DR. WALLACE: I love my parents very much. We have a great life and they both take great care of me and my three brothers. I'm the only girl, and I also just so happen to be the youngest.

My problem is that my dad has this weird habit where he will fake like he's ignoring me around our home unless I call him "Daddy!" When I was little, this was no problem, but now that I'm a teenager it just sounds immature to me when I call him Daddy. Why can't it be enough to address him as "Dad"?

My father is basically a great guy and a great provider who loves his whole family, but he's sometimes a bit quirky, too. He likes nicknames, pet names and so forth. In fact, I'll bet that if I tell him I just want to call him "Dad," he'' probably make me call him "Daddy-O!"

My mom tells me to just indulge him and call him whatever he wants to be called at home to keep him happy, so she's not really going to provide me any leverage to get him to relent a bit on this. Help! — Daddy's Girl, via email

DADDY'S GIRL: It sounds to me that your dad has earned the right for you to call him "Daddy" if that's what he wants to be called within your family at home. Think about what you wish to be called — your full first name, a shorter version of your name or even a nickname that you like at home. If you preferred one particular version of your own name, wouldn't you want to have your family respect your wishes?

However, on the other hand, if you wish to call him "Dad" or "Father" in public, I feel that is absolutely fair and appropriate.

NO SECRETS BUT NO TRUST, EITHER

DR. WALLACE: My parents are like professional detectives! They spy and snoop and check out everything I do and everyone I do anything at all with.

They ask for the spelling of my friends' names — first and last! I know they immediately start Googling them to get some intel on who I'm hanging out with.

They also demand that I tell them everything I do. I'm not allowed to have any secrets or do anything that they don't know everything about. I'm not sure when or how this first got started, but right now it's excessive and it's affecting my personal life and my relationship with my parents.

The weird thing is that I haven't done anything to make them mistrust me, and in fact, I've never been in any trouble in my 16 years so far. I'm a good, reliable student at school, and I've followed our family rules well my whole life. How can I convince my parents to give me some independence and trust? Yes, I'm a boy who is 16 and who wants to date soon and to make some new friends, but deep down I'm still the good kid I've always been. — Need to Be Trusted, via email

NEED TO BE TRUSTED: I can completely understand your need to gain maturity and independence from your parents as you begin to grow into a young adult. Ironically, your parents only want the best for you, and they apparently take their desire to protect you a little too far.

I suggest you address this issue head-on. Ask your parents for a nice, hour-long sit-down discussion on a quiet Saturday afternoon when everyone has some free time and will not be distracted. During this discussion, go over your history of good behavior, your good grades and your excellent record of adherence to your family's rules.

Mention that you truly appreciate that they care so much about you and remind them that they were once your age and they eventually grew into the responsible adults they are today. Tell them you intend to follow in their footsteps in this regard. Feel free to mention that you've written to this column and my advice is for your parents to slowly — but surely — give you a bit more and more independence and trust as you grow older. Your job is to continue to earn and maintain that trust. Tell them you will do so, and better yet, demonstrate through your behavior that you are doing just that.

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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