DR. WALLACE: I'm a 15-year-old girl, and I have a lot of family problems. My parents are divorced and I am living with my mother, who has a different boyfriend about every other month. I'm really not a bad kid, but I get very little attention and no direction whatsoever from my mom. My two younger sisters live with my grandparents.

Lately, I've been hanging around with girls who smoke and they always ask me if I want a cigarette, but I just say, "No, thanks." They sort of pressure me to join the crowd, but I want to remain smokeless. Please print the dangers of smoking in your column so I can cut the column out and keep it handy as a reminder. — Tanya, Gary, Ind.

TANYA: You are a very wise young lady!

There is overwhelming evidence that smoking causes disease and premature death. Smoking contributes to cancer, heart disease, bronchitis, emphysema and other ills.

According to the Canadian Lung Association:

1. Smokers, male and female, die from a variety of ailments at a rate two-thirds higher than nonsmokers.

2. The risk goes up as the amount of smoke goes up. For example, two-pack-a-day smokers have a death rate twice as high as nonsmokers. A smoker can expect to die eight or nine years earlier than a nonsmoker.

3. Women are dying from lung cancer at a rate three times as high as they were 40 years ago.

4. Many teens who smoke suffer immediate harm in the form of lung damage and respiratory problems.

5. Ninety percent of the people who smoke have either tried to quit smoking or would probably quit if only they could find an effective way to do so.

6. You can also add that smoking is a very expensive habit, not only due to the price of the cigarettes, but also due to the damage that sparks from lit cigarettes do to clothes, furniture, carpets, etc. All smokers can tell you about the little holes in their favorite dress or shirt, the stains on their fingers and their breath that smells like a smokestack.

Keep saying no to cigarettes, Tanya, and live a happy healthy life, smoke-free! I'm pulling for you!

IGNORE HIM COMPLETELY

DR. WALLACE: I'm 13 and have an 11-year-old brother who is a real pest. Whenever my friends are over he asks them stupid questions and does and says a lot of stupid stuff. My friends think he's a jerk. We yell at him, and beg him to leave us alone, but it does no good. I've asked my parents to make him stop, but it just doesn't seem to bother them. It sure bothers me! Help! — Nameless, Coal Valley, Ill.

NAMELESS: Your brother is looking for attention and, unfortunately, he's getting lots of it. I know it's tempting to yell, scream and complain when he's acting like a brat, but try to resist, because that's exactly what he wants you to do.

If you want him to stop being a jerk, ignore him completely. Regardless of what he says or does, pretend he isn't there. This may be hard, but believe me, it will work. After a while you'll notice that his antics are fewer and shorter. Then one day you will be overwhelmed to discover that he is more interested in collecting baseball cards than he is in pestering you and your 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.

Photo credit: Michael Coghlan