DR. WALLACE: My mom wants me to wear makeup! Well, she's at least encouraging me to do so. My mother thinks I should wear makeup, but as a girl who is actively involved in high school sports, I'm concerned about the time commitment of putting makeup on and taking it off so many times a day — or worse, sweating through it.

But my mother says it will make me look pretty and mature and, as a result, I'll have many more potential dates! I have a lot of friends already, and I'm pretty busy, but I do date very casually only intermittently (at this point, anyhow).

What do you think? Should I take my mother's suggestion to heart and put in the time and effort of learning how to deal with makeup all day, every day, or should I simply carry on the way I've been doing things this far? — Mom Is Recommending Makeup, via email

MOM IS RECOMMENDING MAKEUP: I can tell you that I've definitely received several hundred letters over the years from teenage girls begging their parents' permission to wear makeup at 16, 15 or even 14, but yours is the first where a parent was recommending that her teen daughter start using makeup!

My take is that this is a personal decision for you, and you should feel unpressured to change your routine until you're ready to do so. I also think it would be a good idea for you to thank your mother for her input and the direct permission, and tell her that when the time is right, you'll begin easing into wearing makeup when you feel comfortable doing so.

MY FRIEND ACTUALLY PUTS HER DATES ON "TIMEOUT!"

DR. WALLACE: My best friend puts her dates on "timeouts" for 10 minutes, then if she doesn't like something that they do later during that same date, she just says, "See ya!" and she walks out on the date and the guy right at that moment! Then, of course, she can't wait to get back to her group of closest friends, which includes me, to tell us all about it.

Some of my other friends laugh and think this is really cool, but I'm not so sure. Her behavior sounds kind of contrived or at least condescending. She also seems to want to be in control of things from the moment she goes out with a new guy. Why do you think my friend does this? — Her Dating Style Is Quite Unusual, via email

HER DATING STYLE IS QUITE UNUSUAL: I agree with you that this particular friend is absolutely consumed by the feeling that she must be in control. It's possible that she may have had a difficult relationship in the past where she felt emotionally hurt at some point.

And from the way you describe some of these present dating experiences, it sounds to me as though she's accepting dates from guys she's not really all that interested in dating anyhow, perhaps just to go through the motions of following her plan so she can tell her friends all about it later.

Hopefully, she will soon find a compatible partner that she can seek to be closer to equals with. For now, listen to her stories, but don't necessarily laugh or encourage her to continue in this same manner because it sounds as if she's intentionally spinning her wheels to make the same point over and over.

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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