Friend wants to intervene with overweight kids
Living beautifully and being happy is the best response to the petty slings and darts others occasionally lob our way. Enjoy your day.
Dear Amy: Responding to "Unappreciated Stepmom," you say that teenagers should not be grateful?
I drove a school bus with middle and high school children. I can tell you for certain that there are grateful teenagers. Some are wealthy. Some are poor. Some are in the middle.
This teen should be grateful for having even a broken family who cares enough to worry about her.
This father should be grateful to have a wife who cares enough to write you a letter seeking advice.
This stepmom should be grateful to have been given a chance to affect change and help a child to live a life with gratitude and a solid work ethic, despite challenges.
I usually agree with your advice, but you muffed this one.
-- Jill
Dear Jill: Thank you. There are definitely grateful teenagers.
This stepdaughter had been bounced around between families. Her stepmother expected gratitude for basically putting a roof over the teen's head. I feel optimistic that the gratitude will come later.
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(You can contact Amy Dickinson via email: askamy@amydickinson.com. Readers may send postal mail to Amy Dickinson, c/o Tribune Content Agency, 16650 Westgrove Drive, Suite 175, Addison, Texas, 75001. You can also follow her on Twitter @askingamy or "like" her on Facebook.)
