Ask Emily: Keep the change
By Casey Gillis on Feb. 09, 2010
Dear Emily: I like to get dressed up once in awhile and go out with my boyfriend, rather than just look like a bum and hang out at my place. But my boyfriend only wears jeans. Always. I can’t get him to dress up, even on special occasions! Help me change him, Emily; I need a night out of feeling glamorous! – All dressed up and no where to go
Dear All dressed up and no where to go: You want to know how to “change” a guy? I’m not sure anyone can give you an answer to that.
People are who they are and only change if they want to. But, getting your boyfriend to merely change his clothes might not be that big of a challenge. Try a compromise. If he agrees to put on a snazzy suit and take you out, perhaps you could agree to go somewhere with him that you normally wouldn’t agree to. But if he is completely resistant, go out on the town with your girlfriends instead. They’ll have a lot more fun getting dolled up than your boyfriend would, and you’ll probably have a lot more fun too knowing you didn’t have to bribe them to comply!
Dear Emily: My wife has a real problem wasting food. She refuses to eat leftovers because she says they don’t taste good (even though she liked them the day before). It seems sinful to just keep throwing food away like she does, but I obviously can’t force feed her something, now can I? So how do I get my wife to be more prudent? – Waste not
Dear Waste not: If your wife can’t mentally get past the idea that leftovers are a bad thing, turn your previous night’s meal into something completely different. For example, if you have chicken cutlets on Monday, cut up the left-overs for a chicken Caesar salad on Tuesday. If you have leftover turkey, make some fresh soup to freeze and eat later on. And leftover steak makes for great steak sandwiches the next day. Of course, the other option is to just make smaller portions of your food. If you’re worried about not having enough food with this option, just keep healthy snacks on hand to compensate until you learn to adjust to the change.
Dear Emily: I have a teenage girl who cares more about fashion and boys than anything else. When I try to get her to see that there is an entire world out there (not centered around her), she laughs at me. So how do I inspire my teen to care about community? – Concerned over Self-centeredness
Dear Concerned over Self-centeredness: Don’t be too hard on your daughter; she sounds like a typical teenage girl with typical interests. But to make sure you are raising a socially aware teen, you need to find a way to open her eyes to the more important things in life. She needs to witness first hand how fortunate she is and how there are so many people out there less fortunate than she. Sign her up to do some local charity work. Contact your church and see if they need volunteers for community service. Or if time allows, try to get her to do mission work abroad, or even right here in the United States, over the summer. These opportunities should give her some perspective. And as an added benefit, these would be great experiences to add on her college applications down the road.
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