DR. WALLACE: My youngest brother is so unbelievably lazy! His name is Joe and won't help out with any chores around our house or even in the garage or our yard or garden. Because he is the youngest of our four siblings, my parents still baby him, so they aren't making him do anything that requires work or responsibility at all.

We three older siblings feel this is not fair to us at all. My brother is 9 years old, and we don't feel that he is too young to pitch in and help around the house or yard at least once a week or so. The rest of us all have Saturday morning chores that take about an hour-and-a-half or so to complete.

What makes it worse is that when the rest of us have to do our chores for a few hours on the weekend, he just sits in his room playing video games on the cellphone my parents got him. He's really spoiled and is quickly learning how not to become a team player. My oldest brother gave this youngest boy the nickname of "Lazy Bro Joe," and the little squirt even seems to like it!

I wanted to suggest a list of some chores that he could do and present it to my parents. What do you think of this idea? Should a 9-year-old do a few light chores, or should he just play video games all day? — Nonlazy Big Sister, via email

NONLAZY BIG SISTER: Your brother is absolutely old enough to help around your house and do some chores!

In fact, your parents are doing little Joe a big disservice by allowing and perhaps even unknowingly encouraging him to remain lazy and irresponsible while everyone else around him works to keep your household running smoothly via accomplishing regular, routine weekly chores.

I suggest you show this column to your mother and father. Let them decide which chores they may feel are suitable for little Joe rather than you trying to take over the task list completely. What I suggest you do instead is to point out that Joe would start to learn a valuable life lesson if he had to "earn" his right to have time to play his video games. Perhaps your parents may agree with this idea and give him a few light chores to do. If they do so, you'll likely see Joe whine and complain at first, but once he realizes his gaming will indeed stop, he'll get with the program and pull at least a bit of his weight!

DO GOOD GIRLS ASK BOYS TO STUDY?

DR. WALLACE: I'm 15 and really like a certain boy who used to be in my class at school, but now we are all only doing distance learning, so I don't see him at school.

One of my best girlfriends told me yesterday that she thinks he likes me, too, because he told his best friend, who then told my friend.

But this boy hasn't asked me out, since I don't see him like before. So, my girlfriend and I came up with the plan to walk down to his house to ask some questions about our homework, since he's pretty smart and always gets good grades. Then, if he meets with us, I could ask him if he wants to hang out on a Saturday afternoon sometime to study together — and I could indeed use some help because school has gotten much harder for me with only distance learning these days.

I wanted to ask him to spend some time with me, but my mom says that "good" girls shouldn't ask boys out because "it's not proper" and that I should just wait to see if he asks me out sometime on his own. But I told my mom that it might be another year before we are ever in a classroom together! So, my question is, do you think it's OK if I ask a boy to hang out with me to study a bit? — Want To Socialize, via email

WANT TO SOCIALIZE: Go ahead and ask him, if you get the opportunity! Be sure to stay safe and socially distanced and follow all of your state rules at this time. But just as we must safely and carefully go shopping, I think you can safely and carefully study together.

Be sure to ask his parents if it's OK before you set up a formal study time in their home or backyard.

But to directly and emphatically answer your original question, I say it is absolutely fine for a girl to ask a boy to spend some social time together, especially beginning with studying topics you are both working on in the same class in school.

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 rwallace@thegreatestgift.com. 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: 11333328 at Pixabay