Ask Amy: Blended family is not really blended
Is a phone call or an affectionately worded text message on your birthday the equivalent of receiving a scented candle?
Is a carefully chosen birthday card a real gift?
I’m suggesting that if you opened your eyes to these expressions, you might see these relationships themselves as gifts that keep on giving.
Because this imbalance upsets you, you should scale back on your material gifting and become more fluent in another love language: “Words of Affirmation.”
Dear Amy: “Broke Dad” wrote that his teen daughter deliberately broke her phone in order to get an upgrade.
That spoiled, entitled brat needs to learn that is not the way the world works.
If they buy her an upgraded phone after this performance, will she wreck the family car to get a better, newer model?
– Disgusted
Dear Disgusted: I could absolutely imagine this happening. Thank you.
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(You can email Amy Dickinson at askamy@amydickinson.com or send a letter to Ask Amy, P.O. Box 194, Freeville, NY 13068. You can also follow her on Twitter @askingamy or Facebook.)
©2024 Amy Dickinson. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
