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Maryjopodgurski

Breaking the cycle of poor parenting

Q. I don’t know if you remember me, but I remember you. I often hung out after class when I was in high school or skipped lunch with other teens just to stay and chat. You always brought food for us. I would joke I came for the snacks, but the truth is I craved the stability you brought me. ...

Q. Our son is a good kid. Something happened and we want to handle it right. We have an alert on our online system, and it flagged a site our 13-year-old visited. It wasn’t videos or extreme images, but he did view topless women. We’ve talked with him all along instead of doing a “sex ...

Finding courage to cultivate new friendships

Q. How do I make new friends? My old friends are useless. They’re all in cliques and they make fun of everybody. I don’t like that. I think if I stop hanging out with them, they’ll make fun of me too. But they’ve been my friends since elementary school. I don’t want to be like them, ...

Is it friendship or more?

Q. There’s a new guy in school. I am so attracted to him, but so is everyone else. He’s all anyone can talk about. He keeps to himself. We don’t know much about him except he’s from out of state. He plays basketball and he’s good, he’s in one of my AP classes, and the teachers seem ...

Q. When am I going to be able to drive in the snow? I know I’m a relatively new driver, I’ve been driving six months, but how am I going to learn if I never get a chance? I’m not a risk taker. I follow my parents’ rules. I’m dependable and confident and responsible. All I want is a ...

Whatever happened to snow days?

Q. This is ridiculous. I want snow days back. When the weather is bad, instead of canceling school, we have an online day where we work on our computers. First, this whole idea reminds me of the lockdown, and I hated lockdown. Most of us did. I was 12 in 2020 when the schools were closed. Let ...