DR. WALLACE: My older brother turned 18 four months ago, and he's been acting like a big shot ever since. He still lives at home with our parents, but he makes sure to tell all of us younger siblings that he's the "adult in the room" whenever we're all together.

Recently, my parents made a new rule that whenever we are doing something together as a family, no one is allowed to access their cell phones. At first, it was quite the adjustment, but soon enough, my two younger siblings and I got used to it.

For the past several months, my brother had a job where he would be gone in the late afternoons and evenings anyway, so he wasn't at the family dinners. But recently, due to a schedule change at his job, he can now eat some dinners with our family. He found out about this rule, and he told my parents that he should absolutely be exempt from this rule because he's an adult, and the rest of us are not.

He got into quite a quarrel with our parents recently over this. What do you think about this situation, and do you think my parents have the right to enforce this upon him, even though he's an adult like they are? — Big Brother Quarrels Over the Rules, via email

BIG BROTHER QUARRELS OVER THE RULES: First of all, your big brother is not the exact type of adult that your parents are, in that he is not the head of a household! It's their home, and under their roof, they absolutely can set up whatever rules they wish to implement, as long as they are legal, safe and ethical.

And in my opinion, I believe these rules qualify based on all three of those standards. If your big brother doesn't want to follow the family rules, he's welcome to move out, get a place of his own or find a roommate. This would allow him to do things he wants to do his own way, as he and a roommate could share a household together, and set their own rules within their four walls.

MY BROTHER WANTS TO SELL HIS CLOTHES AND KEEP THE MONEY!

DR. WALLACE: I'm the youngest of four siblings in our family, and we've had a tradition of doing "hand me downs" regarding clothing, and this has gone on for several years. There are two boys and two girls, so the eldest boy would always hand down his clothes to his younger brother, and my older sister would hand her older clothing down to me.

But now that my oldest brother, who is the eldest of all four of us is a 17-year-old high school student, he thinks he's a total hotshot. We're being raised by a single mother, as we haven't seen our father in over 10 years. My older brother told my mom yesterday that he's not "handing down" any more clothes to his younger brother because once they were bought for him, they became his clothes, and he's going to sell them on the internet! I saw him laying some clothes out on his bed and taking snapshots of them with his telephone. Apparently, somebody at his high school taught him how to do this. Our mother is furious with him! He then said he would be happy to show all three of us younger siblings how to "monetize a side hustle" of some sort if we were all really serious about earning some extra "scratch," which is his slang term for money.

He's so pompous it's ridiculous, and the last thing I remember my mother telling him was that she would not allow any of his "underground conduct" to go on in our home. Who do you think is right here, my mom or my oldest brother? — He Says the Clothes are His to Sell, via email

HE SAYS THE CLOTHES ARE HIS TO SELL: Your mother runs the household and has every right to dictate what she would like to do with old clothes within the family, especially given that a younger sibling could absolutely use them to save money for food and shelter.

This is tremendously selfish behavior on the part of your older brother. He should be appreciative of the fact that your mother is sustaining a household on her own with four children. He should be helping her, not creating a financial riptide against her. I'm solidly on your mother's side regarding this particular situation.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at rwallace@thegreatestgift.com. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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