Young Love--Young Marriage?

Dear Duana, Audrey and I share love, commitment, values, goals, interests, and ambitions—and Youth. I’m 18 and she’s 17. We know we need our parents’ approval. What do we say?

Click to read more ...

Q&A from “S-E-X: Kids have questions, You’ve got answers”

Our article on Sex Talks received so much feedback, we now need headings for the Q&A topics. Here, a few: What if your kids want details of *your* sex life? What do you mean, kids don’t know what abstinence is?! What about the KY commercials? And explaining gay sex? Read on! Cheers, Duana

Click to read more ...

SEX: Kids have questions—You’ve got answers

My husband and I want our kids, ages 5 through 11, to delay sex at least until college. But he thinks it’s too soon to talk, and that The Talk “just gives them permission”. I am hoping you’ll tell me whether, what, when, and how we tell our kids about S-E-X? Dear The Mom, As the t-shirt says, “You can’t scare me, I’ve got kids.” But you *can* scare us about our kids, especially when it comes to their burgeoning sexuality…

Click to read more ...

Men as Success Objects: Or, why a man’s job is to have a (good) job

Dear Duana, I’m back with my former boyfriend, but an issue from our break-up remains: He works for his mom and does not seemed inspired to do more. Will this always bother me? Dear Janie, ITE (In This Economy), there are plenty of folks who are un- or under-employed through no fault of their own, despite strident efforts. But there’s no sugar-coating this: Male lack of ambition is a huge, universal and global female turn-off. Why that is so, and whether it has to ruin your relationship with Dave, are separate issues…

Click to read more ...

Winning Him Back—with Jealousy?

After three happy years with my first love, I ruined things by turning clingy, depressed and negative when we moved apart for grad school. Not surprisingly, he eventually broke it off, and I actually begged him to return. We now live in the same city, know the same people, and often see one another at art galleries, the theater, etc. How do I ease the awkwardness between us, let him see I’m the woman he fell in love with, and win him back? Dear Cait, Oh, the I-cringe-at-my-own-past-desperate-behavior feeling! We’ve all been there. Yet precisely because you tried so hard to hang onto Dan back then, it’s imperative that you do *nothing* to ease the tension now. In fact, I’d suggest increasing the awkwardness…

Click to read more ...