Dear LFTP: resentment toward a boyfriend's son
- A woman in a new relationship resents her boyfriend's 10-year-old son and does not want to spend the next eight years raising a child who isn't hers — what should she do?
Mike reads a listener letter from a woman who moved in with her boyfriend — who has sole custody of his ten-year-old son, Jordan — for financial reasons, and now resents the boy, dreads him coming home from school, and asks whether to break up. Mike answers first with unusual honesty about his own slow attachment to his daughters, then advises she bow out: her heart is not in it, and she took a shortcut to the ends while skipping the means. Another host agrees, framing it as choosing ends over means — the opposite of how followers of Jesus are known. They then read Secular's answer: if the father is really 'the love of your life,' he and his son are a package deal — and, in a postscript, assure Jordan the leaving is about her, not him, so he will not blame himself.
More on Parenting
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Dear LFTP: Champ the untrained dog and holding boundaries with your son
- How do I handle my son bringing his untrained dog Champ on our weekend grandson visits?
Mike reads the second letter: the writer hosts weekend grandson visits where her son Dennis brings Champ, an untrained destructive puppy that runs wild, barks, and digs.
From No. 586 · Nothing Personal
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Dear LFTP: wife mocks husband's bladder problem in public
- How should I respond when my wife mocks me and my bladder problem in public?
Mike reads a letter from a man married three years whose wife calls him vulgar names in public and makes his bladder-control problem into comedy.
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Dear LFTP: the birthday invitations
- Should parents be allowed to send birthday invitations to school when only select students are invited?
Mike reads the second letter: the parent of a special-needs pre-K child saw a Facebook group post exposing that her daughter was excluded from a birthday party.
From No. 574 · Starring Ted Danson as Joab
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Dear LFTP: Cindy's baby name ideas
- What should I do about my friend's terrible baby name choices?
Mike reads a letter from Dave about his longtime friend Cindy, six months pregnant, who keeps proposing names like chlamydia, bidet, chalet, and cliche because they sound pretty regardless of meaning.