amy dickinson Phone Number

Dear Amy, Regarding the letter from "Furious at You" who said "what kind of uncle wants to visit a baby twice a week and babysit". Well I'm one of those uncles. I visited my niece when she was a little girl and as she got older I would take her to movies and out to eat. I now have a good relationship with my new adopted 14yr old nephew. He was eight yr old when he came into our lives. He is a great kid and we have a wonderful relationship. Furious @ you must have some dysfunctional uncles who do not care about their nieces and nephews.

Dear Amy, I read about the mother whose daughter treats her with disrespect. I have the same problem which started when she was in high school, but continues and she's now 28, is married. My son always said you never let us talk to you like that. I think I always thought -Oh she's tired, or has her period so I let it go too long until it became much more of a problem. We ended up seeing a counselor when she was in her 20's and she brought up old issues that seemed to cause her attitude. At least my husband was and is a support. I used to be in tears after she talked to me that way. Now I let it roll of my back most of the time. And I finally learned to say in a cool way, you have no right to talk to me like that. I'm sorry to say that I do many things for her out of guilt from maybe not giving her attention or not wanting to be around her so much because of her attitude. I never know when she's going to say something snotty to me again. I'd strongly suggest that the mother see a counselor alone and then with the daughter. It helped me a great deal.