DR. WALLACE: I'm a freshman in college and I'm having a very difficult time choosing my major. Everyone is asking me what I want to do with my life, and the truth is that I just want to be a stay-at-home mom. I've always imagined myself getting married at a young age and having a big family, and I honestly believe that caring for my kids all day would make me very happy.

I've considered a few different college majors, but none of them have captured my interest, and I feel like studying a subject that I may never end up applying to a career is a waste of time. Honestly, I'm more concerned about finding Mr. Right than I am about selecting the perfect major. I realize that I'm fortunate to be able to receive an education, and I know that complaining about my situation is petty, but there's no college major for aspiring stay-at-home moms, and that's really all I want to be. — Traditional Woman, via email

TRADITIONAL WOMAN: While there is nothing wrong with wanting to be a stay-at-home mother one day, it is not a plan that you can depend on when you are not yet married and have no means to support yourself. You are now an adult, and adulthood for everyone involves establishing some level of independence and self-reliance.

If no career path that requires a college degree is of interest to you, then please do not continue to pursue a college education, as you will indeed be wasting considerable amounts of time and money. In order to become a functioning member of society, however, you will need to develop some set of skills that you can use to generate enough income for yourself. Perhaps look into becoming a full-time nanny or day care attendant if caring for children is your passion.

Getting married and having children is admirable, but a family is not something you can wish into existence. If you are like most people, it will take considerable time and deliberation to find the person you want to spend the rest of your life with, and at your age you should be in no rush. At some point in your life you may very well take on your desired role of stay-at-home-mom, but in the meantime, you need to find something else that infuses your life with meaning and sets you up for independent success.

I WANT TO GET MY MOM OUT OF HER CHAIR

DR. WALLACE: I'm a teen girl who is quite active, but my mother is another story. She's a bit sedentary, to say the least.

Her career is accounting and she's all about numbers, so she sits at her computer in our home doing her work all day. She even works sometimes over the weekend, too.

She's a great mom who treats my sister and I really well, but I'm now starting to worry about her health. She also loves to play games on her smartphone when she's not working, so I never seem to see her get interested in any kind of exercise, and this worries me. Do you have any suggestions on how I might motivate her to at least get moving a bit here and there? — Concerned Daughter, via email

CONCERNED DAUGHTER: I believe that your mom working in the accounting industry may be a benefit in some way and can potentially get her moving a little bit. The reason I say this is that she works with numbers all day and since she also enjoys spending time on her smartphone, perhaps you can get her to download and open a fitness app that will at least track her steps taken per day and the number of stairs she climbs per day. Encourage her to start out nice and slowly, but to track the numbers and maybe even create a spreadsheet on how far she is traveling via walking per day.

Tell her that even a little bit of exercise is really good for her health, both physical and mental. Let her know that taking a brisk walk releases endorphins and that with just 20 to 30 minutes per day she should feel much better.

Smartphones and smartwatches these days can allow individuals to track their health much more closely than ever before. There are many other health-related items that can be tracked that go beyond just the number of steps or number of stairs climbed per day but start with just those two basic ones so that you don't overwhelm your mother at first.

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. Email 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.

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