ArcaMax

DEAR MISS MANNERS: My daughter and I could use a refresher course in how to answer the seemingly endless questions regarding her marital status.

She is a 23-year-old full-time college student, happy in a relationship, and not terribly interested in getting married yet. But more and more she is enduring "the question" from seemingly well-meaning...Read more

Dear Annie: My husband and I absolutely adore our grandchildren, and spending time with them is one of the great joys of our lives. The problem is that our son and daughter-in-law have very different parenting styles, and we keep finding ourselves caught in the middle.

Our son is much more relaxed about things like bedtime, sweets and screen ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: You sometimes ask readers to share their pet peeves. I am a public school teacher, and here is mine: Parents wonder why their children misbehave, argue with them and act out with attention-getting behaviors. My advice to them: Put down those cellphones and pay attention to your kids!

I just had a conference with a mother whose ...Read more

I remember picking up my first campaign check from the P.O. box I had rented. I knew the name: a gruff older man in the community who had stopped me at a social function to ask if I was indeed running for office. Now I held his writing in my hands, a small bid for support in a realm I had very little experience in.

There's energy in that ...Read more

Dear Annie: I have a best friend whom I love dearly, and we have been close for years. She is funny, generous and has been there for me during some difficult times. But lately I have noticed a pattern that is starting to wear on me.

Whenever I try to tell her something about my life, she interrupts before I can finish and somehow turns the ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: I am a single woman in a friendly neighborhood. Every month, I have the neighbors over for dinner and a movie. I like to be inclusive -- bring the kids, bring the dogs! One couple recently had their elderly mom move in, and I installed a ramp so she could join us. Babies cry, dogs bark, women breastfeed, but all are welcome. I put ...Read more

DEAR HARRIETTE: I moved away from my small town in Ohio to go to fashion school in New York City. When I was out and about, a girl stopped me at the train station and asked me who I was. When I confirmed my name, she exclaimed that we went to school together and she graduated a few years before me. We chitchatted for a bit about how we've been ...Read more

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I'm turning 30 and decided this would be a great age to throw a birthday party. My long-term partner recently left me, and I really want to show my friends how much I appreciate them being in my life.

When I've gone to events after COVID, I've noticed they have a lot less structure and are overall less formal. While I do want...Read more

Dear Annie: My husband has recently become obsessed with Twitter. He spends hours a day on his computer away from his family. I've supported this unusual hobby until recently.

I noticed he and another female Tweeter calling each other "besties," and they have cute nicknames for each other. I confronted my husband about it, and he told me that...Read more

DEAR ABBY: I am a man in my 40s. A woman and I had a relationship that ended badly. We met on the job, though we work in different departments. Everyone knows about our previous relationship, and it is extremely awkward. Every time I walk by, there are lots of smiles and chattering; when I approach my co-workers' desks, I'm greeted with silence ...Read more

Dear Annie: My entire extended family is in a group chat together. Sometimes it's fun, and sometimes it's useful, but most of the time it's just noisy. The worst offender is my cousin "Daniel." At least once a week, he sends political rants, tweets and reels to the chat. It's wearing on everyone, especially my mom's side of the family, which ...Read more

Dear Annie: I have two sisters, and one of them, "Joanie," tragically passed away from cancer last year. It's obviously been hard, but what's making it harder is my remaining sister. She has always been competitive. And she has somehow turned even grief into a competition.

For example, a few weeks ago I mentioned I hadn't slept the night ...Read more

Sexual expression is part of mental and physical well-being. On that we agree. But being unmarried, you also know how difficult it is to find caring and commitment from a partner. Sexual union has the potential to be spiritual communion, but only when it joins soul mates can it even come close to expressing that high level of togetherness and ...Read more