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Mom is Not in Touch

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DR. WALLACE: My mom is a dear, sweet person, but she is not in touch with the now generation. I'm a junior in high school, and mom thinks it's time to teach me the "wifely subservient duties" of cooking, mending, washing and ironing, cleaning and grocery shopping. I've tried to tell mom that these duties are not women's duties. They are simply duties.

I plan to be an opera singer, and if I do succeed, I'll hire someone (maybe a man) to do these duties. Do you agree with me? — Charmaine, New York, N.Y.

CHARMAINE: I agree with you, partially. Still, it would be nice to be proficient in cooking, mending, etc., until you become that opera star. Then, when you hire that man for domestic help, drop me a line and tell me how much you plan to pay. I just might apply!

SUNBURNS HAPPEN IN WINTER

DR. WALLACE: Is it possible to get a sunburn during cold winter days? I plan to learn how to ski this winter, but I don't want to damage the skin on my face. My boyfriend, who will be helping me learn the art of skiing, says that the redness on a skier's face is wind-caused and not sunburn. He says that wind-caused redness is not damaging. — Katy, Aspen, Colo.

KATY: Your boyfriend is mistaken.

Regardless of the air's temperature, excessive exposure to the sun's rays can cause sunburns. And sunburn can cause skin cancer, wrinkles and premature aging of the skin. All skin exposed to the sun should be covered with a sunscreen with an SPF (sun protection factor) of at least 15.

Sunscreens can be found in most pharmacies.

MY OLDER SISTER IS ALWAYS LATE

DR. WALLACE: I like to be punctual. My older sister is always late. I'm always ready when my boyfriend picks me up to go out. My sister thinks I'm showing that I'm too eager to be dating this guy.

She thinks that, even though I'm ready, I should go up to my room and wait for 10 or 15 minutes before I come down. Being late makes a girl more desirable, and making a delayed "grand entrance" will cause a guy to want you for his girlfriend even more. My mother agrees. Do most females feel this way? — Nameless, Reno, Nev.

NAMELESS: The game-playing that your sister and mother recommend strikes me as silly. I think I'd be more annoyed than thrilled dating someone who was habitually late and prone to making "grand entrances."

But to answer your question, I did a very informal survey in an English class (my brother was the teacher) at Garden Grove High School (Calif.). I asked the 15 girls in a 12th-grade class if being late for a date makes a girl more desirable. I had them write a simple "yes" or "no" on notebook paper, fold it and give it to me unsigned. That way no girl would be embarrassed or challenged because of her answer.

It didn't matter after all because the girls — all 15 of them – wrote, "No."

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. E-mail him at rwallace@galesburg.net. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS.COM


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1 Comments | Post Comment
LW1, those are life skills, not wifely duties, and your mom would be wise to teach them to you AND any brothers you may have. (Also, the mechanics of credit cards and how to balance a checkbook). Successful opera singers are not made overnight -- until you reach that level of success, you'll need to know how to live (eat, present yourself) well on a budget that will preclude hiring out of those jobs. After all, the cost of living is higher in cities of a size to support opera.
Men need those skills, too. Learning how to take care of yourself is part of becoming an adult.
Comment: #1
Posted by: hedgehog
Sat Dec 5, 2009 5:32 AM
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