Adapted from an online discussion. Dear Carolyn: My daughter-in-law has 13-year-old twin boys who stay with their father during school days. On the weekends, they are supposed to come to her house. One twin recently…

Hello, Carolyn: I’ve been married to my partner for over 20 years. We have tween and teenage kids. I feel unhappy a good bit of the time. I feel like I don’t want to be…

Dear Carolyn: My husband denies he’s gay but the sex stopped as soon as I said, “I do.” I thought it was me, and we had to see the fertility specialist to get pregnant twice.…

Dear Carolyn: My wife and a group of her friends meet once a month for a night “on the town.” It’s a tradition she has cherished since college; it predates our and most her friends’…

Adapted from an online discussion. Dear Carolyn: We will soon be spending about eight days with my husband’s family. I recently got a tattoo on my wrist, which I’ve wanted for years. My father-in-law has…

Hi, Carolyn: We’ve been together for 2½ years. He says he loves me, he says he wants to marry me, he says he wants to spend the rest of his life with me, but he…

Dear Carolyn: I am friends with a few members of a pretty tight clique. Over the years, I have had fluctuating levels of closeness with some of these women, and also fluctuating levels of hurt…

Dear Carolyn: My 15-year-old niece recently had her hair professionally dyed red. My sister — the child’s mother — facilitated this, but the niece used money she earned with a part-time job. When my mother…

Adapted from an online discussion. Dear Carolyn: I think my boyfriend and I are breaking up. It’s happening gradually, in small steps. Like we had a fight about bills, so now he buys his own…

Dear Carolyn: I have a friend I would like to call a dear friend, but I don’t think I can. Occasionally she just disappears from my life. Sometimes for a couple of years, sometimes for…