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Ex-etiquette: Bonus mom is asking for trouble
Q. My co-parent and I have two kids. I recently married a woman with two more children, a few years younger than my own. My wife insists on going to the children’s doctor and dentist appointments, which causes my co-parent to become extremely territorial and recently caused a huge brouhaha at the dentist’s office. The kids were there, and ...Read more
Ex-etiquette: Family is hurting
Q. My husband did multiple tours in Afghanistan and has had multiple head injuries. When he came home, he seemed disconnected and it was almost like he didn’t know us. My presence seemed to irritate him, he left the church, and we are now in the middle of a divorce. He met someone while we were still married and chooses to live with her. While...Read more
Ex-etiquette: Mother's Day dilemma
Q. Each Mother’s Day I am faced with a dilemma. Now that I am in college, I can easily say I love my mom, but I also have a very close relationship with my bonus mom and each year I like to acknowledge her as well. My mom and Jessi get along just fine. We often have brunch together each Mother’s Day. But my family gets even more complicated....Read more
Ex-etiquette: Often, it's just her and 5 sons
Q: My husband's sons live with us about 40% of the time and I have my three sons full time. My husband works in another city during the week, so it is sometimes only me and 5 boys. Now his ex says we need to have the kids 50/50 (and the kids want this as well), and even though my husband is out of town a lot, she still thinks it's his ...Read more
Ex-etiquette: Exes at odds in the wedding party
Q: My sister is getting married, and her fiance has asked my ex to be his best man. My ex and I don't get along very well and I have asked her fiance to reconsider many times, but he refuses to consider how I might feel. I am also in the wedding party as well as my two children, ages 10 and 12. Plus, there are other former couples who are ...Read more
Ex-etiquette: When kids share a room ...
Q. My 12-year-old daughter recently told me her 11-year-old stepbrother tried to kiss her before he went to bed the other night. She was already asleep, and they share a room. We gently confronted him, and he admitted to it, but he was very embarrassed, and my daughter is mortified. My husband and I have only been married six months and we moved...Read more
Ex-etiquette: Accepting differences
Q: My girlfriend and I moved in together about 4 months ago. We both have sons about the same age. They are nothing alike and it’s really difficult for her—and me--because she compares the boys all the time and it makes it very uncomfortable. For example, her son is very athletic, mine is not. He prefers to draw and she has out and out said ...Read more
Ex-etiquette: Where does he disappear to?
Q. My boyfriend has been living with me for three months. Sometimes he doesn’t come home for days, doesn’t say where he has been, and I think he is staying at his ex’s house. When I ask, he says he drank too much with his friends and slept on the couch. I think he is with his ex because they have a child together. Is there an Ex-Etiquette ...Read more
Ex-etiquette: Future status of 'former' bonus mom?
Q: I am in a new relationship. I also have a son from my first marriage. My ex-wife (second marriage) and I raised my son together for 6 years. We split up 2 years ago, but she is still in my son’s life and spends a few hours with him every week. My new partner is resentful of even the smallest amount of time my son spends with her and demands...Read more
Ex-etiquette: Holiday disagreement
Q: My ex and I do not have a formal holiday schedule because we both followed a religion that did not celebrate holidays. Our children, now 12 and 14, have been brought up that way. Over the last year I have met and married someone who is Christian and I converted. She does not approach Easter as religiously as some, but Easter dinner is a huge ...Read more
Ex-etiquette: Beware of badmouthing
Q. My son comes home from my co-parent’s home and tells me that they say bad things about me. My co-parent is aware of how damaging badmouthing can be, so I’m surprised by this. What’s good ex-etiquette?
A. Years ago, while standing in line at the supermarket, the woman behind me caught my eye. She had a little one in a car seat perched...Read more
Ex-etiquette: Dad's role when ex-wife has surgery
Q: My children’s mother has to have surgery. I did not hear this from her, but from the children. Evidently, she has had serious back problems for a while, yet I had no idea. The kids tell me they will be staying with their grandmother for about a month while their mom is recuperating. We share equal custody. Shouldn’t I be asked to weigh ...Read more
Missouri lawmakers propose IVF protections as Planned Parenthood defunding advances
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A Republican state legislator has filed a plan to protect in vitro fertilization procedures in Missouri following an Alabama court ruling that declared frozen embryos are unborn children.
State Rep. Bill Allen, a Kansas City Republican who narrowly unseated an incumbent Democrat two years ago, floated a measure Wednesday...Read more
Ex-etiquette: How to stop grandma from bashing his ex
Q: My mother is out of control. She is very upset that my ex left and says horrible things about her when the kids are around. Her last rant called their mother “a lying, cheating ho.” And I didn’t know what to do. I try to reel her in, but she doesn’t listen. I don’t want to stop her from seeing her grandkids, but she doesn’t ...Read more