DR. WALLACE: My mom drives my brother and me to school every day on her way to work. She's a single parent, and she is very responsible about raising us and being attentive to everything that we need.

My only concern is that it seems almost every day we leave the house a few minutes late, and my normally mild-mannered mother turns into a speed racer on the roads between our home and our intermediate school! She will literally weave in and out of traffic and drive over 50 mph in a 30 mph zone. For some reason, she never seems to get a ticket, but there are times I'm very nervous in the car with her.

Should I say anything to her? Or just keep quiet because, other than this, she's just about a perfect mom? — She's Wild on the Road, via email

SHE'S WILD ON THE ROAD: Yes, I do think you should say something, but do it from the context of trying to help her, not to be condescending toward her driving. You could mention that you notice that she needs to drive fast some days to get you to school on time, and that you feel it's because you're leaving the house too late to drive comfortably there.

Study your family's morning routine, keep your brother on track and see if you can have everything ready for your mom a full five to 10 minutes ahead of time so that the drive to your school can be more leisurely rather than an obstacle course. Speeding on the road due to habitual tardiness is a recipe for trouble at some point. Speaking to your mother about this from the context of doing everything you can to help her would be the way to go.

I TEND TO ASK FOR DATES TOO SOON

DR. WALLACE: As a high school student, I'm interested in dating as well as getting an education. I'm a junior and a guy who likes to play sports on a couple different teams at my high school. I'm not a big star player or anything like that, but I'm reliably consistent and hold my own on a couple different sports teams.

I've had a few girlfriends on and off, but since my last breakup several months ago, I've noticed that I'm very impatient about asking somebody I've just met out on a first date. Apparently I'm appearing to be overanxious because the last three times I've asked three different girls to go out on a date with me, they all turned me down with a bit of a puzzled and uncomfortable look on their faces.

Instead of asking girls I've just met to go out on a date with me almost immediately, what's the best way to know when the time is right to ask a girl to go out on a date? — Not Much Success Lately, via email

NOT MUCH SUCCESS LATELY: Seek to build rapport and camaraderie first before you ever imagine asking any new girls you've met out on a date. Take your time, seek to get to know them and find out things they like, things they may not like, what their interests are and so forth.

It's often said that people who are in successful, long-term relationships are also best friends. So seek to establish quality friendships with girls you meet first, and then gradually you'll get a gut feeling when the time may be right to propose an outing that may or may not be viewed to be a formal date. Gradually, if you have much in common with the right girl, going out on a date or two together may seem like a natural progression rather than a blunt question.

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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