I have been reading your advice to people. I know you deal with a lot of health and mental problems. My question might seem silly in comparison but it is important to me. I am 15 and I’m starting school in a few weeks. All my friends are getting pedicures before school begins. I really want to get one too. My mother refuses to let me. She says it’ll make me look ‘easy and sleazy.’ Really, she says that. She also says it’s a waste of money and time. We have been fighting about this for days. Would it be wrong for me to just go and get a pedicure and use my own money from babysitting?
Quick: Oh, dear, I am so glad you are thinking of painting your nails rather than smoking crack. Your mother makes me tired. While I recognize that we all have different ideas about what is sleazy, nail painting seems alarmingly tame to me. As you are 15, I believe the correct advice would be to continue to try to respectfully negotiate with your mother. Offering to pay for your manicure/pedicure may ease the conversation, if it is really about money. Count the years, dear; soon you will be making wise decisions for yourself. Hang in there.
Quack: Your mother should be happy you are in school, not pregnant, not doing drugs and attending to personal hygiene. However, you probably shouldn’t get the pedicure behind her back. If you do, undoubtedly, tensions, mistrust and arguments will ensue. I wish your mother would focus on more important teenage issues. I agree with Quick, offering to pay from your own earnings might help. Maybe add that you won’t pick out a ‘sleazy’ red color but something demure (pink, coral). I wonder what your mom would say to a tattoo?
Quick: A lesson for your mother would be to learn how to pick her battles. There are brilliant things to battle about; a manicure/pedicure is not one of those issues. Neither is a tattoo
drs quick and quack 