DR. WALLACE: I'm 19 and need your advice — FAST! For the past year I have been seeing a guy who is 20, but we have broken up many times because of his former girlfriend and my father.

His former girlfriend hates me with a passion. She thinks that I have interfered in their "family." That's because my boyfriend is her baby's father. But that's none of my business. I love this guy very much and he says he loves me. He said we would never have had to break up if it wasn't for his baby daughter. His ex threatens to ban him from seeing his baby if he is seeing me. At this moment, this guy and I are not seeing each other.

My next problem is my father, who hates my boyfriend more than my boyfriend's ex-girlfriend hates me. You see, I moved out of our house and moved in with this guy, but had to move back home because he couldn't pay the rent. My father said that if I continue to see my boyfriend, he will ask me to move out of the house.

What should I do? I really don't have a lot of money and neither does my boyfriend. — Nameless, Indianapolis, Ind.

NAMELESS: The most important female in your boyfriend's life is his baby daughter, not you! His responsibility to his daughter is paramount — and comes before his relationship to you. Indeed, you might be in third place, behind the baby's mother as well.

I'd advise you to put your relationship with this guy on hold. He needs to set things in order with his daughter and the baby's mother. His relationship with you is nothing but an avoidance of his real responsibilities. Don't even think about getting back together with him until he has his life straightened out.

And while this guy is straightening out his life, you, too, should follow the same path. Make peace with your father! His house is a safe haven, especially when you don't have funds to support yourself.

BICYCLE LAWS SAME IN ALL STATES

DR. WALLACE: I was visiting my grandparents in Fresno, California, this summer, and took a bicycle ride on a road near their house. I rode facing the oncoming traffic so I could see the cars coming and could get out of the way if one came too close. A police officer stopped me and gave me a ticket for riding into the traffic.

My granny says that in Arizona, where she is from, the rule for bicycles is to ride into traffic, not with it. Why would states have different laws? — Noah, Santa Fe, N.M.

NOAH: I think your grandmother is mistaken. I know of no state in which the law requires bicyclists to ride into oncoming traffic. However, I'm surprised that you were ticked for your goof. A warning and an explanation about why you should have been riding with the traffic flow would have been more effective.

The reason is simple: It's safer when all vehicles in a given traffic lane, cars and bicycles alike, are going in the same direction. And the possibility of a head-on collision between a bike and a car is greatly reduced.

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.

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