Dear Sadiya:

You are very welcome. It is a pleasure for me to communicate with a person as decent as you.

Regarding your daughter, she is, I am guessing about 18. I wonder if she has any high school friends with whom she keeps in touch currently and whether she will be moving a great distance from home and from current friends, when she moves this month.

I would encourage her to set modest goals as far as making friends in college, so that she doesn’t feel pressure to make lots of friends or to be popular. She will probably notice the most popular girls in college and feel less-than them while there will be many shy girls (and boys) just like her, at the edges of those notorious college cliques.

It is probably a good idea if she signs in to a particular club of special interest in college, such as (I am guessing) a chess club, if she plays chess, or a beginning drama/ acting class- an excellent way, with the right teacher, to come out of her shyness and to express herself.

I hope to read from you anytime, about your daughter’s progress and any other topic.

(I will be back to the computer in about 12 hours from now).

anita