DR. WALLACE: I'm 16 and have a favorite new teacher in one of my classes who is absolutely a dream! He's probably about 30 years old, and he's so funny and nice that it makes being in this class a joy. But I also have other classes with older teachers, and some of them are kind of strict and even a little mean.

Why are some teachers easier to get along with than others are? I really seem to notice the variance between my teachers this year much more than I ever did in the past. — Like Friendlier Teachers, via email

LIKE FRIENDLIER TEACHERS: The job of any teacher is to educate students and assist them along their journey in developing better comprehension, understanding and knowledge about important subjects that will be quite valuable to them during their lifetime. The primary job of a teacher is therefore not to be a friend of each student, even though some friendly banter and friendships do often develop over time in some cases.

Each teacher has his or her own style, priorities and methods for helping students to learn the subject matter in a structured way. Don't take the strictness of some of your teachers as a negative thing. In fact, this discipline and attention to detail likely will benefit you in the long run.

HE KNEW HE WAS WRONG

DR. WALLACE: My parents own a business, and they usually work there together all day on Saturdays. They leave for work early in the morning and they generally don't get home until dinnertime. We do have a big family meal together every Saturday night, but while they're gone, I usually have to watch my 11-year-old little brother. I'm 17; my older sister is 18. We often take turns playing the role of mother to our little brother.

This means we have to keep an eye on him and keep track of him all day on Saturdays so that he does not get into trouble. Well, this past Saturday, it was my turn to keep track of him.

For a while, he played basketball with his friends in the driveway, but then after his friends had to go home, I didn't see him outside anymore. I was working in our vegetable garden in our side yard and I saw him go back inside the house. Then, after about a half hour, because things seemed awfully quiet inside the house, I went in to check on him.

I caught him in our family room watching an R-rated action movie. Our parents have told him many times that he is not allowed to watch R-rated movies at his age, and they even told my sister and I not to allow him to watch these movies.

Of course, I stopped the movie, turned the television off and scolded him. For the rest of the afternoon, he was pretty well behaved. About an hour before our parents were due home, my little brother begged me not to tell our parents what he had done. He promised to never do it again.

When my parents did come home, I actually didn't say anything to them at all about the incident. But now that a few days have passed, I'm wondering if I should still tell my parents what he did. What is your opinion about this matter? — Older Sister, via email

OLDER SISTER: Your younger brother indeed made a mistake and broke a rule he knew he should not have. You were able to quickly stop his viewing of this R-rated movie and also to appropriately scold him for doing so in the first place when he knew the rules in advance.

At this point, since a few days have passed, I feel there's likely no need for you to inform your parents this far after the incident — this time.

However, I would advise you to sit down with your brother at some point soon and let him know that although you did not "turn him in" this time, you will absolutely do so if he makes the same mistake again. It's important for you to keep your leverage as his caretaker when your parents are not present to watch over him. Tell him that he has now used up his one "pass" and that he must now stay on his best behavior going forward.

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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