Dear Paula,
I am a student and I went to a tutor to ask him to teach me some stuff. Then we got into a social conversation and since he was married and had a son, I chatted to him. At the end of the conversation these things happened:

1. He asked me if I had a boyfriend. My answer was,'not at the moment'. Then he said,'not at the moment, huh!'
2. He was talking about restaurants and since my family is here but his is not I said that he should show me where these restaurants are (in the sense he could join my family when we go out for dinner some time). He answered that it may not be nice for him to show me the restaurants since my guardian will get angry... what does this mean?I would like you to interpret this conversation please because I don't think he is a bad individual but my friends have asked me to stay totally away from this guy. Also I said to him that I only considered him as a tutor and nothing else... it is sad I had to explain that to a person I consider with respect and as a tutor.

Dear Paula writes:
There are tutors who develop a bit of a reputation for flirting (and more) with students but it's a situation that cuts both ways. There are students who flirt with tutors and deliberately put temptation in their way. As I know nothing about this tutor, I can only speculate about what may have been read into this situation by either one of you.

He seems to have stepped out of line by asking you whether you had a boyfriend, as this shouldn't have the slightest bearing on why you went to see him but equally, you were on dodgy ground in asking him to show you the restaurants.

He may have interpreted this as a come-on on your part. For all you know, he may have had quite a bit of that during his teaching career and if that is how he saw it, he made an appropriate response in referring to your guardian being angry. It is not appropriate for tutors to get involved with students and he's clearly aware of that.

All you have to do in this situation is use your common sense. If you go to see him about your work, stick to the subject. Don't get involved in social chit-chat beyond that required by common courtesy and you won't get into situations that are open to misinterpretation.

I always think it's better to make your own judgements about people based on your experience of them rather than listening to other people. So far, this tutor isn't guilty of anything and you're old enough to be able to make sure it doesn't by keeping the boundaries clear in your relationship with him.

He's there to help you with your studies, not to be your friend or to be seeing you socially, with or without your family. If you keep that in mind, I don't see why you should have any problems. In your place, I would give him the benefit of the doubt and regard him as innocent until proven guilty.