DR. WALLACE: My father is a great provider and a good dad to my two siblings and me. All three of us are teenagers who get along great with our parents. He travels a lot for his career as he is in sales and marketing and is very successful at it. Our family is not extremely rich or anything like that, but we absolutely are comfortable, and we have a nice home in a good neighborhood.

The reason I'm writing is that my dad always comes back from his road trips with tons of hotel soap, shampoos, conditioners and body lotions. The liquids all come in small tubes or containers, and we now have so many of them that dad has a special place in our garage to store them. He also always wants all of our family to use up these products! My mom and my brother go along with this, but my sister and I are very particular about what soap and shampoo we will use on our hair and bodies.

So, when we girls shop with my mom, we have to totally beg her to buy the products we want. Then when we get them home, we have to hide them from my dad so that he won't see that we are actually paying "good money," as he calls it, for products he does not think we need.

Well, the other day dad was fixing a leaky pipe under our bathroom sink and he found our hidden stash of "gourmet" shampoo and soap! He blew up and yelled at us girls plus my mom for spending money on products he can get for free. Do you think we deserve to use the shampoo we prefer? The ones we like actually are not too expensive. Or should we just use the low-quality junk dad hauls home? Some of that stuff is brutal and it gives me split ends! — Two Girls Who Want to Choose Our Products, via email

TWO GIRLS WHO WANT TO CHOOSE OUR PRODUCTS: Your father is out of control! It's fine if he wishes to use his free samples and hotel "gifts" but he should not force them upon you girls.

If he does not wish to pay for your shampoo and soap, then you should be allowed to use your monetary allowance for this purpose if you do receive an allowance. If not, your parents should allow you girls to do a little babysitting or small local jobs to earn enough money for this purpose. A large bottle of shampoo lasts for a while, so the two of you should be able to earn enough to buy the shampoo and soap you prefer.

And if your father has more of these items than he'll ever reasonably use, you might suggest that he donate some of his excess to a charitable organization that can help provide soap to those who need it and can't afford it, like CleanTheWorld.org. Do suggest this, but don't hold your breath waiting for him to box some up and ship it out. And finally, I also feel your mother and brother should similarly have the option of using whatever product within reason that they prefer.

HOW DO I DECIDE ON MY FUTURE?

DR. WALLACE: Hey, Dr. Wallace, what is the best plan for my future and why?

I'm a 16-year-old boy who will be 17 in early September. My grandpa visited us last week and he took me fishing, which was cool.

While we were in between baiting our hooks and reeling in some nice fish, he asked me what I want to do in my future. I didn't really have a planned answer to give him, so I just said I was still thinking about it. He told me all about his jobs that he had worked at over his entire lifetime and even which ones he liked and which ones that he didn't enjoy at all. He's an interesting old man and he got me thinking.

Now gramps has gone home again to Florida, and I'm left thinking about my future. How do I decide what comes next for me? — Never Really Thought About It, via email

NEVER REALLY THOUGHT ABOUT IT: Start by thinking about what you enjoy doing. Work and a career should be an offshoot of a hobby or a personal interest whenever possible or feasible depending on the nature of the field being considered.

The idea is to do something that does not feel like mundane work, but instead feels fun, interesting and makes you happy to get up in the morning to pursue. Now, we all need to make enough capital to live off, so take my word "hobby" carefully and in context as you think things over.

Also think about what your personal skills and weaknesses are. Each one of us has areas we excel at and others we are weaker at. The idea is to play to your strengths as much as possible. You'll succeed faster and likely go farther working in a field you start out comfortable in.

Finally, don't chase money. By that I mean don't keep trying to change jobs or enter new fields randomly just because you've heard rumors that others are making big bucks there. Quite often it turns out talk is cheap, and you'll find yourself chasing your own tail like a dog circling a bed before settling into it.

Blaze your own trail in your own way. Combine your skills with your interests. That's the best starting point I can advise you to consider. And once you come up with a few ideas on your own, don't be afraid to call up gramps on the phone once in a while to get his opinion too. I promise you he loves you and will give you the very best advice he can, using every bit of his experience and intuition.

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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