Category Archives for "Teens"

0 How to win a lost friend back

Jess_daniel asks: Me and my best friend, Jamie, got into a big fight. We’ve been friends for 4 years. It’s been going on for 2 weeks and every time I say hi or anything she says she’s busy. I miss her so much and I just want to be friends again because I don’t know what id do without her. Please help me.

Hi jess_daniel –

This is so hard, and I really relate.  There have been times when I really upset my human friend Handsome, and I want to make things better but he just pulls away.  I go jump on him, and he pushes me off.  I bring toys and put them into his lap, and he just lets them drop onto the floor.  I bark at him to play, and he puts me outside.

Now the difference between our situations is that this treatment from him lasts maybe an hour at worst.  He’s so crazy about me that he always wants to scratch my ears before long.  While you’ve been dealing with this for weeks, and don’t know how much longer it will go on.

But you have one advantage I don’t.  You can Continue reading

0 How to get over someone

Libra 10.8 asks: I’ve known this guy for two years and can’t seem to let things go. The whole thing is pretty stupid on how the whole situation started and ended. There are strong feelings and emotions that are hard to face on my own. Feelings and emotions that I can’t really overcome or explain. I even get myself jealous over thinking about him with another girl. I really got myself attached to this person having no idea why; ever since then I’ve became more insecure about my self. Trying to let this person go but it’s becoming more difficult.

Hi Libra 10.8 –

I wish I could help you, but I would need to know a little more about what’s happened, to give you any specific advice.

What’s clear from your letter, though, is that you are way more attached to him than you’d like to be.  I’m hearing that great old song in my head that goes “I don’t like you, but I love you, seems like I’m always thinking of you, oh oh oh you treat me badly, I love you madly, you’ve really got a hold on me.”  Is that pretty close?

If so, then my advice is to do Continue reading

0 What should a depressed teenager do

Confused asks: Okay so I’ve been depressed since I was about 7. I wanted to kill myself by the time I was 8. I started cutting myself when I was 10, but I haven’t cut since I was 11. I’m so stressed and tired of everything. There are some days in which I’ll wake up wanting to die, but there are other days where I wake up thinking life is beautiful. Then there are the days that I wake up not caring if I died at any given moment. However, I’m tired of feeling like this.I want help, but I don’t want to disappoint my parents. I never talk to them about anything personal, and they get mad at me for that. I think that if I tell them that I want to go to therapy, they’ll get even more mad at me. Plus, I don’t know why I’m depressed. I have everything I could ever ask for; I have a roof over my head, food on my table, a loving family, good grades, and other positive things. I just don’t understand why I’m like this. What should I do?

Hi Confused –

I’m very glad you’re not cutting anymore.  If you start to feel a huge craving for it again, please go to the home page here and put “cutting” into the search box, and you’ll see some suggestions for ways to deal with that feeling.

Of course I don’t know your family at all, but I’m inclined to think (and hope) that you might be a little wrong about your parents.  The way you describe your situation to me, with you knowing your life is good, but feeling depressed anyway, makes me think that if you described your situation just that way to them, they probably wouldn’t get mad.  Instead, they’d want to try to figure out what’s wrong.  And getting a professional to check you out is a great way of doing that.  You might have an actual chemical imbalance, where some sort of medication could help – and if that’s the case, it would be very helpful to your life to deal with that.

But more likely, WAY more likely, you’ve just gone through some tough times. I don’t know how old you are (except that you’re over 11), but it is very normal for teenagers to go through times when they feel very depressed.  It mostly comes from the fact that everything in your life is changing – outside of you and inside of you – in ways you can’t understand or control.  And so you’re just stuck like me in a crate – unable to move forward or backward, or even get comfortable, with no sign of anything changing anytime soon.

But you also tell me that you’ve had these feelings since you were eight.  And that is too much!

So I wish I had some other suggestions, but I really only have three for right now.  The first is to do just what you’re afraid to Continue reading

0 What to do after you’ve embarrassed yourself in front of your crush

Sarah asks: Hi Shirelle, so I came out of class and I wanted to get something to eat because the cafeteria was closed and the only way I could’ve gotten something to eat was by going to my school’s mini store which is where my crush works. At first, I went straight to my room because I was too scared and nervous to go in that store. But, something told me that I had to face my fears and I had to stop letting this guy stop me from getting something to eat. So I gathered up the courage and went to the store. When I went, he was the cashier for the night!!! I just walked in took what I wanted and gave him the cash hoping he would not say anything to me. Guess what he did say something to me — and I didn’t know what to say. I was so embarrassed because he stared at me waiting for a response and I was just standing there nervous and awkward. Pleased help me to cope with this.

