DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: My husband has got the idea that his new YouTube channel is going to make him a millionaire in, like, a year. He does reviews of cars and gives tips on maintaining both new and older models. He genuinely knows his sh#t, but so do a ton of other people out there.

So far he gets a few hundred views when he first drops a new video, and has just over 1000 subscribers. He’s been at it for six months and that result isn’t exactly viral.

He wants to become a YouTube Partner, but his numbers are not there yet. I can see how over time, he might make a little money eventually. But he is banking on what he makes to be the downpayment and monthly mortgage payments for a house for us, and he means something in the mini-mansion range.

I want to support him in his dream, but he gets his hopes up so high, I fear he just isn’t looking at the realities of the chances of living off YouTube. He talks about giving up his job to be able to put more time into his channel. That’s where I drew the line.

We fought for two days over it, until he finally said okay, he will keep on working. But it was like I was chaining him to his desk.

Was I wrong to keep him working for sure money instead of chasing “maybe” money? I feel guilty a little bit, like I am crushing his dream. --- HITTING IT BIG ON YOUTUBE

DEAR HITTING IT BIG ON YOUTUBE: I’m with you on this one. A little quick research revealed the expected peak run for even fairly successful YouTubers is 3-5 years, which isn’t long enough to pay off the mortgage on a mini-mansion, unless he really hits it big fast and keeps the channel’s momentum going.

While it sounds like your husband’s channel is still in its early stages, unless there’s enough money to pay the bills coming in on a regular basis, to me the more logical strategy is for him to continue to add to his channel’s content and subscriber/viewer base during his non-work hours.

In time, it’s not at all impossible he’ll make a significant income off his efforts and his expertise, but until that’s the case, I’d advise he sticks with the day job.

DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: One of my brothers had some mild learning disabilities when he was little. He was able to start to manage them early, thanks to some excellent teachers and programs in school. He still has to work harder than many people with some things, but overall, he’s doing very well in life.

Our own son was recently identified as having mild to moderate learning and physical disabilities through the local school system’s special ed screening program. I saw that he was behind what other kids in his preschool were able to do, and some of what they did easily when using their hands, for example, seriously challenged our three-year-old. His pediatrician had already noted our son was missing some of his developmental benchmarks, and backed us 100 percent in getting him screened.

It has been an adjustment for my husband and me, to think our son will have a harder time in life, at least during his early years. We now have him in speech, physical, and occupational therapy, and all these therapies will continue to be provided when he gets to the special ed preschool nearest our home in the fall, and I am deeply grateful we live in an area where so many early childhood services are available to us at no cost.

I sometimes think my parents are also having a difficult time with our son’s situation. I believe it makes them think about my brother’s experience and how some of what they were told to do and did on their own undoubtedly made a difference to him back when he was a kid and still do now he is an adult.

But what they don’t seem to understand is that the two sets of circumstances are very different. Our son is facing more severe challenges than my brother.

Since our son was identified as having disabilities my parents have started buying little things they are totally convinced will help move our son along in his development. Some of the items are on target, but most only make him more frustrated. For example, they bought him shoes with laces, positive that by learning to tie shoelaces early, he’ll be able to manage other fine motor skills more readily. It worked with my brother, but unfortunately, is not doing anything for our son, other than frustrating him. The same can be said for some of the toys and puzzles they gave him.

Both my husband and I have tried to talk to my parents to ask them to back off a little. We don’t want to make a big deal of this, but we are working on a very specific set of goals and skill-building that they just don’t seem to get.

What do we do to convince them we’ve got this? --- NOT HELPING

DEAR NOT HELPING: It’s clear your parents’ intentions are to help, so rather than telling them what won’t work for your son right now, perhaps you can guide them towards the kinds of tools that are recommended by the providers with whom your son’s working.

Also, since they have experience with a child with special needs, even though those needs differ from your son’s, they can still be an invaluable resource. If they live locally or visit your home regularly, it mightn’t be a bad idea to draft them into directly supporting some of the at-home therapeutic portions of your son’s program. Seeing first-hand what helps the most in your son’s case may make all the difference in how your parents approach both his strengths and disabilities.

DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: Even though he never has gotten in trouble because he does something illegal or bad, even as a teenager, my little brother ALWAYS lets other people make up his mind for him. He only listens to what comes out of the brains and mouths of some of what I think of as his dumber friends with some scary political viewpoints, and that is how he decides what his opinions should be or what his decisions should be.

He himself is far from being dumb. He just gets led too easily.

I have talked to him about this many, many times, and he always says he just likes to hear other people’s opinions before he makes any of his own, but his opinions always seem to be the same as certain of his friends.

How can I get him to see he needs to be his own man, with his own opinions, instead of just listening to someone else to make up his mind? --- NEEDS TO BE HIS OWN MAN

DEAR NEEDS TO BE HIS OWN MAN: Opinions are never in short supply, and there’s nothing wrong with being open to more than one take on an issue if it helps you come to your own conclusions.

Following that logic, I believe one thing you can do for your brother is to encourage him to do a little digging himself into multiple sides of an issue, rather than simply relying on his friends’ interpretations. It certainly isn’t difficult these days to find every shade of thinking on even the most mundane topics.

If he’s able to consider more than one way of looking at an issue, hopefully he’ll also be able to develop his own thoughts, regardless of what his friends believe.

You may possibly help boost his confidence in the opinions he forms on his own if you and others close to him support his talking about those views — even the ones you don’t agree with.

Perhaps if he’s encouraged to take the leap to think his own way at least every now and again, it could become habit-forming.