, or the straight-A students, or just those ones you always see walking together and laughing? Crazy as it sounds, every one of those kids feels like an Continue reading

2 What to do when your parents disapprove of your boyfriend, especially after he’s hit you.

Bunny Asks: I am sixteen. Last May I had a baby. Yes I know it was wrong and everything, but the father and I really love each other – we have now been together for nearly 3 years… So the problem comes in with my parents… I don’t know what to do about them. They forced me to do adoption 🙁 I wanted to keep him… and so did my boyfriend. We were ready to take responsibility for our actions. Then about 3 mouths after his birth my boyfriend and I had a big fight, and he left bruises on me. My parents never asked me if I was ok, they were just glad cause they thought he was out of my life. We broke up for 7 months, till he realized what he had done. He’s the type of guy that actually learns from his mistakes, he felt so bad about it. We really love each other and really take our relationship seriously, but my parents won’t let me see him, and I can’t take it any more! I have been so depressed lately I don’t even eat. I’ve tried asking them if I can see him, but they won’t budge!!!! Please help!! (and i don’t mind if you post this, I have nothing that I am ashamed of.)

Hi Bunny –

I’m so very very glad you wrote me. You are dealing with a gigantic number of issues here, and some of them are as big as you’ll ever deal with in your life, so it’s terribly important that you talk about all of them.

I’ll offer what I can, but the first thing I want you to do is to PROMISE me that you’ll find someone professional you can talk with about all these. No advice website (written by a dog or anyone else) can replace real talking with a real professional. I’m a big fan of therapists, but if there’s something you’d prefer (a religious leader, a teacher) that could be okay too. If you’re still in school, they probably have a counselor or someone who could help, or at least someone who could point you toward someone who can. If you don’t know anywhere else to look, let me know what city or town you live in, and I’ll do some research to see if I can help find someone for you.

But in the meantime, let me suggest a few things. Okay, first, you say, “it was wrong” to have a Continue reading

0 How to find friends your age online.

biros_littlemoon asks: I have a “HOTMAIL” account , but I don’t have many friends there. How can I make friends my age on Hotmail? I am 8 years old.

Hi biros_littlemoon –

Thanks for writing, and for joining my Pack!

I’m not sure I can help you much with your question, though. As I understand it, Hotmail is just a server on the Internet, kind of like a phone company. So it’s not really a way or place to make friends.

There are online groups where you can make friends, often with people with shared interests (like you just became a friend of mine!), but this is something you should definitely be very Continue reading

0 How to deal with a child not listening to you and throwing tantrums.

Jhonny asks: I have a seven year old boy. My problem is that he does not listen to me at all. Whenever he gets up after sleep, he cries a lot for no reason. I am really fed up. For every single thing he throws tantrums. Please help…

Hi Jhonny –

Thanks for writing me about your seven-year-old, and all the trouble you’re having. Being a parent is such incredibly hard work, at the best of times. And at the worst, it’s just about impossible!

So there are a lot of things I can suggest, but first, I should say something here. Now I’m about as great a dog as has ever lived. I’m kind and thoughtful and well-behaved and considerate and I just make Handsome’s life better all the time. But before this, I was… well, I was just Continue reading

0 How it feels when you move or change your home

Nasim asks: Have you ever wanted to change your home?

Hi Nasim –
Well, there are two ways I could read your question. Do you mean have I ever wanted to move into a different home, or have I ever wanted to do changes to the home I have now? Although the answer is kind of the same.
If it’s the first, then my first answer is YEAH!!! When I was a puppy, I spent about five days and nights living in a dog pound, and I wanted to get out of Continue reading

0 How to find a long-lost best friend

Wisky asks: I was having a best friend, but now I am not in touch with her; what should I can do to contact with her?

Thanks Wisky!
You know, I’m not sure if you mean that you and your friend have just lost contact, or if something bad happened to your friendship. If it’s just that time and distance have separated you, then you’re in luck – all you need to do is to sniff her out. Do you know where she is? If not, you’ve got something great that no one had until about ten years ago, which is the Internet. If you did a search for her, you might be able to find out where she is (if you don’t know how to do that, just ask a parent or older friend to help you). You could also do the “old-school” method by phoning Information and asking them to help you her.
But if it’s the other way, if something has hurt your friendship, then I’ve got to admit: this is one of those areas that we dogs just never Continue reading

0 Why it hurts when our best isn’t enough

Asmaok asks: Why is it that what hurts me most is when I can not give more than my best?

Wow, Asmaok, it sounds to me like you’re just a great person with a wonderful work ethic. For those who don’t know, “Work Ethic” means that you really value how good a job you do on the tasks you do. Like a student who doesn’t like to turn in work that isn’t really good, or an adult who doesn’t like to be lazy.
The problem is that, as good as a Work Ethic is, it can become too much, and it can get you feeling bad instead of good. The trick to handle this is simple: Give Yourself a Break!
For example, I think my most important job is Squirrel Control. I spend most of my Continue reading

1 Fun things for kids to do on a bus trip

Bow Wow asks: This saturday me and my friends are going on a trip,in a bus…how can we have fun inside the bus?

Hi Bow Wow –

Well the easy answer is that the most fun thing you can do on a bus is
to bring a dog along! Or better yet, lots and lots of dogs! Just
imagine how fun a long bus trip could be if you had, I don’t know, 67
puppies running around! It’d be great! They’d be playing, licking
everyone, nipping at your ankles, tug-of-war-ing, all great for the
first ten minutes or so. Then they’d start… uh oh… throwing
up… and Continue reading

1 Why we get so hurt by those we love.

Duaa asks: “Why sometimes do we feel hurt by our dear ones and cannot smile? What to do then?”

Oh Duaa, I wish I had an easy answer for that!  The more we love someone, the more they can hurt us.  That’s part of what love is – when we open our hearts to someone, we let them in, with all their faults.  So if someone we love tends to say harsh things when they get angry, those mean words will hurt us more.  And if someone we love tends to pull away when Continue reading

0 What to do when friends tell you another friend is betraying you.

crobat asks: I’m confused if my “friend” [Henry] is really my friend and if my X-friend [Daniel] caused it. You see, ever since I introduced Daniel (this is when we were friends)to Henry, I’ve been told that Henry’s betraying me or that Daniel’s tricking me by other kids in the neighborhood. I’ve tried to figure it out on my own. Even though I found a couple things that might have proven that Henry’s innocent, I still didn’t have anything to prove that Daniel’s wrong. What do I do…

Oh Crobat, this is always so hard!  When one friend tells you another friend is betraying you, you never know who to believe, or how to react!  Shakespeare wrote a great play about this called “Othello,” which you’ll probably read sometime in school.  But it sure doesn’t tell you what the right thing to do about this is (“Othello” ends REALLY badly!).  So it’s no help to you today at all.  So I’ll do better than Shakespeare and help you out!!

We dogs don’t really have these same problems in our lives.  The closest we get is when another dog steals our food.  Once I saw – through a window – another dog eating out of my dish.  Well the first chance I had to get inside, I went right up to that dog and got on top of her and Continue reading