My brother plays the guitar very well, so my parents signed me up (报名) for guitar too. But I’m just not a guitar girl. What should I do?

Can’t Hold

Thank you for your letter. While your parents want you to play the guitar, mine hoped I’d play baseball. You would be amazed at how much my parents love baseball. My dad was the star player on his school team, and they first met in line to buy hot dogs at a baseball game!

Years ago, my parents thought baseball would just be in my blood and I’d be a talented player. Before I could say “Thanks, but no thanks”, they had signed me up and ordered my uniform!

Don’t get me wrong. My training on baseball wasn’t terrible. Our coach was nice and the kids on our team were great. Even though I never became very good at baseball, I did improve by the end of that season. Then something unexpected happened one day. My grandmother took me to the community pool on the way home after the baseball practice. It turned out to be the best time I ever had. I swam happily with a boy called Ben and later we became good friends. Then we decided to join a swimming team.

So I talked to my parents about it that night, and they were surprisingly understanding about wanting to be on a swimming team. But they said I should finish out that year’s baseball first.

So dear Can’t Hold, here’s what I think. Your parents possibly think that because your brother is into guitar, you must be into it too. But they won’t know how you feel if you don’t talk them about it. Why not let them know that guitar doesn’t seem like the right instrument for you, give another instrument a try? Maybe you can give violin or piano a shot.

Hope my advice is helpful.

Sigmund Friend

I’m really worried about my daughter. I think some of the older boys in her school are bullying her. Every day she comes home from school in tears. And every morning she says she doesn’t feel well because she doesn’t want to go to school. Can you give me some advice?

Mary

I think you should go and talk to your daughter’s head teacher. Bullying is a serious problem in many schools, and every school must have a rule to stop it. Perhaps you could also have a talk with your daughter, and give her some good advice.

Anna

My neighbors keep playing loud music late at night. I’ve been there a couple of times to complain (抱怨), and they turn it down for a few minutes. But ten minutes later, they turn it up again. It’s making me very stressed. What do you think I should do?

Michael

I think you should speak to them one more time. Perhaps you could go during the day, when it’s quiet and you feel calm (冷静). Try to be polite and explain how their music is making you feel. Tell them that you would really like to be friendly to them, but if they keep making noise at night, you will call the police. Before you do this, you should write down all the dates and time when your neighbors make too much noise.

Anna