Dear Queenie,

  My daughter got a divorce when she found out her husband was cheating on her. She has custody of their children and she won’t let them see their father. She also doesn’t want the rest of her family to have anything to do with him.

  His family all live far away from here and he was always close to us when they were married because we were all the family he had. And the other woman broke up with him when our daughter found out about her.

  Queenie, what he did was wrong, but now he is so depressed and I feel so sorry for him. Is there anything I can do?—Sad grandmother

Dear Grandmother,

  Do not lie to your daughter. You may have to cut your ties with your ex-son-in-law.

  However, you can point out to your daughter that her children need their father and by keeping him away from them she is punishing them as well as him. They will understand that nobody approves of what he did – the divorce is his punishment – but he is still their father.

Dear Queenie,

  I was at the supermarket the other day and someone else in the checkout line said I must be going to have a party and a lot of fun because I was buying so much liquor.

  Actually, the liquor was for my husband, who drinks so much he passes out almost every day.

  Queenie, why do people think a lot of booze is “fun”?—Drunk’s wife

Dear Wife,

  Apparently your husband is an alcoholic – addicted to alcohol. Why are you enabling him by providing him with liquor? If he were a drug addict would you buy him his drugs?

  Instead of supporting his addiction, you should be encouraging him to try to fight it, perhaps with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous (see Agenda on page 2 of this newspaper). You can find some help for yourself through Al-Anon or a similar organisation such as SMART Recovery online.

Dear Queenie,

  A friend of mine let me buy some things on her credit card and I was paying it off, but since the pandemic I have had wage cuts and I got behind on the payments and she got a call from a collection agent.

  She didn’t want her husband to know she had let me use the card so she lied to the agent and said she never gave me permission. Now she is even threatening to take me to court. I can understand her not wanting her husband to find out she let me use the card but if she takes me to court it will ruin our friendship.

  Queenie, is there anything it can do to fix all this?—Worried friend

Dear Friend,

  You can point out to your friend that if she takes you to court you will testify under oath that she did give you permission to use the card and it will be a matter of record, so her husband surely will find out about it. Furthermore, if she says in court that she did not give you permission she will be committing perjury, which is a crime.

  Whatever happens, I would say this friendship is over. Nevertheless, you should be sure to pay off the credit card debt completely.

Dear Queenie,

  My daughter’s boyfriend stays up late at night playing computer games and then can’t wake up until noon or later. He can’t get a good job because of his sleeping habit.

  My smart beautiful daughter has a great job and supports both of them. She told me her boyfriend will inherit some money from a relative who died recently and says he will buy her an engagement ring.

  Queenie, I will be happier if she never marries him. What can I say if they actually get engaged?—Worried mother

Dear Mother,

  Smile and do not say anything negative. If this man loves your daughter a lot it may make up for his less-attractive qualities.