Megan

My school has recently put in doors that lock from the inside. When teachers make you go outside, the doors lock behind you and you are physically restrained by the doors from getting into the school. I think this is appalling- and is it even legal?

If there was an emergency, we'd be unable to get in, although there is one door left unlocked it is not easily accessed. For those with ilnesses and bladder problems, who need to access the toilets immediately- they are totally unable to. I feel so degraded- they are treating us like criminals, and I am fifteen and totally able to make decisions for myself. What do you think? Should I take it up with the school? My mum is totally disgusted too.

My school is rough but I just don't think this is right. They also lock the toilets during lessons, so you cannot access them unless you have a note from your teacher. I have anxiety problems myself, and don't appreciate being locked outside against my will. You cannot physically restrain adults (my mother works in a hospital where they cannot) so why treat children like this? We are not criminals! I certainly feel like one.

All of my friends and family were upgraded to the new Facebook Chat ages ago. (The one where chat history is sent to your inbox.) I really want it but apparently you have to be invited to have it, am I ever going to get it? How, or when? Thank you :)

I am really unhappy at my school at the moment. Last year I was bullied and lost a lot of confidence due to this, and I moved to a new school last September after missing a whole term.

When I started at my new school, no one made an effort to be nice to me and I was alone from my first day onwards. It hurt a lot. But ironically, when another new girl started a few months ago, everyone was really nice to her, and longing to be her friend. And I don't get this, because even though I am really nice and always looking out for others, no one wants to be my friend no matter how hard I try. I don't get how the people that aren't so nice are more popular and everyone longs to be their friend.

Every day I force myself in and have an awful day, pretty much. I want to cry all the time, and I feel so isolated, alone and helpless. And there is no other school I can go to. I have been diagnosed with moderate depression and I also have a lot of anxiety issues. And the worst thing is that I have no friends, and pairwork and groupwork is always pure torture for me as I have no one to go with.

I miss my old school even though it was really awful; I want to be back with my friends which is also unrealistic because half of them have left. I'm just feeling so low at the moment and no matter how hard I try no one actually wants to give me a chance or be my friend. I don't know what to do- please help!

I was diagosed with tonsillitis today, and have just started taking antibiotics. (A day before Christmas, rotten luck, eh?!) How long will it take before the pain goes away, and I start to feel better? Will it take the full week, or will it be less time?

Many thanks :)

Hi

We have the Deluxe Dining Plan for a week and I am concerned about tipping. I have NEVER been to America before so I have absolutely no idea about tipping in DisneyWorld. I have heard it is customary; does this mean we should or we will be thought of as rude? In England we only tip if the service was great, can we do this in America? We are only a party of 5 so we won't be charged the 18% gratuity, just wanted to know if we have to because it is customary, as this will take a few hundered dollars out of our budget unfortunately.

Also is 20% a good tipping rate?

Thanks very much :)

I am really unhappy. I don't have any friends at school, and I started in September. I got bullied at my old school, I got accused of doing something nasty when I didn't, so I got lumped with the blame and they were so nasty to me. I left there after two years of being there and started at a new school.

I don't know why but I can't make any friends. I am quite shy but I have tried to overcome this and have talked to people but no one's really interested. I hate waking up in the morning, I get such a horrible feeling and I just hate school. No one really understands- people think I am not trying hard enough, but I can only do the best I can and as I am already doing that I don't know what to do next.

I am so stuck, no one understands what it feels like. I have been unhappy for 3 years now and had no friends, ever since I started secondary school. I don't know what to do and all I want is to be happy and have some friends. No one really understands how much I need them- they already have friends and so don't need any more. Please help, I am really really struggling and I don't know what do do next, I feel so miserable.

Sorry about saying all that, I just really need some advice, and I want people to know what I feel like, seeing as no one understands here. Thanks so much.

Hi! We are taking our first Disney World trip, and just wanted some tips and opinions for some things. Sorry if it sounds weird!

We are booked in at Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa on-site and though I am excited I am having second thoughts about it.

The cost is quite high for a hotel (I think around £1400 room only for a 2bdrm villa for a week) and the photos on reviews make it look quite rundown and in need of a refurb. I just wanted some opinions on whether staying onsite is worth the extra money and what Saratoga Springs is like.

Also, while I'm at it, we have purchased the dining plan on top of this and I would love to get some reccomendations of good restaurants. Which are the best to go for?

We will be in orlando for 12 full days and 2 half days (Travelling takes up half a day each way)

We have tickets for disney world but will this keep us busy enough throughout the holiday? Will we have time to do Universal or Seaworld? (Though we want do the parks in a relaxed pace and not rush everything)

Thanks in advance for advice, it is greatly appreciated!

We will be staying at Saratoga Springs, but we are disapointed as there is not a beach there. We know that you cannot use other hotel's pools, but we wanted to know whether we could use the beaches at other hotels- or is this not allowed? Thanks!

Our family of five (Two adults, and a 14, 12 and 6 year old) are going to disney world in August 2011, and we are thinking about the best way to do disney in the least frantic way possible.

We have 8 days, 9 at a push, to do the whole of disney, including the water parks.

We have been told that a good way to do it is go to each park early, get fastpasses and ride some rides, eat lunch there (Dining plan) and then return to our disney hotel to lounge around the pool and relax during the busiest part of the day and then return late afternoon early evening and take advantage of the extra magic hours.