Hi Sarah –

The answer to your question is… that there is no answer.  Your complaint about how you’re acting in front of your crush is exactly the way every person in the world has acted in front of their crushes, since time began!  You’re so excited by their presence, and so scared of doing something wrong, that your body goes into an emergency mode.  It’s kind of like if you press the accelerator and the brake of a car all the way down to the floor at the same time!  It’s completely exciting – and there’s no way for it not to be embarrassing and fun at once.

You might have heard, in a biology class or something, about something called “Fight or Flight.”  Most mammals have this.  Think of what a cat does when I show up in the yard — it’s suddenly very nervous, and its brain goes into hyperdrive, as it screams out inside, “I’ve got to run away!  I’ve got to run at that mutt and scratch her nose!  I’ve got to stand perfectly still and hope she doesn’t see me!”  All of these happen at once.  Eventually, the cat will make a decision (usually it’s to run like blazes and shoot up the nearest tree, driving me nuts!).  But until it does, it’s in that same place you were.  Just electrified.

So now, to your question…

Of course, there’s nothing you can do to change what happened, although it may not be as bad as you think; you may find it hard to believe, but while your whole system was going wacko, on the outside you might have appeared completely normal, just quiet and disinterested.  So it’s possible there’s nothing at all to worry about.

But what if that wasn’t the case?  What if this guy, who you are so crazy about, saw you being nervous and confused and eager… in other words, what if he saw that you really like him?

Well… isn’t that actually a good thing?!

See this is where we pups have easier lives than you guys.  If I like someone, I do everything in my power to show them I do!  I jump on them, lick them, chase my tail when they walk into the room… I can’t think of a single reason why I wouldn’t want them to know I adore them.  But I know you humans are different.

So here’s my thought.  Just try to Continue reading

0 How to tell if you have ADHD

Dan Man asks: I think I have ADHD. All the symptoms point to ADHD as I’ve had problems focusing, impulsivity, inability to sit still, and hypersensitivity, but I’m only 13 and my mother laughs at the prospect of me having ADHD. School is becoming really difficult for me and I always say things at the wrong times. Do I have ADHD? Psychologists are out of the question. How do I fix this, or get my mom to believe me if I do?

Hi Dan Man –

Well, I relate.  Lots of people say I have ADHD too.  But we dogs can’t get medication for it, or even psychotherapy.  So instead I just live my life, excited lots of the time, not very focused, and enjoying my life immensely.

Which is a LOT easier for me to do than you, since I’m not in school, and never have to do homework!!!

So here’s the deal with ADHD.  Some people really have it, and lots who get labeled with it don’t have it.  If you truly have it, it’s an actual biological/medical condition, where part of your brain that’s good at focusing and control isn’t working well enough, and needs to be jolted a bit.  So there’s one test you can do, without going to a doctor, to see if this is truly true of you.  And that’s to, before you go to school, have a Continue reading

