Parenting & Family
898 conversations across 16 years of the show. Try a few, or go by subject.
A few to try
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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: "Son, not friend"
- How do I get my mom to treat me like a son instead of a best friend?
Mike reads a letter from a nearly-30-year-old man whose mother texts him through the workday about her struggles and furniture picks, treating him like a best friend instead of a son; he dreads her messages.
From No. 534 · The Antagonistic Bison
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Dear LFTP: mom's annoying friend
- How do I make my mom's annoying friend go away?
A listener hates their mom's friend, who calls nonstop even at dinner, and tried blocking her number on mom's phone.
From No. 516 · Pastor Rico Suave
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Dear LFTP: raising the village without sacrificing the kids
- Should I move my daughters away from my manipulative nephew to protect them?
A writer raising her two daughters alongside her sister and the sister's 10-year-old son sees abusive patterns from the boy's absent father showing up in the nephew, and now in her own seven-year-old's treatment of her six-year-old.
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Dear LFTP: mother-in-law's blatant favoritism
- Dear LFTP: am I wrong to keep my kids from a mother-in-law who plays favorites?
A host reads the first Dear LFTP letter: for more than twenty years, the writer's mother-in-law has shown blatant favoritism toward her husband's younger brother — her own mother and father-in-law have noticed, and the husband has accepted nothing will change.
From No. 464 · Buying International Locusts
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Dear LFTP: the angry 17-year-old daughter
- Our 17-year-old daughter is angry and swears at her younger sisters — how do we handle it until she moves out?
A parent writes that 'Heather,' a high-school senior turning 18 soon, is angry and confrontational, swears at her parents and calls her younger sisters (15 and 9) the b-word.
From No. 443 · Cry Me A River…Then Build A Bridge
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892 conversations
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Dear LFTP: the diaper-changing sister-in-law
- My sister-in-law changes babies' diapers at family gatherings without asking the parents — what should I do?
After the complaint-line plug (read as the 'Bob Eisenhower' line, (515) 517-0085), the reader reads a Dear LFTP letter: the writer's sister-in-law, called 'Brenda' in the letter,…
From No. 416 · Motivational Monday – Prayer Cubes, Justice and Consequences
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Dear LFTP: the babysitter in the bed
- How should a daughter-in-law approach the babysitter who naps in the couple's bed and wears the husband's clothes?
A grandmother writes in: the babysitter naps in her son and daughter-in-law's bed and occasionally changes into the son's clothes.
From No. 387 · Renewing Deuces and Fearing God
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Dear LFTP: the mother-in-law moved in
- My mother-in-law moved in seven months ago and it’s been difficult — how can we sort this out?
The last letter comes from a wife whose mother-in-law moved in seven months ago with no boundaries, rising bills, unpaid prescriptions, and open disrespect.
From No. 604 · Rearview Mirror
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Dear LFTP 1: the brother's wedding
- Should the writer attend her brother's wedding after his cruel email?
Mike reads the letter: the writer's widowed brother is remarrying; their 89-year-old mother lives in his added-on apartment; his cruel email attacked the writer's facial expressions and mannerisms — "I felt like he had stuck a knife through my heart."
From No. 590 · Theodore Franco
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Dear LFTP: the stolen college fund and telling the 90-year-olds
- Should I tell my 90-year-old parents that their grandson stole my granddaughter's college fund?
Ben hands to Mike, who reads a grandmother's letter: her son helped himself to the college money the great-grandparents set aside for her granddaughter; she fears telling her parents, in their nineties, could shock them into a stroke.
From No. 586 · Nothing Personal
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Dear LFTP: apologize to Harry?
- Should a mother apologize to her daughter's boyfriend for yelling at him during a move six years ago?
Mike reads the first Dear LFTP letter: a mother who yelled at her daughter's boyfriend Harry during a miserable move six years ago is now being asked to apologize; Harry has improved as a father but still holds the grudge.
From No. 574 · Starring Ted Danson as Joab
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Dear LFTP: the contentious father
- How do I protect the relationships I have with the rest of my family if my father keeps acting like a jerk?
Mike reads a Dear LFTP letter from a 30-year-old whose contentious father refuses counseling, involves extended family, and claims the writer cut off contact.
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Dear LFTP: the birthday bill
- Is it unreasonable to resent always paying the family birthday bills?
A woman asks if she is unreasonable for resenting the $500-$1,000 birthday bills she always covers for her younger sister, whose husband never helps.
From No. 563 · Raptors and Heifers
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Dear LFTP: friend mistreats her stepson
- How do I confront my friend about mistreating her stepson while maintaining the relationship?
Mike reads a Dear LFTP letter from someone whose friend Sandra belittles her 14-year-old stepson and favors her four-year-old, asking how to raise the concern while keeping the friendship.
From No. 560 · Chill Out
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Dear LFTP: mom who treats her daughter as confidante
- How should a high-school senior set boundaries with a mother who treats her as a confidante?
Mike (speaker-3) reads a Dear LFTP letter from a high-school senior whose mother confides adult problems in her — family tensions, church conflicts, workplace cheating — making their relationship one-sided and exhausting, while refusing therapy (seg-00440 to seg-00447).
