DEAR ABBY: I just turned 18, and my divorced mother and her steady boyfriend recently broke up. Now she wants to double-date with me.
Abby, my mother is almost 40 years old, and I'll never be able to get a date if I must double-date with her. What can I do? Mom reads your column, and I'm hoping you will publish my letter so she'll see that double-dating with me is not a good idea. -- DAUGHTER IN A BIND
DEAR DAUGHTER: Your mother may be almost 40, but she has young ideas. Tell her you still need her to be a mother, not a "pal" -- that at your age it would inhibit you and your date. However, in another five or six years (when you're all closer to the same level of maturity), it might be more fun for all of you.