DR. WALLACE: A friend of my brother's is very cute, but he is also very shy. When he comes over to our house, I try to encourage him to talk with me, but if I ask him a question, he always answers yes or no and that's it. But when he's talking with my brother, he's a chatterbox. What can I do to encourage him to chatter with me a little bit? — Nameless, Rock Island, Ill.

NAMELESS: Never ask a shy person a question that can be answered by a simple yes or no. You have already discovered this. Instead, ask a thought-provoking question that a shy person is likely to have an opinion about, such as music, movies, athletics or school activities. Avoid controversial topics such as religion and politics. Instead of asking, "Do you like heavy metal music?" which can be answered by a simple yes or no, ask "What do you think about heavy metal music?"

Always smile when you start a conversation and never correct the person, even if you are positive that he is wrong about the topic. You are not trying to make the debate team, you are trying to get this cute shy guy to show interest in you.

NO GROUP DOES IT BETTER

TEENS: I'm sure you are aware that your age group is often depicted as heedless, selfish and uncaring. But when teens do something right, it never seems to be news.

I'm dedicating this column to rectifying that matter and informing adults of something that teenagers, I'm sure, already know. Young people volunteer their time and energy to help the needy and underprivileged at a higher rate than adults do. They also freely share their limited financial resources to help the less fortunate.

About 30 percent of all volunteer work by teens was performed as extracurricular activities sponsored by their schools, according to a Gallup Poll. The most frequently reported unpaid volunteer tasks were baby-sitting, assisting the handicapped elderly, and serving as an aid or assistant to a paid employee. On average, teens had about three volunteer assignments over the course of the year.

A growing emphasis on community service by schools is having a huge impact on teen volunteering. Ten percent of the teens surveyed reported that their high schools required a certain number of hours in community service for graduation. Other study findings include:

—Teenagers en masse donated 1.5 billion hours of their time to worthy causes throughout the year, not just during the school session.

—Teenagers volunteer because they want to do something useful and they think they'll enjoy the work. (These are the most frequently cited reasons.)

—Eighty-five percent rated their volunteer experience as good or very good. Less than 1 percent rated their experience as not good at all.

—When teens were asked what would get them to volunteer again, the most frequently cited response was: Being asked.

—Membership in religious institutions also has a major impact on volunteering and contributing.

When it comes to volunteering, no group does it better than teens!

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 [email protected]. 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.