DR. WALLACE: I'm 16, and the guy I love is 20. My parents despise him for two main reasons. First, we have different religions, and second, they say that he is much older than me, and that is a big, big problem in their eyes. So, now my parents are refusing to let me see my boyfriend, but that's impossible because we love each other, so I sneak out to see him every chance I get. Sometimes, at night, I slip out of my bedroom window around midnight, and I easily sneak back in by 4 a.m. Nobody has ever said boo to me about this. My boyfriend wants us to just pick up and leave and go to another state on the West Coast. He told me he has a friend out there who can get him a job that pays very well.

I told my parents that we might choose to leave and move to another state soon and get married. My parents literally just laughed in my face, and they still won't budge on letting me see my boyfriend, so I'm planning to move out of the house as soon as I can. My parents said if that happens, they would have my boyfriend arrested when they find us — and because my father is a parole officer, he will absolutely use every tool at this disposal to track us down if I take off with my guy. Do you think they're just trying to scare me? By the way, my boyfriend is really 21, so he's totally his own man now, and he can drink legally anything he wants. — Being Treated Like a Child, via email

BEING TREATED LIKE A CHILD: Your boyfriend is considered an adult in the eyes of the law. If he enables you to run away from home in his company, he could be arrested and spend time behind bars for kidnapping or contributing to the corruption of a minor.

I would urge you to reconsider your plan and look for a reasonable way to work things out with your parents.

And to answer your last question, no, I don't feel your father is just trying to scare you. I believe he feels he is looking out for you and is doing his best to keep you safe despite your disagreement with his perspective.

Finally, you brought up legal drinking by your boyfriend, and you even gave me two different ages for him in the same letter. It's my opinion that you have a lot of growing up to do and that you are too immature to run off with a 21-year-old, much less get married to one.

TRY SPORTS DRINKS INSTEAD

DR. WALLACE: I am 21 and can legally consume alcohol. I'm not into drinking hard liquor, but I do have a couple of beers occasionally, especially after I work out with a few of my friends. Why am I considered a "drinker" in the very same manner as a person who drinks whiskey every day? It's like how the person who smokes pot once or twice a month is often classified as a drug user, right next to the heroin addict that shoots up every day. — A Disappointed Dude Regarding Nomenclature

DISAPPOINTED DUDE: Beer is just as potent as wine or hard liquor. Twelve ounces of beer, five ounces of wine and 1.5 ounces of 80-proof liquor all contain virtually the same amount of alcohol. However, no amount of marijuana consumption creates an equal impact of heroin or cocaine.

Since you are offended to be labeled as a drinker, my suggestion is to stop drinking beer and start drinking sports drinks or lemonade after a strenuous workout. They're much better for you. You'll probably feel better, and you'll save some money, too.

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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