Dear Bri,
My family is always yelling at me and making me feel like I don’t know anything. How do I deal with this?

You need to sit down and talk with your family. Most likely, your family is just stressed and taking it out on you. If it was me, I would sit them down and explain how I am feeling. You do have to understand where they are coming from. Sometimes, you should put yourself into the shoes of the family member who is putting you down. Why are they angry about this? What if they had a bad day? You should definitely sit down and talk to the family member that makes you feel like this the most. It would be a start to helping the issues that could be happening. Explaining how you feel to someone will help you out a lot.

Dear Bri,
Why do guys randomly stop talking to you?

At this age, I don’t think a lot of guys know what they want. Their opinions of anything can change in an instant, so don’t be surprised if what they think of you changes too. Anything can make them stop talking to you; texting them too much, texting them too slow, acting too into them and acting like you don’t care at all. It’s all a balancing act to work your way into your guy’s heart. A lot of high school boys just don’t have a way of showing how they feel or how they care, so it’s hard for guys to open up at times. If you feel as if they just stopped talking to you, try to talk to them about it. Don’t tell them your life story, but tell them your feelings on the situation. Explain to them how it bothers you that they came into your life and just walked out.

Dear Bri,
I am good friends with a guy in my grade. We text everyday and all of our conversations are funny and we just get along great. In person though, he is so awkward around me. He barely says anything and always seems nervous. We are such good friends as long as we are texting. Should I continue on like nothing is wrong or tell him how I feel?

In my opinion, I think this guy is hiding behind technology. I think maybe that this guy has feelings for you and doesn’t want to show them. If he is being really nice and cheerful over text messaging and awkward and shy in person, then there is something going on in his head. I think sometimes guys think figuring out a woman is hard, but when us girls try to figure out men, we are just as confused. This guy seems to have feelings for you or is just socially awkward. I think you should talk to this guy about how he is all weird in person but cheerful over the phone.

Dear Bri,
What do I say to people when they call me vulgar names?

This is a great question because I see this happen a lot in school. If someone calls you vulgar names, there is a thin line between joking and being serious. If they are joking, you could simply say that it is bothering you and that they should stop. If they are a real friend, they will apologize and not do it anymore. If it continues or becomes more serious, talk to someone. Great people in our school to talk to are teachers and guidance counselors. They can give you wonderful advice and intervene if necessary. If you don’t want to tell an adult, ignore the person who is bothering you. Not only does it diffuse the situation, but no one picks on a person who doesn’t react. Unless it is truly bothering you, I would do my best to avoid and ignore their rude comments.