Emily G

We're both 18, been together over a year. His home life has never been good. He just got a new job that pays enough to support himself, and plans to move out once his six-month probationary period is up. He wants me to move with him. I'm worried about a few things:

-He's had multiple relationships and time to experiment, and I haven't--he's the first boyfriend I've ever had. Isn't this the age I'm supposed to be dating different people/being free and "finding myself" and all that?

-I would love living together if we'd had this same relationship 5 years down the road. But I feel like if we were to move in, we'd be stuck long-term and that scares me.

-My home life is great (aside from having an 11:00pm curfew), and virtually free.

-But he's ******* amazing and I love him.

My boyfriend and I have been dating for a little over a year. He's great in EVERY category except communication and keeping his word. After we hang out, we briefly talk about when we'll see each other next. He'll talk about potentially doing something the next day together, but when the next day comes, he doesn't make contact with me until late afternoon or night time. If I try to call or text, he doesn't reply (mainly because he constantly loses his phone).

If he can't hang out, fine. Hell, if he can't even talk that day, that's also fine. All I'm asking is for him to be considerate enough to let me know what's going on, because I don't want to pass up other invitations to do things so I can leave myself free for him. I assumed after a while that calling me just wasn't that important to him, and I almost ended it. But he INSISTED that wasn't the case, and says things like "I wanted to, but..."

I don't want to let him go, but I need this to change because it's beyond frustrating.

My boyfriend and I have been dating for a little over a year. He's great in EVERY category except communication and keeping his word. After we hang out, we briefly talk about when we'll see each other next. He'll talk about potentially doing something the next day together, but when the next day comes, he doesn't make contact with me until late afternoon or night time. If I try to call or text, he doesn't reply (mainly because he constantly loses his phone).

If he can't hang out, fine. Hell, if he can't even talk that day, that's also fine. All I'm asking is for him to be considerate enough to let me know what's going on, because I don't want to pass up other invitations to do things so I can leave myself free for him. I assumed after a while that calling me just wasn't that important to him, and I almost ended it. But he INSISTED that wasn't the case, and says things like "I wanted to, but..."

I don't want to let him go, but I need this to change because it's beyond frustrating.

Yet we have the highest pregnancy rates in the industrialized world.

Am I the only American who feels comfortable with allowing their kid to openly talk about and engage in sex when they feel ready?

My parents went on a business trip, and left me (19 years old) in charge of my brother (14 years old).

He's had problems with weed before, and he had terrible grades. My parents found out he was smoking and they told him to get it together and never smoke again, get better grades, etc.

He's been clean for a while and I've been tutoring him with school, so his grades are getting better. The other night, my friends came over and had weed, and I thought, as long as his grades are improving, how bad would it be to let him smoke just this once with me? And I also didn't want him to feel like a little kid (he's very mature for his age and hates it when I don't include him). So I let him. Is that bad?

Now I feel like a HORRIBLE person. If my parents ever found out I did that, they'd kill me. I'm not sure how to act with this whole weed thing. I don't want to be that older sister who treats her younger siblings like they're immature, cause I know how that feels. Especially my brother, because he knows about all this stuff already and I'm basically patronizing him when I tell him it's bad. But I also don't want to set a bad example for him. What would you do?

It's never been a question of love for me. Nothing about him that frustrates me has been because he has treated me poorly-- it has all been about treating himself poorly almost, and not doing what he knows is right (he smokes weed all the time, and doesn't have a car or license or job, but he's working on the job part). I know he's super smart and capable of all this, and that's what frustrates me the most.

At the same time, I don't want to tell him what to do. We've had talks about it before and he says he'll do better, but promises don't mean much to me anymore. I'm his girlfriend, not his mom, but I expect better...

But I'll probably end up waiting it out, to see what happens, to see if he can make these changes for himself without my influence. Cause I love him do death, I really do. 

What would you do in this situation? Would you break up with someone who wasn't living up to who you thought they were, or would you be able to accept them because they love you? Would you expect them to change, or would you let them make their own decisions?

