Ask Sam

Hi there,

I can see how much Woozworld means to you and how unfair you find dad’s attitude to the people on there. Let’s look at how you can regain dad’s trust.

Playing games online can be a great way to make friends. But it's important to stay safe and make sure that you don't share things that might put you in danger. It might be that your dad can’t see how you behave on the site. You might find that suggesting you play the game together with dad could show him how you behave and that he can trust you. Once he can see you are trustworthy he might let you play on there by yourself occasionally.

You haven’t mentioned the reasons why you don’t feel your dad trusts you. But this is something you could talk to him about. Perhaps you could offer to help around the house, clean the car or spend more time doing things together. This can help to bring you closer, and to build his trust on how you behave. If there’s another responsible adult at home, like mum perhaps, you could also try talking to her about how you feel.

It can be really fun to play our favourite games. But sometimes we can become so caught up in the game that we don't think about anything else. And when we're obsessed with something, it can stop us going out and making friends. It could be a good idea to use this free time to make friends with people in your new school. You could think about joining groups that interest you or finding different [hobbies](http://www.childline.org.uk/Talk/Boards/Pages/Threads.aspx?boardid=5cf41734-4fc5-4088-a743-8657c23f8f46&brdname=Hobbies+and+Interests).

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It can be difficult to make new friends. But it could help to listen out for people talking about things you enjoy, and ask if you can join in their conversation. Your school may have a buddy system, where confident students buddy up with new starters to help them fit into their new environment. And finally, you could visit the message boards to get support from people who may have experienced similar things.

I hope this has been useful.

Take care,

Sam