From No. 559 · 3 Songwriters Walk Into a Show
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Dear LFTP: Kurt and Jared, the feuding comedian brothers
- Dear LFTP: How should we handle our two grown sons' year-long feud?
Mike reads a Dear LFTP letter from parents of three grown sons: middle son Kurt (29) and younger son Jared (26) are in a year-long conflict after both took up stand-up comedy, with name-calling and holiday boycotts.
From No. 556 · A Christian Mid-Life Crisis
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Dear LFTP: the jealous dad and the girls trip
- How can I have a close relationship with my mom without hurting my dad? Should I confront him?
A 32-year-old listener, once daddy's girl, has grown close to her mom since starting her own family; her dad, feeling left out, blocked a mother-daughter girls trip.
From No. 333 · The Christian Lorax
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Dear LFTP: 49, divorced, and living with mom
- How do I get my overbearing mother to back off while I am living with her?
Mike reads a letter from a 49-year-old recent divorcee staying with his mother, who makes him a budget, opens his mail, and treats him like a five-year-old; he reports severe anxiety and an inability to tell her to back off.
From No. 543 · Britches in Heaven
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Dear LFTP: the gifted house and the shared day off
- Am I wrong to be upset that my fiance does the house upkeep on our shared day off instead of his own day off?
Mike reads a letter from a woman together with her fiance for fourteen years and engaged six months: his mother is gifting them her parents' home but dictates that upkeep happen on the couple's shared day off, saying 'you'll be here soon enough.'
From No. 543 · Britches in Heaven
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Dear LFTP: the squawky bird at the dinner table
- How should I address my sister keeping a squawky bird at the dinner table after she ignored my feedback?
Mike reads a Dear LFTP letter from someone whose sister keeps a squawky bird at the dinner table and, after being asked to move it, pulled the cage even closer.
From No. 539 · Birdcage
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Dear LFTP: the new stepmother's pushy parenting advice
- How should a new mother handle a new stepmother's pushy and dangerous parenting advice?
Ben reads a Dear LFTP letter from a new mother whose father just remarried: her new stepmother, who claims to have been a nurse, pushes parenting advice that contradicts the CDC…
From No. 535 · Solo Contendere
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Dear LFTP: should a father disinherit his daughter over her boyfriend?
- Should people's misuse of a gift be a reason to not give a gift?
- How do I tell my daughter I am removing her from my will?
Boova reads the full letter: the boyfriend stole $200,000 from his grandparents, has a denied gambling problem, and already took $200 from the daughter's checking account since release; the father fears telling her about the will change will end the relationship.
From No. 529 · Enter The McCormick
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Dear LFTP: blended-family chores standoff
- Am I wrong to defend my son in the chores conflict with my new husband?
A newly married listener asks whether she is wrong to defend her nineteen-year-old son, who works full time and studies part time, against her new husband's expectation that he do more chores.
From No. 518 · Jesus Blocked the Jukebox
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Dear LFTP: The Husband Giving Away Game Tickets
- A listener's husband keeps giving her son's complimentary college-game tickets to friends without warning; what should she do?
After the Bob Eisenlauer complaint-line plug, Boova reads a Dear LFTP letter from a wife whose husband keeps offering their college-age son's four complimentary game tickets to friends without warning, forcing the son to scrounge tickets from teammates.
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Dear LFTP: widowed grandmother's grown grandsons and overnight guests
- Am I wrong to evict my grown grandsons for sneaking overnight guests into my house?
A widowed grandmother hosts two grandsons (42 and 39) and a great-grandson (24), none married; she bans overnight guests but at 3 a.m. hears one sneaking a second girl up from the downstairs bedroom.
From No. 512 · She Knows, Right?
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Dear LFTP: 'Big boys walk' — grandma and the disabled grandson
- How do I handle my mom shaming my disabled son with 'big boys walk'?
A mother of a five-year-old with a rare spinal cord injury (crawls, uses a wheelchair) says her own mother fixates on his disability during visits, telling him 'big boys walk, they don't crawl,' leaving him tearfully asking if he can still be a big boy.
From No. 512 · She Knows, Right?
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Dear LFTP: the $900 Taylor Swift ticket
- Am I wrong to think my neighbor was not acting as a good friend by selling my 15-year-old a $900 Taylor Swift ticket?
A letter writer says a friend and neighbor sold her 15-year-old daughter a Taylor Swift ticket for $900 after buying it for $300, and wonders if she is wrong to think of the woman differently now.
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Dear LFTP: the mean neighborhood girl
- How do I ask the mean neighborhood girl to leave without seeming like a bully?
A mother asks how to ask a mean neighborhood girl to leave without seeming like a bully. The hosts advise against vindictive parenting, encourage treating the girl with the same…
From No. 505 · Because of Fussy and Fuzzy
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Dear LFTP: Helen, the sister-in-law who runs every family event
- How do we deal with a sister-in-law who controls every family event?
A listener's sister-in-law Helen has appointed herself final word on all family celebrations — dates, venue, menu, guest list, even place cards are non-negotiable, enforced with extended silent treatment.
From No. 502 · When Evil Strikes