My girlfriend and I have been dating for around 4 months now. Before we started dating, she was a stoner and at one point she smoked every day, sometimes twice a day. But she stopped doing it so often and when we started dating, she basically stopped all together. She would say "I respect you too much to be high around you" and stuff like that. I told her it's her life and she could smoke if she wanted and I wouldn't try to control her. I also smoke, but only occasionally at parties and stuff. But now she has a different schedule at school, and she has classes with her old stoner friends that always want to smoke. So she's starting to smoke before she sees me, and it didn't bother me at first but now it does a little bit. It's fine if I'm high with her, but it's annoying when she's high and I'm not. Would I be controlling or hypocritical if I asked her not to smoke before she sees me? And I'm worried about her becoming a stoner again..I don't know if I wanna date a stoner. What should I do?

Are any of the current republican candidates FOR gay marriage, or are they all against it?

If your gay daughter and her girlfriend (both 17 years old) wanted to have a sleepover in your house, would you:

A. Say yes, and let them sleep in the same bed. 

B. Say yes, but make them sleep in separate rooms.

C. Say no. 

Write your answer and why :) 

Also, do you believe that they should be treated as if they were a boy-girl couple, or treated differently because they're both the same sex and pregnancy is impossible? (rule out STD's for this scenario) 

So, I'm bisexual. I'm seventeen. I've been dating this girl (who's also seventeen) for about a month now, and my mom walked in my room the other day when we were laying on my bed. We were both just laying next to each other-I was under the covers and she wasn't. So we obviously weren't doing anything sexual; not even kissing.

Both my parents are completely accepting when it comes to the gay thing (we're very open about it..my mom's even said she wants to know when i've had my first "sexual experience with a girl") and she acted like she was fine with it.

But later she pulled me aside and said she never wants to see that again, saying it's disrespectful of me to lay in my bed with my girlfriend since it's my parents' house. She doesn't mind seeing us lay on the couch or anywhere else, it's my bed she has a problem with.

I can't understand her logic at all with this one..I don't see anything wrong with it. Especially because we were literally just laying there. And even if it did lead to something sexual when she wasn't home...we're both clean girls and therefore there's zero chance of pregnancy or STD's. I'm just wondering:

1. Why does she consider that disrespectful? She won't tell me.

2. Can anyone guess her reasoning behind it? She won't tell me.

3. Is she being too old-fashioned or is it just me?

I just need a breakdown of what it consists of. The separation of powers, you know, the branches, congress, what order does everything go in? Who does what? Thank you!!

I started a band about a year ago, we're all juniors in high school. They're all great, and we work really well together and make good music.

There was this girl in one of my classes that said she'd been taking bass lessons for over 5 years, and we started talking about music and becoming friends. I asked her to come jam with me and my band (she said she'd been playing for 5 years, I assumed she would be descent and wouldn't have to worry about rejecting her) and she seemed to do okay the first time...not as good as we needed her to be, but still okay.

The second time we practiced, she found it hard to learn the simple bass line we needed her to learn for the song we were going to play. We were also trying to write a song, and when we told her to add a quick bass line, she couldn't do it.

Basically, we need someone in our band who will learn quickly, be able to improv, and have really good rhythm. She doesn't have any of those, but I kindof made the mistake of making good friends with her before I asked her to come jam with us. We never made it like an audition either, so she kinda thinks she's part of the band now. What would be a nice way of getting rid of her?

13 minutes ago - 4 days left to answer.

I want to be honest with her for sure, but what should I say to her specifically? I really like her, she's a hella cool person and a friend of mine now. So I reallly don't want to hurt her feelings.

I started a band about a year ago, we're all juniors in high school. They're all great, and we work really well together and make good music.

There was this girl in one of my classes that said she'd been taking bass lessons for over 5 years, and we started talking about music and becoming friends. I asked her to come jam with me and my band (she said she'd been playing for 5 years, I assumed she would be descent and wouldn't have to worry about rejecting her) and she seemed to do okay the first time...not as good as we needed her to be, but still okay.

The second time we practiced, she found it hard to learn the simple bass line we needed her to learn for the song we were going to play. We were also trying to write a song, and when we told her to add a quick bass line, she couldn't do it.

