Scott Ervin, Tribune News Service

Dear Kid Whisperer,

How do you handle a 17-year-old who refuses to contribute to the household in any way? She doesn’t want to help her siblings or do her chores. She doesn’t have any interest in getting her driver’s license, so there aren’t many privileges that I can take away. She is so unmotivated that I don’t even know if she will leave the house after she graduates from high school. I don’t know what to do anymore.

Answer: The pain of knowing that you have not yet taught your soon-to-be-an-adult kid how to be a person in the world can be overwhelming, and the horror of having to live with that person can be even worse. I am so sorry that you are going through this.

Your daughter must assume her proper place in your family: that of a child. A perso

See Full Page