DEAR ABBY: My husband uses "grounding" for every little infraction our 15-year-old son commits. "Rick" loves sports, and he's very good at basketball and soccer. He's on his high school teams for both sports.
My husband feels that when Rick is grounded he should not be able to go anywhere - including practice for sports or playing in the games. I feel that taking away Rick's TV and telephone privileges and going out in the evening is punishment enough. Besides, if Rick is grounded from practice and playing in sports, he'd be letting his school and teammates down. Being grounded from sports for two weeks could even cause him to lose out playing a whole season.I think I have a fairly good chance of winning this argument, but I need your help. I hope you're on my side, Abby. Say what? - HIGH-SCHOOLER'S MOM
DEAR MOM: I think the punishment should fit the crime. If Rick's offense is serious - drinking, doing drugs or breaking the law - I'd say ground him all the way, sports included.
But for relatively minor offenses, denying Rick TV and telephone privileges, plus going out - other than for practice and games - is sufficient punishment.
DEAR ABBY: You advised a reader who was harassed by obscene telephone calls to report such calls to the telephone company. What do you expect it to do for her?
I was employed by the telephone company as a customer service representative for 25 years, and when people complained to us about such calls, we would refer them to the police department. The police department would then refer them back to the telephone company. Of course, customers would feel that they were getting the runaround - which they were.
The best thing to do is to change your telephone number - and there a charge for that. However, if the calls are life-threatening and a police report is filed, the phone company will change your number without charging you for it.
Most people think it's easy to trace a telephone number. It's not. It's a very involved procedure, and the telephone company and police department must work together in order to trace a call, but this is done only in life-threatening circumstances.
If the calls are obscene or harassing, the best way to discourage them is to keep a whistle near the phone and give the caller an earsplitting blast. - OLD REP FROM CALIFORNIA
DEAR OLD REP: Thanks. You reached out and touched a few million people. Read on:
DEAR ABBY: After reading the letter about obscene phone calls, I had to write and tell you what has worked for me. When the caller starts in with the spiel, I listen and make no comment until the caller has finished, then I say, very innocently: "Would you mind repeating that, please? I don't hear very well, and I didn't understand what you were talking about."
The caller usually slams the receiver down forcibly! - LAS VEGAS READER
DEAR READER: Not a bad idea, but that necessitates having to listen to some disgusting dialogue.
A Tampa reader with a novel solution wrote: "I used to have trouble with obscene phone calls, then I kept my Bible by the phone and started quoting Scripture to the caller. After that, I wasn't bothered again."
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