DR. WALLACE: I am what you would call a "super kid." I have a high IQ and get superior grades. I should be a happy teenager, but I'm not because I don't have any kind of social life. I'm always too busy doing homework to go out with friends and I'm never invited to parties and couldn't go if I was invited.

Other students look down on kids like us because they think we're freaks. We always have the right answers when a teacher asks a question. Students don't want to be in classes with us because we raise the grading curve. The competition with other "super kids" is enormous. The only grade that is acceptable is an "A" and we would go to any length to get it. A "B" would be disastrous!

Then comes the pressure put on by parents. Nothing short of being valedictorian will be accepted. I'm not so sure all of this is 100 percent positive. I see intelligent students who support an A-minus average and have a well-rounded social life, including participation in student activities, and I think to myself, "They are the really intelligent ones and I'm the dummy!" — I've never even been on a date, and I doubt if I ever will be on a date! - Nameless, Glen Ellen, Ill.

NAMELESS: As a former high school principal, I understand where you are coming from. Grades are important, but there should also be time for teens to enjoy a social life. All work and no play makes for a very unhappy teen!

SHOULD PARENTS SNOOP?

DR. WALLACE: Do you think parents should snoop? I work all day Saturday at a fast-food restaurant. While I'm working, my mother peeks in my room looking for anything improper. I'm not an angel, but I'm also not a devil.

I don't know how long she's been snooping, but I came home sick last week and when I went to my room, I found Mom going through my dresser. When I asked her what she was looking for, she said, "Anything you shouldn't have." I told her I didn't think what she was doing was ethical. She said she was the parent and she was making sure I wasn't doing anything bad. She said it was her responsibility. Please give me your thoughts about this. - Nameless, Elkhart, Ind.

NAMELESS: It's important that parents be aware of their child's activities, but snooping should be resorted to only under extreme circumstances. Parents should trust their teens and continue trusting them until such time the trust is broken. If the trust is honored and never broken snooping is not necessary and should not take place.

But when the trust is broken, any form of parental guidance that will provide parents with information to keep their teen out of "harm's way" is encouraged, and this includes snooping.

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.