DR. WALLACE: I'm a nice, friendly girl who has just turned 15, and my parents have agreed to let me start to date. I'm excited! They've set up a curfew for me, so I can only date on Friday and Saturday nights and my curfew to be back home is at 10:30 p.m.

On my very first date, the guy who took me out said that the girls he dates have a curfew of at least 11 p.m., and some can stay out until midnight! That guy said that if I don't have a curfew of midnight, he's not going to go out with me anymore, because according to him, "Hanging out for only two hours is not worth it."

Should I ask my parents to extend my curfew till midnight, or do I just have to see about dating someone else? — Just Starting to Date, via email

JUST STARTING TO DATE: In my opinion, 10:30 p.m. is an appropriate time for curfew for a young lady of your age who is just beginning to date.

Since this guy has not placed much value on the time you've already spent getting to know each other, what's another hour or so going to do? If the two of you got along great, had fun and laughed talking to each other, he'd be looking forward to your date with great anticipation, right?

His attitude alone provides you a solid reason to immediately start thinking about dating someone else. Keep your options open and I trust you'll soon find a nice person who will be very happy to spend some fun social time with you on a regular basis — no matter what time your curfew is.

SHADOWING THE AMERICAN DREAM

TEENS: A great way to check out possible career paths is to "shadow" a professional in an industry or job that you may have interest in for your future employment, or even a long-term career path. According to the website Tallo: "Job shadowing is when a student or job-seeker follows and observes a professional for a short period of time, such as a day or a week. After you've shadowed, you should have a better idea of what professionals do each day and whether or not you can see yourself following that same career path."

A 2005 poll by the Job Shadow Coalition revealed that the American Dream for the current crop of job seekers is "Simply Being Happy, No Matter What You Do." That was the top choice among the teens pulled in the survey. Second place was having "a house, cars and a good job."

Overall, 71% of American teens believed these dreams were achievable.

So how do most teens feel the American dream can be achieved? Almost 75% believe that education is the key to attaining it; the other 25% may believe that education just does not matter and great skills or superb connections are the most important factors.

The good news is that the majority of both teen boys and girls believe the American dream is attainable in the 21st century.

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.

Photo credit: Monoar_CGI_Artist at Pixabay