0 What to do when it seems everyone’s against you

BVB Army writes: It’s been nearly a year now since I’ve sent an email, and right now I don’t know what else to do. Basically this year has been absolute crap. I don’t know where to start. In September it was OK, me and my friends were close, we went to each others houses nearly every week, we talked about anything and everything. I loved it but my mom obviously didn’t, she hates my friends and I don’t even know why; they’re the nicest people on earth! Because one of my friends has family issues, she thinks she’s a bad influence (because she does what she wants). And when I came home from school and my mom asked me if I hung out with my friends and I obviously said yes, she got really mad at me. And then her main goal was trying to stop me hanging out with my friends, so she stopped letting me go to their houses or letting them come over. I literally begged and she wouldn’t budge and that’s when my year started getting bad. I felt trapped in my house like a prisoner and I felt like I was constantly being watched in school because every time I came home my mom somehow knew who I had been with and what we were doing. It was scary and I cried so much back then. I couldn’t take it so I started sneaking out in the middle of the night to get away. It was great and they still haven’t found out about it. Then there was a 5sos concert coming up and that was the band me and my friends had in common, so my friend booked the tickets and told us the next day and it was soo awesome, but when I asked my mom if I could go, she said no and blamed my friends because she they booked the tickets and that’s not true because I’ve always wanted to got a concert but only had the guts to ask this year. Also this year I took your advice and tried talking to my mom a bit more but it always ends in tears because either I say something about something and she gives me a lecture and I get annoyed at her, or I start saying my opinions and she hates them and then we don’t talk. I hate that she brings religion up because she’s not that religious, but always brings up beliefs and stuff. I can’t stand listening to them because I’m Atheist (she doesn’t know that though; if she did I’d probably be disowned!). And the fights were regular and it was annoying. I hated fighting but I also hated backing down. Before I was quiet, but now that I actually want to be heard, no one is listening to me. She blamed my friends for the fights so I stopped hanging out with them; I just gave in to her because I couldn’t deal with it anymore. I felt like crying nearly everyday and music was my only outlet, but that got taken away from me as well, and I couldn’t talk to my friends or my mom would know, but then I stopped caring and started talking again to my friends. But they changed –especially my best friend. She’s angrier and she never talks to me anymore and it hurts because I helped her through bad times when we were in year 7 and 8, listening to her problems and supporting her, but now she doesn’t really say much and hangs out with her other friends, which I don’t mind but it hurts really badly. At one point it was all too much and I overdosed on some pills, but I told my friend and she looked online to help me and it did help. But I’ve been regretting actually staying alive because I feel like I cause problems in my home. I’ve been contemplating it again because no one cares anymore – even I don’t! In school I have not cared about anything and I’ve probably failed all of my tests and I have no motivation to go further. My mom’s always busy with her work. I hate her job – it’s stupid and it annoys me because she doesn’t even look after my two-year-old brother properly and I have to do it and I hate it (but I love my baby brother). My mom doesn’t even take interest in my work or the stuff I like; she looks down upon it. I like creative things like drawing or writing, but they’ve never seen them (except my dad who accidently read a poem I wrote, but he called it a stupid rhyme, which hurt me a lot because I pour my heart and soul in to my poems and songs, and I write them whenever I want to cut, but they’ve become darker and more insane-sounding. I don’t know what to do because I can’t feel anything and my life at home is a lie. I have to fake everything because, if I don’t, bad things will happen. I need some advice!

Oh BVB Army!

I’m very glad you wrote me, more than I can say.  But at the same time, I might make you feel bad about it because I have to tell you, my heart HURTS from reading this!  It’s like someone stuck a couple of knives into it.  This letter is so sad, and so frustrating, and so frightening.

So why am I telling you this?  Because my dear friend, you are stuck in a place where you aren’t able to realize how much you matter to others.  Your parents might be doing a rotten job of parenting right now, but I’ll bet they care more about you than even they realize.  And that friend who saved you when you took those pills?  That friend LOVES you.  And so do those other ones you sneak out to see.  You matter a LOT to them.  You’re in their hearts, just as your letter got you into mine.

And so I am sitting up and BEGGING you, BVB Army, to never ever ever try something like that overdosing again.  You have no idea how many people you have who would be devastated by it.  I mean, truly, it would be the worst experience they’ve ever known.  And they’d never get over it.

Now I’m not saying that to make you feel guilty.  I just want you to realize how, even when your parents are being complete boneheads, you matter.  In fact, their behavior only tells me about them, and not about you at all.

So I know you’ve taken my advice before about trying to speak to them, get conversations going, and you say that simply didn’t work (it even made things worse).  Okay, then I want you to do something else.  I want you to Continue reading

0 Is it okay to get an instrument and not take lessons?

Doglover101 asks: I’ve been wanting to play either the guitar or piano for a bit and have asked my mom to buy one of them or check them out in a music store. We might be going on Monday but here’s the problem… My mom would let me get one of them but always says that I’d have to go to lessons. I don’t want to play professionally or go to lessons, I want to do it for fun… But my mother won’t let me. Help?

Hi Doglover101 –

This is a tough one, and I’m on both your sides on this one. Not that you shouldn’t have fun, but… Let me try talking about it in terms of my favorite subject, dogs.

Every day, kids around the world say they want a puppy. And most parents say that’d be fine, but that they would need to do lots of chores (walking, cleaning up, grooming, training), and suddenly that bundle of loving fun sounds like a ton of work.

Then, very often, the kids agree, and the parents go to a pound or shelter or breeder or store, and get a puppy, and the whole family falls in love with the little nibbler at first sight. All is wonderful… at first. But then all those chores start having to be done – but they’re not. The puppy isn’t walked, so it messes up the house. He isn’t trained, so he chews up valuable stuff. She isn’t groomed so there’s hair everywhere… and bit by bit, instead of being what everyone loves, the puppy becomes an annoyance. The parents threaten to give little Buttonface away if the kids don’t start doing what they said, the kids forget, the parents give the pup back to where they got it, and everyone is resentful and miserable.

Now, of course I’m not comparing a wooden box with strings to a living breathing loving puppy. But often the same sort of thing happens – a guitar or piano seem so fun and cool at first, and they make all sorts of noise, and you can figure out how to play some songs you like… but then the novelty wears off. And as with any other toy or game, you lose interest in it.