We were planning to spend:

2 1/2 days in Epcot

2 days at MK

1 day at AK

1 day at HS

And with the spare days visit the waterparks.

Is this a good plan? We aren't bothered about all the kiddie rides, and are more interested in the more thrilling ones, and plan only on visiting the must see rides.

I'd appreciate any advice, as we've never been to disney world before and want to make the most of our time there. Thanks!

I am going to Sardinia, Italy for two weeks and don't speak a bit of the language! I know Vodafone charges you to use the internet abroad, though I want to use an online translator to translate things English-Italian and vice versa on my phone. Does anyone know an average on what it could cost to translate one phrase?

Or explain the whole policy? I don't understand the whole MB thing. How big is a megabite and how long could I roam the internet if I wanted to use 1 mb?

I'm so confused! Thank you!

Hi

Just wondering, is Disney better than Universal Studios? We (My family, with 3 kids ranging from 6-14) are going from the UK in August 2011. We really want to make the most of this lifetime holiday, and want to make the right decision. Thanks!

Hi

I am booking a possible holiday to Florida in 2011, and have been reccomended Virgin Atlantic, though I have read some bad reviews on this, too.

Things we really want-

*TVs on seatbacks

*Decent leg room

*Pleasant food and staff

We have been reccomended Virgin for these reasons. Are there any other airlines that anyone would strongly reccomend? Or any opinions on Virgin? Thanks very much. (And as we ar travelling with kids we do need to sit together! So preferably an airline that prioratises this???)

A while ago, I was walking my labrador, (Still a puppy, but a large one) through my village, when a little boy who looked 6 or 7 came walking past with his mother, who was pushing a pram, and was holding a stick with quite sharp branches coming out of it, and started hitting my dog's head and neck with it! My poor dog had just had an injection and yelped as it happened, but as he has a good temperment did not bite or attack the boy.

At this time, when he was younger, he was a lot more protective about himself, as he had only just started adjusting to a new home, poor thing, so he didn't know what to make of it, as he'd only just had a few walks before this, and was terrified enough of walks (he was scared of cars) without some little boy coming and harrasing him! Luckily it didn't lead to him being even more scared on the next walk, but I was worried it would.

When the child started hitting my dog, I asked him "Please could you stop hitting my dog, it is hurting him." I tried to stop him hitting my dog, trying to get the stick away from the poor creature, as the boy continued to do it, and the mother glared at me, and asked me not to be like that to her son. I thought this was the right thing to do, as the boy was really rude and just completely ignored me, and my dog was already in pain, after all, injections hurt, ontop of getting whacked with a sharp stick!

It really annoyed me, as my dog is by no means violent and wouldn't even think of biting now he is a few months older, but when he was younger, he loved playbiting and did it quite fiercely without realising, and he could have playbited with this boy, either defending himself or thinking it was a game. This could have hurt the boy, or at least shocked him.

I'm not sure whether I did something wrong, but the mother certainly didn't seem pleased with me. Dogs have feelings, even though some people don't think they do. I just wish that children would get taught more respect for animals, as if this boy hit a more vicious dog with a stick there could be awful consequences.

Would you say there was a better way to handle this situation, without getting this over- protective mother so angry? Thanks!

My dog (lab), who is eight months old, has just learnt to jump fences, and walls, too! In my garden, there is the patio area and then a wall blocking it off from the next part of the garden which is at the top of the wall. Whenever he wants to go to the toilet, he always manages to jump over the wall, and into the back of the garden, which becomes even worse, as he can then jump over a short fence and get over to next doors garden. It is very embarrassing when one of our neighbours comes to our house complaining that our dog has been rampaging in their garden again! It has happened 3 times this week already! We have tried going out with him, but the second we look away, he thinks we cannot see him, he scrabbles over the wall, and when we try and stop him he runs away.

Are there any tecniques that we can use to stop him? We know the easy way is to get a new fence or extend our present one, but this costs money, and likely hundreds or thousands, which we can't afford at the moment. The fear is getting bigger as there are some horses on near our house, on the other side of our neighbours' fence, and, well, you know why I'm worried!

Or, otherwise, are their any cheap ways I can get hold on fences and fence extensions, or any possible way I can stop him without having to watch him constantly? Thanks!

A vegetable has started growing in my garden and I don't know what it is. It is a root vegetable, and has jagged leaves, shaped a little like holly except there are more points on this. It has the same texture as a runner bean plant, and is dark green. Does anyone have an idea of what it may be? I need to know ASAP to stop it disturbing the growth of the other vegetables! Thanks!

My dog, who is a lab, 7 months old, had a tummy bug a few weeks ago and the vet said it was compulsory to feed him on a diet of human carbs such as pasta, scrambled egg and cheese, etc rather than his dog food. Once his bug was gone, and we started to give him dog food again, he started refusing to eat it, obviously prefering human food. He will now only eat it when we mix in tuna, scrambled egg or cheese, and even then he manages to get all the human food out and leave the dog food in the bowl! I know he finds the dog food, Hill's Science Plan untasty, but it is the best food you can give your dog. We have tried Pedigree, which he loved, but heard this was like feeding your child junk food every day. Are there any ways of getting him to eat his current dog food rather than leaving it? If not are there any good quality dog foods which he would be more likely to eat? Thanks, any suggestions would be appreciated.