a matter of policy...

I've got this cardinal rule:

Never advise someone to do precise what you did not and never advise someone not to do what you did.

I mean, you can only honestly discuss the repercussions of doing or not doing what you did or didn't do, right?

So, this is the rule I employ when my siblings call me to discuss the merits of plans like the following: dropping out of grad school after less than one semester to return to [college town that is home of undergraduate institution where sibling lived until August] and get a job "waiting tables or something" so as to volunteer in an urban ecology center and eventually parlay that volunteering into a career writing alternative school science curricula focusing on place identity and conservation.

What do I do when I learn of schemes like this?
Step 1: Validate the emotion behind the idea (e.g. "I recognize that it's really hard to move to a new region - to suddenly have to drive everywhere, to live in a ranch, etc. It's particularly difficult to try to adjust to a new department and program when your unhappy with your location and you've left your friends behind.").
Step 2: Introduce an alternative and use insider knowledge to support it (e.g. But don't you think you should stick it out for the year? You're not going to live in [terrible place] forever and it really does take time to adjust - at least 9 months. Don't you remember how you hated [college] and [college town] at first? When you came home for winter break, you were thinking about not going back. Don't worry about the Ph.D. Instead think about how you can use the resources and your position there (fellowship, free tuition, etc) to start you on your path to curriculum development. How about taking some extra classes in education?).
Step 3: Denigrate oneself to avoid sounding bossy, provide more validation and refer to one's own mistakes to get around the cardinal rule (e.g. You certainly know better than I do what the right decision is and I agree completely that a Ph.D. is a waste of time if you don't like where it will take you but I still think you should give it a little more time so you won't be able to worry later that you jumped ship too soon. Instead, you could make use of your position as a funded student in the sciences at a flagship institution to develop a smart next move. I had a terrible time when I quit the peace corps after only a few months and moved back to Chicago...).