Columns

Parents Clash Over Who Should Discipline Their Children

DEAR ABBY: I am a single father of three wonderful kids. When my wife and I separated, we agreed to 50/50 custody and a property settlement. Everything went smoothly. A year later I requested, and was granted, full custody of my children. Their mom has visitation, but that’s it. Shortly after my separation, I met a woman and we became good friends. I waited about a year before introducing her to my children because I wanted to make sure I knew her first. Although we are not “officially” in a relationship, she has been more than willing to step in and help with the children. In ...

Son Helps Himself to Contents of Late Grandfather’s House

DEAR ABBY: My father passed away a few months ago. My brother lives out of state, so emptying the house has been up to me. Shortly after the funeral, my adult son (the only grandchild) arrived and loaded his car with all the toilet paper, paper towels, light bulbs, cleaning products, etc. He did it without asking, so I promptly had the locks changed. When I asked him about it, he said, “Grandpa doesn’t need the stuff anymore.” After months of packing (by myself), we are now down to the furniture, and my son wants everything. He feels he’s entitled to ...

Last Year Wasn’t All Bad

In this week’s Antique of the Week column, Maureen Zambito has an interesting article about collectible clocks and calendars. I don’t know about you, but I plan to burn all my 2020 calendars in the outdoor fire pit as we stand around and wish the year farewell. And what a year for all of us. It’s not easy to look back and recall all the good things when so much ink was spent on the pandemic that disrupted our lives in so many ways. However, I looked over my calendar, especially the past 10 months, and realized there were positive things that happened and good times shared on ...

Couch Potato Seeks Assistance for All-Over Arthritis Pain

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 72-year-old male disabled veteran. I started work out of high school in a factory where I did hard but not brutal work. Then went to Vietnam, where I injured my knee and had to be operated on. Next, I worked for an airline as a baggage handler then became a licensed aircraft mechanic, both of which were hard physical labor. I have had one knee and one hip replaced, which was brutal and only slightly successful painwise. I now find myself with arthritis in most of my joints. My feet, knees, hips and back keep me from being active at all. I take 90 mg of narcotics ...

Jealousy Creates A Barrier Between Biological Siblings

DEAR ABBY: I’m an American man who was adopted as an infant. Several years ago, I found my birth parents. They are not from America. My mother came here to give birth and left. Sometime later she married my father and had more children. I’m in touch with the entire family, but mainly my birth parents. My biological siblings are jealous of my success in life and make it plain they don’t approve of much that I do. They also make sure I know I’m not REALLY part of the family because we didn’t grow up together (although we are, by blood, 100% siblings). I deal with this the best ...

Handling Stress in 2021

Q: I know it may be wishful thinking, but I am SO ready for the calendar to change and put this year in the past. At the same time, I'm worried about how the stress of 2020 has affected me. Do you have any advice for handling whatever comes in 2021? Jim: We're all running as fast as we can, and it's not easy to slow down. Pandemic aside, society rewards us for being on the go all day, every day. Working a job, building a strong marriage and raising a family are hard work. Some days keeping up with all that life demands of us is the best we can do. A season of busyness is one thing. But ...