Ask Allison News Today

Question: I am in a happy three-year relationship. We are in our late 20s. We met during COVID-19 on a dating app. However, we are from separate counties which are 35-40 minutes away from one another and have never lived really close by or together. Throughout our relationship, we both moved to different cities in Ireland for work purposes while climbing the ladder for our careers and enjoying living with our friends. Now we are both in happy jobs and back at home, living with our parents.

Question: My 17-year-old daughter told me that she was sexually assaulted by a friend of a friend on a night out. She is adamant that she does not want us (her parents) involved in any way and that she is absolutely not going to pursue a complaint.

Question: My 17-year-old daughter told me that she was sexually assaulted by a friend of a friend on a night out. She is adamant that she does not want us (her parents) involved in any way and that she is absolutely not going to pursue a complaint.

Question: My husband has a terrible habit of arguing the counterpoint to anything I say. For example, I will tell a story relating to a shop assistant being rude to me and he will instantly give reasons as to why the shop assistant may have been right, or some other excuse that invalidates my point of view. It is constant, and it happens for minor and major things.

Question: My husband has a terrible habit of arguing the counterpoint to anything I say. For example, I will tell a story relating to a shop assistant being rude to me and he will instantly give reasons as to why the shop assistant may have been right, or some other excuse that invalidates my point of view. It is constant, and it happens for minor and major things.

Question: My husband has a terrible habit of arguing the counterpoint to anything I say. For example, I will tell a story relating to a shop assistant being rude to me and he will instantly give reasons as to why the shop assistant may have been right, or some other excuse that invalidates my point of view. It is constant, and it happens for minor and major things.

Something that comes up over and over again in my clinical work, and in the Ask Allison column, is family estrangement.

Question: I have a 13-year-old daughter and I feel like I have completely lost control. She is a lovely girl, but very insistent, and she has friends — also lovely, but they have parents with whom my values don’t really align. They are also more domineering than I am and I feel like decisions are being taken out of my hands the whole time.

When teens are blowing their allowance on (or begging for) "it" items like Stanley tumblers or skin care, what should parents do?

Question: My husband and I were both quite sporty before we had kids. We have three children now — aged between four and 10.