DR. WALLACE: I'm 13 and our family lives near a major interstate that goes on for miles and miles all the way into the next state to the east of us. Many semi-trucks are passing on the interstate each and every day.

I saw a couple of movies with my friends where the truckers had CB radios and talk to each other while driving on the road and I thought it was really cool. Each trucker had a unique "handle," which is like a nickname they identify themselves with. So when my birthday was coming up, my parents asked me what I wanted as a birthday gift and I told them I preferred a CB radio so that I could talk to all the truckers going on the highway behind our house.

But to my surprise, my parents said that they thought that was not a good idea, and they didn't really give me much of an explanation. They told me I had to come up with other options for birthday gifts because I was definitely not going to be communicating with truckers driving by our house every day.

I was really surprised they thought a CB radio was a big deal. Do you think my request was reasonable, like I do? — Want a Birthday CB Radio,

via email

WANT A BIRTHDAY CB RADIO: I agree with your parents on this particular issue. Interacting with interstate truckers driving very close by your home on the interstate is not an ideal situation for your personal safety at your present age.

You may have excellent and wholesome intentions on your end, but unfortunately, not everyone you would be in touch with would necessarily be approaching a conversation with you in the same manner. Once you're older and more mature, you may want to look into seeing if you can acquire a ham radio. A ham radio is a fancy way to say an amateur radio. A ham radio does require passing an FCC test and paying a small licensing fee.

But this technology would open your communications to a worldwide audience via digital systems and satellites. You may wish to study the differences between walkie-talkies, CB radios and ham radios by spending some time on the Internet and browsing various articles and videos that explain the differences between these technologies.

At some future point in time, your parents may be more comfortable letting you access one of these technologies when they feel you're ready to handle it.

MY HASTY HOMEWORK EFFORTS BRING POOR RESULTS

DR. WALLACE: I'm a high school student who admittedly has developed a really bad habit. I procrastinate doing my homework and so just before I go to bed, I do it the best I can in a very hasty way, but I usually don't get good grades on my homework the next day because it's not really done too well.

How can I improve this, especially since I really have a deep dislike of starting my homework? — My Hasty Homework Grades Poorly, via email

MY HASTY HOMEWORK GRADES POORLY: Don't feel too bad — your affliction is extremely common amongst your peers and others near your age range. One of the better suggestions I've heard over the years is to break up homework sessions into three segments.

For example, if it usually takes you an hour and a half to get your homework done at night, put in a 30-minute segment as soon as you come home from school, and start with the most difficult part of your homework while you are fresh. Work hard for this half hour and answer the questions the very best you can. If you're a little bit stuck in some areas, do your best and don't worry about it for the moment.

Then go off and do something else such as exercising, visiting with friends, eating a snack or whatever. For your second 30-minute segment, follow the same pattern by doing the next most difficult portion of your homework that is remaining. Take another break, maybe have dinner and let a little time pass and when you get to the final 30-minute segment, you should be left with the easiest portion of your homework. Hopefully you can complete this much easier, and do so in 15 to 20 minutes. Then use your last 10 to 15 minutes to go back over the first segment that was the most difficult for you. Your subconscious mind will have been wrestling with the problems and challenges while you were doing other things and you may have some fresh ideas, insights or directions you can use to go back and brush up on that first difficult segment of your homework.

Discipline yourself to break up your homework each day in this three-step process, and I trust your grades will improve dramatically because you'll be getting much more firepower from your mind by approaching things using this strategy!

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: Caleb Ruiter at Unsplash