Basically, we need someone in our band who will learn quickly, be able to improv, and have really good rhythm. She doesn't have any of those, but I kindof made the mistake of making good friends with her before I asked her to come jam with us. We never made it like an audition either, so she kinda thinks she's part of the band now. What would be a nice way of getting rid of her?

I really want some catchy music with lots of synth and bass, with singing in it, not just instrumental. Nothing too repetitive like "We No Speak Americano" though. I like Deadmau5, but I don't really know any other good artists or songs from genres like this. Thanks :)

Is there a way your parents can get access to all text messages from day one of your phone usage?

I have friend who plays guitar (he's a guy) and another one who sings (she's a girl). The one that plays guitar asked me and the singer to accompany him at our high school battle of the bands (I play guitar as well). We both agreed. We practiced, and we won third place. A few jam sessions later, we consider ourselves a band and wanted to record soon.

About a month or so passes, and the guy asks the girl out. So we had a few practices after they officially became an item, then about a month went by and now we don't have practices at all and whenever I ask them to come over and jam, they can never make it. Yesterday, I found out that they're playing a gig by themselves-they didn't invite me or tell me about it, I heard it from a friend.

My reaction was basically, "Wow, cool of them to let me in on that.."

Everyone has been telling me how messed up they are for doing that, and I was pretty mad. Then one person told me they had every right to go perform by themselves, they're a couple after all.

So I'm not sure whether I should (or have a right to) be mad about this, or if I'm just being sensitive and overreacting.

I've been talking to this guy. He's my mom's best friend's son, and we've known each other ever since we were born. I'm 17, and he's almost 17. He's liked me for "as long as he can remember" and I've liked him for about a year. When we first found out we both felt the same about each other, I wanted to make a relationship out of it. He didn't want to go out, because he thought our families were to close and it would be awkward around them.

So things settled down between us for a few months. And then he got a girlfriend. I was really jealous, but I never let it show. They broke up after a few weeks.

A little after that, he wanted us to be friends with benefits. I basically said no, that's stupid, I want someone who will commit to me and being friends with benefits will allow you to talk to other girls (and I get jealous VERY easily, so I didn't want that). And I had a feeling that he just wanted to use me for the physical aspects a relationship has...and I wanted a full on relationship.

When I talked to one of my friends about it, he told me that I shouldn't agree to friends with benefits if I had any feelings for this guy at all, cause I'd just end up getting hurt in the end.

So a couple weeks went by and I started to realize that I don't really like anything about my mom's best friend's son's personality. He has a horrible attitude, he's stubborn, and he's immature. The only thing I liked about him was his looks. He's tall, he has a cute face, and he's got some pretty darn awesome hair.

I woke up this morning and all my desire to date him was gone. I had an epiphany almost. But, I still think he's really cute and I kind of want to take him up on the friends with benefits offer. Is that bad? And if not, should I tell him I don't have feelings for him anymore and I just want to have the physical aspect now?

Thanks

Best friend.

It's my best friend's 16th birthday in two weeks. She likes Bob Marley, so I made her a collage of some of his famous quotes and lyrics pictures and stuff and put it in a nice frame. It's a pretty good size, but I want to get her another little side-gift or something (like $20 and under) cause I don't feel like the collage is enough.

I hate asking her what she wants, cause it just seems kinda impersonal. And I want to get her something really cool and original since it's her 16th. She already has tons of pictures of us together, and she has an iPod full of songs, so making her a CD of her favorites would be kind of pointless.

Oh, and she doesn't smoke weed, so I can't get her anything to do with that. haha

It's my best friend's 16th birthday in two weeks. I hate asking her what she wants, cause it just seems kinda impersonal. And I want to get her something really cool and original since it's her 16th. I know she likes Bob Marley, and when I asked her how much on a scale from 1 to 10, she said 7. I thought of making a colage of some of his famous quotes and lyrics pictures and stuff.

Is this a good idea? Or is it lame. If you think it's lame, what else could I get her that has to do with Bob Marley? She already has all the music she likes from him.