Dear LFTP: should an anxious mother let her 14-year-old get a job?
- Is it right to let my 14-year-old daughter work, given my history of being abused?
A Dear LFTP letter: a mother with congestive heart failure and adrenal insufficiency writes that her 14-year-old daughter wants a job to help family finances. The mother was sexually abused and assaulted as a youth and fears for her daughter's safety. The hosts validate her anxiety as understandable given her past but advise against a bubble-boy approach: say yes slowly, ease in with short supervised shifts, talk to the manager, teach situational awareness, and find conditions that let her say yes. Secular's advice about sexual-harassment policies is rejected as misunderstanding the actual danger. Note: the letter discloses the writer's childhood sexual abuse in non-graphic terms (see secondary-review note).
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.