But the difference between a piano and a toy is that a piano costs hundreds of times more (and a good guitar is also worth a lot).

So I definitely understand why your mom doesn’t want to spend all that money if you’re not going to devote yourself to mastering the instrument. But at the same time, how can you know you really want to put all that work in before you get a chance to have the fun with it you’re picturing?

So here’s my thought: Continue reading

0 How to deal with an ex who cares about you

kacey_79 asks: I really liked this boy, so I got to know him, and he finally gave me a chance. We have had our ups and downs for 3 months now, but now another girl is involved. He told me he still loves me, but he does have feelings for her, and ended our relationship to make things work with her. This girl is way better than me; she is gorgeous and I feel like I wasn’t good enough for him. But the other day I got into a bad situation, and he begged me to come and see me, but I told him I didn’t want to see him. I trust him with everything and I do really love him and I don’t want to lose him, but I feel like I’m being played and I don’t really know what to do. I mean do I keep fighting for him or just let him go?

Hi kacey_79 –

This is a tough tough situation!  I get into this issue with Handsome all the time, where he tells me I’m his special pup, the one in his heart, his favorite thing ever… but then he’ll see some cute puppy and start gushing about how adorable it is and run up and pet it and scratch its ears and rub its tummy and let it chew on his hand and… and I go nuts!  I don’t attack him (that never goes well), but I do run to that little mutt and give the youngster a big dose of barking and growling and teeth and “That man is MINE!”  Just so there’s no question.

Now it’s probably not a great idea for you to go beat up this girl (we pups can get away with that better than you can), but you do need to do something, just to get out of this mess.

I will give the boy credit for one thing; I’m glad he was honest with you about his feelings about her, and glad he didn’t try to date you both at the same time.  In other words, he’s treating you with respect, from the place his head is.

But there’s one thing you said here that upset me a lot.  And I mean, a LOT.  You said, Continue reading

0 When your friend dates someone you like

Tasha55 asks: I have a friend who started dating the guy I liked for 3 years. She doesn’t know I like him. I’m happy that they’re both dating and they both like each other. Should I tell her I like him or just keep it to myself? He doesn’t even talk to me he talks to everyone except me. Should I try to talk to him?

Hi Tasha55 –

This crazy situation comes up all the time. I suppose the most famous version of it was a great French play called “Cyrano De Bergerac.” It’s about a brilliant man cursed with a hideously huge nose (or so people said – after all, my nose is a lot bigger than his, and everyone says I’m gorgeous!), who’s deeply in love with a woman, and ends up helping another man, not nearly as smart, win her over with poetry and beautiful words of love. Painful stuff.

Now luckily, you’re in an easier situation than Cyrano was. You’re happy they’re dating, and supportive of her. So even if things stay just the way they are now, you’ll be okay. I’m very glad for this.

But the truth is, your friend Continue reading

0 How to tell when someone likes you but can’t say it

Wolfy asks: I have a friend. He is being really weird lately. Our schedules got changed, and he ended up in two of my classes. We first met last-minute studying for a test, and he got all of them right. We are friends now and we were cool for a while. But then he started kinda ignoring us (me and my group of friends), but still came when I called him over. This was weird because we were working together, but he wasn’t with us as usually. We asked him why, and he said he worked better with the other people because he didn’t really like them. Oddly enough he kept going to them after the work was finished. Well, that stopped. He sticks with us now. Just a few days ago though, he and I were the last two in class (besides the teacher) and he told me he wanted to ask me something. But he noticed that someone forgot their notebook. I looked down the hall and they were gone. Just then a friend I was going home with called me, so I caught up with her. He caught up with me and told me a really weird pointless story. As he walked away I asked him if that was what he wanted to tell me. He said no, and left. The next day I saw him was two days later. So, I asked him about it. He said he had no idea what I was talking about…. sigh. I asked my friends and they said maybe he likes me. He has told me who he likes. Showed me a picture of her even. He knew her before he knew me. I don’t know what to make of him anymore. Any ideas?

Hi Wolfy –

Sadly, as I’ve had to tell so many people, I’m a very smart dog but I’m not psychic.  I have absolutely no idea what is going on with him!  I’m inclined, though, to think your friends might be right.  He might be interested in you for more than studying!

But here’s the tough part – he might not even know it yet!  The teen years are just about the craziest time any human ever goes through, and it sounds like his mind is going in circles at 800 miles an hour.  One moment he just has to tell you something because it’s so important, and later he’s avoiding you or saying (truthfully or not) that he doesn’t even know what it was.

My advice to you is to Continue reading