![\"A](\"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/dear-carol-stand-up-parents.jpg\")
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Dear Carol,<\/strong><\/p>\n I have done musical theater since I was 5 and love it. I want to try out for bigger parts in my school\u2019s musicals, but my parents are forcing me to do marching band as well. There\u2019s this kid in my section who picks on me (he\u2019s my sister\u2019s ex) and he\u2019s part of the reason why I hate marching band. I\u2019ve asked my parents multiple times if I can quit, and they aren\u2019t letting me. I really want to drop it now because there\u2019s a musical theater solo the same day as state finals for marching band. How do I stand up to my parents?<\/strong><\/p>\n -I Want To Drop It<\/strong><\/p>\n Dear I Want To Drop It,<\/p>\n As I told the swimmer below, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a crime to change lanes. In fact, it\u2019s smart to consider all your options. In your case, I\u2019m a bit biased\u2014I say theater for the win because I love theater. No one can do everything, but if you want to excel at an activity, choose the one you love most. Have a confident conversation with your parents (telling, not yelling), and say that you see yourself enjoying theater forever as a playgoer or producer or actor or designer or director\u2026but that you\u2019re no longer enthusiastic about band. Do not mention your sister\u2019s ex, because the behavior of one annoying individual should not affect your own life choices.<\/p>\n Carol Weston is the author of 16 books, including Girltalk<\/em>,\u00a0Speed of Life<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Ava and Pip<\/em>. Follow her on Insta\u00a0@carolwestonnyc<\/a>\u00a0and visit\u00a0carolweston.com.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Still searching for more advice? Check these out:<\/strong> Dear Carol, I have done musical theater since I was 5 and love it. I want to try out for bigger parts in my school\u2019s musicals, but my parents are forcing me to do marching band as well. There\u2019s this kid in my section who picks on me (he\u2019s my sister\u2019s ex) and he\u2019s part […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":312655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[283,284,1032],"tags":[42,1033,62235,285,1035],"class_list":["post-312647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","category-dear-carol","category-family","tag-dear-carol","tag-family","tag-family-relationships","tag-life","tag-parents"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\ud83d\udc95\u00a0\u201cDear Carol, I think my friends are hiding something from me.\u201d<\/a><\/strong>
\n\ud83d\udc95\u00a0\u201cDear Carol, I think I might be gay, should I tell my family?\u201d<\/a><\/strong>
\n\ud83d\udc95\u00a0\u201cDear Carol, I\u2019m feeling self-conscious about my small boobs.\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"