DR. WALLACE: I'm a girl who's a junior in high school, and I just got grounded in a manner that I feel was beyond unfair!

My best friend and I attended a high school basketball game at another school's gym about 10 miles away. It was an away game for our high school, and we both stayed until the end of the game.

After the game, we walked down to my cousin's house, since he attends that school and lives only a few blocks from campus.

After an hour, we were both ready to go home. Before I could even text my parents, my friend had texted her older brother, who's 19 and a freshman in college, and he said he could give us a ride home.

When he arrived, we both came out of the house and hopped in the backseat. On that ride home, her brother missed a turn and hit a telephone pole! Fortunately, we were going slow enough at the time that nobody was hurt, and we were all wearing our seatbelts.

Another car passing by saw the accident and called 911. A police car arrived within a minute.

My parents ultimately had to pick us up. They were, of course, happy that I was not hurt, but they were extremely mad that I got in a car with him since they found out from the police he failed a sobriety test at the scene. Now I'm grounded for a full month because I took a ride, unknowingly, from a drunk driver! Why should I be punished for somebody else's crime? — I Didn't Cause the Accident, via email

I DIDN'T CAUSE THE ACCIDENT: Your situation is most unfortunate on several levels, but it is absolutely a learning experience.

In the future, you should contact your parents directly before taking a ride from anyone other than a friend's parents who are preapproved to bring you home.

I understand that you got into the backseat with your friend without paying much attention to the driver, but in the future, you will now know to always speak to and look directly in the eyes of any driver bringing you home. That way, you have an opportunity to notice if anything looks amiss.

Getting grounded is a tough way to learn this lesson. Do your best to roll with your grounding and see if you can get your time reduced for good behavior and for demonstrating a reasonable attitude about this, starting right away.

COUNTING BEANS SOUNDS BORING!

DR. WALLACE: My father is an executive for a national corporation, and from what I understand, he works in corporate finance.

I'm not sure what profession I want to go into, so my father has encouraged me to follow in his footsteps. He says he can show me many things regarding this field and that he has a wide array of connections from his decades-long career.

What worries me is that his best fishing buddies always call him "Mr. Bean Counter." They've known each other since they were in college, and I know they're probably only teasing him, but I'm not sure that I want to put my life into counting beans for a career! It sounds really boring. I'm 17 now and just starting to think seriously about what career path I would like to take.

Should I follow in my father's footsteps or blaze my own trail? — The Last Beans I Counted Were Jelly Beans, via email

THE LAST BEANS I COUNTED WERE JELLY BEANS: In today's world, the jobs that are available in corporate finance and accounting are dynamic and interesting and provide for a variety of specific job functions.

You'll be doing quite a bit more than simply crunching numbers, or "counting beans" as you put it. My advice is to at least give this field a serious look, especially since your father is highly successful and has many contacts that may be beneficial to you.

However, don't plan on entering this field for sure. Think carefully about what other things you may want to do with your career and weigh the pros and cons of all of them. In any case, I highly advise you to explore the corporate finance opportunities before you dismiss them outright!

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.

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