Straight Talk TNT by Teens
Is tattoo popularity fading?
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: My friend and I are having an argument. He is 22 and never got a tattoo. Suddenly, he wants one. I say he’s lucky he never got one because they are going out of style. He doesn’t agree that they are…
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15-year-old girl wants to spend break with boyfriend
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I am in a long-distance relationship and see my boyfriend every couple weeks if I’m lucky. February break is coming up and I want to stay at his house. We’re both 15 with crazy hormones, but I still…
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Young husband’s cheating agony for wife and child
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I’m 21. My husband is 19. He has cheated on me several times, once since we've been married, and I’m scared he is doing it again. It’s always with the same girl, an ex-girlfriend who lives…
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Son won’t go to sleep before midnight
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I have an ordinary question compared to the topics you cover. How do you get a teenager (age 16) to go to sleep before midnight — so that he wakes up in the morning acting like a human being? (I’m afraid…
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Son’s internet romance worries Dad
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: My oldest, age 15, is in a long-term, long-distance relationship with "the one." He is constantly asking to visit her. I have concerns about the level of supervision there (every interaction has involved questionable…
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On the first day of Christmas my true love stole for me
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I am writing about my friend. She has a problem with shoplifting, maybe even an addiction. I would like to help her stop before she gets caught because she is over 18 and it will result in a criminal record. I have…
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Mom asks: Are my curfew and dating rules too strict?
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: My 17-year-old daughter has a serious almost-18-year-old boyfriend. She says I’m too restrictive. I feel a midnight curfew is reasonable and that she may not go to his home since I don’t know if an adult…
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Making a better world, Part II
DEAR READERS: Each New Year I ask the panelists: What bugs you most about the world? How would you make the world better? Last week's “better world” column covered concerns about how digital networking has diminished face-to-face…
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Young people lament downside of digital age
DEAR READERS: What bugs you most about the world? How would you make the world better? Every winter, I pose these questions to the panel. This year, technology took a bruising. Real relationships, thinking deeply, embracing boredom, and…
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Best party favor: stay sober, keep each other safe
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I attend high school parties but don't usually drink or use drugs. Recently a girl chugged vodka. Everyone except me was drinking so nobody thought much of it. After ten minutes, her limbs went limp and she…
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Girl raped while passed out from drinking
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I am helping a friend in my dorm through a terrible experience. She passed out from drinking at a party and was put in a bedroom to sleep it off. She woke up in pain with somebody on top of her. It was like a bad…
3 Comments
Generous Aunt gets no thanks
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: Each year I give my niece and nephew an expensive gift of something they want or need. I often include money. If I'm there for the holidays, they say thank you but I have never once received a thank-you letter.…
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Dad’s suggestive touching embitters daughter
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I'm 17 and lucky to have an involved dad who believes in his kids. But he finds a way to pat my bottom or touch me closer to my chest than I am comfortable with any boy doing. Because of this, I avoid standing…
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Teens ‘n Twenties shopping guide
DEAR READERS: It’s time again for Straight Talk’s shopping list — direct from the source. I’m always hoping Santa will “think outside the box” (literally) and scratch video games,…
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Learning warning signs of suicide saves lives
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: Regarding last week’s column about the boy who committed suicide, a friend of mine also did lots of increasingly negative drinking, smoking weed and partying.…
