Dear Queenie,
My boyfriend keeps asking me to prove I love him by making a baby for him. I don’t want to lose him, but I think I’m still too young to be a mother. He promises to take care of me and the baby and says we’ll get married when I finish high school.
Queenie, what will I do if I lose him? What if he stays and I get pregnant by accident? What if I make a baby for him and he leaves the both of us? Please tell me what to do.—Confused Teenager

Dear Teenager,
You do not seem all that confused to me – you are asking me all the questions I would ask you in response to your letter.
So – if you lose him because you refuse to make a baby for him, you will be free to find a better boyfriend, one who will not make such unreasonable demands on you.
If he stays – better yet, let us say “if you stay with him!” – learn all you can about contraception. Talk first to your family doctor about it and then go to a gynaecologist/obstetrician to learn more, and then take full charge of all contraceptive measures to make sure you do not get pregnant by accident. Most especially, do not rely on condoms – all it takes is a pinprick in one of them to make a baby!
And the answer to your third question is: DO NOT MAKE A BABY FOR HIM!!! A man who wants his woman to make a baby just to “prove she loves him” will probably not be a good father, and when you do have children you will want them to have the best father in the world.

Dear Queenie,
I recently recovered from a very serious illness and people are always asking me how I’m doing. Then when I tell them I’m all well again they start asking me for details about my illness which I really don’t want to talk about.
Queenie, how can I refuse without being rude?—All well again

Dear Well again,
Do not give them a chance to ask. As soon as you tell them you are all better, change the subject. If they persist in asking for details, just say, “Let’s talk about something more pleasant” and ask them how they have been doing. Most people do love to talk about themselves.

Dear Queenie,
I have been working for a certain business for a few months, but I have not been happy there and now I have been lucky enough to find a new job at a place I am sure I will like better and I will be quitting the old job soon.
The main reason I don’t like the old job is because my supervisor is mean and nasty and just plain disgusting to work for. That person will curse at you and use obscene language if you make a mistake or they just aren’t pleased for some reason and even if you do your work perfectly they will still get mad and claim they told you to do it differently or to do something else.
Queenie, my question is, should I go to the owners and tell them why I am leaving?—Fed up employee

Dear Employee,
By all means go to the owners and tell them what you have told me. They should know (if they do not already know) how this person treats his/her subordinates.
But save this conversation for the moment just before, or even after, you walk out their door for the last time. Do not give this “disgusting” supervisor, in case he or she finds out what you have said about him/her, any opportunity to vindictively treat you any worse than he/she already does.

Dear Queenie,
My brother is 10 years older than me and we never got along even when we were kids. In fact, I haven’t seen or spoken to him in years.
Now his son tells me his father is dying of cancer and asked if I wanted to come see him.
Queenie, I really don’t want to go visit my brother just because he is deathly ill. Do you think I should go anyway?—Estranged kid brother

Dear Kid brother,
You do not have to, but it might be a kindness to go to say goodbye to your brother, if only to make your nephew feel better (or just a little less bad). After all, he is losing his father, whom he presumably loves.