DR. WALLACE: The first thing I noticed as soon as we got back to start the new year at my high school was how many of my friends are constantly yawning and, in some cases, even dozing off! What's up with this? I thought that yawning was something that fatigued older people typically did, not teens of my age.

It seems strange to see, but it's going on like a mini epidemic at our school. — Yawning is Not a Good Look, via email

YAWNING IS NOT A GOOD LOOK: Since you're right at the beginning of a new school year, that could definitely be a large factor regarding all of the yawning you're noticing. During the summertime, most teenagers sleep in much later than they typically do during the busy school year. The key to avoiding fatigue is to go to bed earlier when one needs to arise earlier, but most teenagers resist that at the beginning of the school year. So, they don't get enough deep and restful sleep, which leads to frequent yawning episodes.

Boredom and stress can also be contributors to frequent yawning, but my hunch in your case is that, given the time of year, the change in sleep patterns is accounting for most of what you're witnessing, even if it isn't a good look, as you quite correctly pointed out.

HE'S A SOLID GUY BUT NOT BLENDING IN WELL SOCIALLY

DR. WALLACE: I'm a guy who's starting my senior year of high school with great expectations. I play sports, I have a steady girlfriend and I'm looking forward to being accepted to a regional college that fits my career goals, even if it isn't the fanciest college.

I made pretty good friends with a guy who moved into our district at the beginning of the summer, as his family relocated here. He's a nice enough guy, but he's getting off to a bad start, socially at our high school. Since he lives down the street from me, I see him regularly and have talked with him and hung out with him on many occasions, especially over the summer. He's a little odd and quirky in some ways, but overall he's a solid guy.

So as the new school year started, I took him around and introduced him to a lot of the friends I've had for years. At various breaks during the school day, a lot of us guys get together and talk with each other. This new guy follows us since he knows me. But here's the problem: When some of my friends are telling various stories of things that happened to them over the summer or funny instances or whatever, my new friend will make these audible sighs, grimaces or even snarky brief comments under his breath, like "yeah, right" or "didn't happen."

This has occurred so many times now that a lot of my longtime friends have approached me and told me to "lose" this guy, as he's disruptive and not friendly. What should I do in this situation? I don't want to cut him off, but if things continue as they're going, there'll be a blowup in the near future for sure that will end it for him without my intervention. — New Guy is Off to a Rough Start, via email

NEW GUY IS OFF TO A ROUGH START: You better spend some one-on-one time with him as soon as possible away from everyone. You need to be brutally honest with him but reassure him that you are his friend and you understand him. Mention that the time you guys spent over the summer allowed you the opportunity to get to know each other well and to start the bonding process. Tell him this may be possible with the other guys, but not if he continues to overtly or subliminally mock their discussions.

It's always better to face a difficult situation head on than to think that it will magically resolve itself on its own. Remind your new friend that it's going to be a very long school year if he gets himself tossed out of the group this early in the school year. It could be that he doesn't have as good a set of social graces as most people, so patiently discuss this with him and explain things to see what he understands and what he may be lacking in terms of social skills. It could be that you have an excellent opportunity to coach him up pretty well, as this would help him personally and would relieve the pressure building between him and your preexisting friends.

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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