DR. WALLACE: I'm 19 and my husband is 23. We have a beautiful 14-month-old daughter and I'm also eight months pregnant with our son. This has made my mother very upset. She said it's obscene that I'll have two children before I'm 20. Yesterday, she said, "Just because you're married doesn't mean you can't practice birth control."
My husband and I both love children and plan to have three — that's our limit. It just so happens we want them close together so they can do things together when they're older. My brother is three years older than I and we had very little in common.
I'm very upset with my Mom's attitude. The number of children my husband and I have and when we have them is nobody's business but our own. My husband thinks we should tell my mom our plans and reasoning, in order to convince her we're not obscene. I think I should tell her to mind her own business and that we want eight kids.
My husband and I would appreciate your input. Grandma does love our daughter and is an excellent babysitter. — Maria, Nogales, Ariz.
MARIA: I agree that the number of children you and your husband bring into this world is your business, 100 percent, and that your mother's remark was uncalled for.
But I also agree with your husband that you should be straight with your mother about your plans, rather than react to her comment with anger and sarcasm. A grandmother who loves her grandchild — and is also a great babysitter — deserves a second chance to be genuinely a part of your life.
INFORM PARENTS ABOUT BROTHER'S BAD HABIT
DR. WALLACE: My dad is a beer drinker on the weekends. He spends almost every weekend watching sports on television and drinking beer. He is a good father who works hard in the steel mill and he supports our family in style. I have a 15-year-old brother who gets into a lot of trouble at home and at school.
For the past few months, I have seen him swipe beer from my dad's stash and he drinks them, too. Lately, I've been spying on him. He steals one or two cans a day and he drinks them. He then places the empty cans in a brown paper sack and dumps them in a neighbor's garbage can.
I confronted him and he begged me not to "squeal" on him and said that he would stop stealing and drinking the beer. Well, he still steals and drinks. I hate to be known as a squealer, but I'm going to tell our parents.
Is it possible my brother could actually already be addicted to beer? I think that he is too young, but I'm not sure. I've never seen my brother drunk. — Nameless, Crown Point, Ind.
NAMELESS: According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, children as young as ten have been classified as addicted to alcohol, and yes, a person can be addicted to alcohol and never become totally drunk.
Don't wait one second longer. Inform your parents about your brother's harmful habit.
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 rwallace@galesburg.net. 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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