Dear Prudence/Care & Feeding: One Question Two Answers

[minoanmiss]

I wonder how this happened. ( Read more... )

Care & Feeding: Two Fathers' Furies

[minoanmiss]

I thought these two letters juxtaposed interestingly. ( Read more... )

(no subject)

[conuly]

My sister has had untreated mental issues for many years. It has culminated in her losing custody of her baby. My parents are aging and realistically cannot raise the baby. I am not close to my sister, but my husband and I are more than willing and happy to take the baby—excited even. But! The big but is that we cannot give the kid the same opportunities as our own children. We live paycheck to paycheck in order to send our two kids to private school. While the public schools are not horrible where we live, they aren’t great, and it was a decision we made early on. Because of this, my family thinks we are more well-off than we are. The truth is sending another child to private school would certainly put us over. There is just no way. My parents think we are just ghastly in thinking we’d send my nephew to public school when my other children are in private school. “Might as well put him in foster care!” is what they say. As is, I would have to find a different job to accommodate another child to the mix. School is a ways off and my children would be in middle school when he is old enough to attend. We really don’t want to pull the kids out of their school altogether. They have friends and a community they love. Are we so horrible?

—Third Time’s the Dilemma

( Read more... )

(no subject)

[conuly]

Dear Annie: My husband comes from a large blended family. His mom is married to a man he has known as his stepdad for his entire life.

Recently, our teenage daughter revealed that she's uncomfortable around this stepdad because he gropes her inappropriately while hugging and greeting her. My husband mentioned this to his mother and stepdad and politely asked that he stop. They were distant for a while, and then they started sending ugly messages about how they'd rather never speak to us again.

They have since sent messages to extended family that no one should speak to us.

It's been crickets since February 2022.

Last week, my husband's mother was in a major accident. We only found out because his sister called to tell us about it. We had no idea she was in such a state, and my husband is quite upset. Had it not been for the sister who broke ranks, he wouldn't have known.

It's his mother. He deserves to get to say goodbye to her. What should we do to at least allow him to speak to and wish his mother goodbye? -- Son Blocked From Ailing Mom

( Well, this advice is both terrible and useless )