‘Is it worth taking my family to see a grandad who is only sort of interested in seeing them?’
Tell Me About It: Your family is worth your effort and your children will connect with their heritage and gain cousins
‘I love being home for Christmas – but my dad uses it as an excuse to drink excessively’
Tell Me About It: I’m bringing my partner home for the first time. He’s not Irish, and I’m worried he’ll judge my family
I absolutely dread going to my husband’s parents’ home for Christmas
My mother-in-law is a control freak and she criticises everything I do, say or wear
‘My wife has been diagnosed with dementia and I’m upset we have not had the chance to realise our dreams’
Tell Me About It: My wife wanted me to retire five years ago, and we had plans for travelling. I stubbornly kept putting it off
I’m thinking of leaving my depressed partner but am horrified about what it will do to her daughter
It took a long time for me to earn this child’s trust but I feel like I am getting sucked into her mother’s black cloud
‘I’m single in my 40s, and I feel both pressure and disapproval from everyone’
Tell Me About It: ‘Extended family and friends subtly, and not-so-subtly, suggest that I’d be happier in a relationship’
‘I left work to rear the kids, but now I feel alone, isolated from my husband and undesirable’
Tell Me About It: ‘I really feel worthless and can’t see myself doing anything worthwhile’
‘My son (9) loves football, but I am horrified at what goes on at matches’
Tell Me About It: I am tempted to pull him out of this sport as it normalises such awful behaviour
‘I found a therapist, but I’m worried my parents will look up what they specialise in’
Tell Me About It: ‘I’m worried I’ll be put into a situation where I have to tell them something I don’t want to share with them yet’
‘I think my two friends – who are both married – are in love with each other’
Tell Me About It: ‘Should I tell each of them that the other person has feelings for them or let them figure it out?’
‘I have given up going to the gym because of my clingy boyfriend’
Tell Me About It: ‘His insecurity is growing all the time and the fact that we are together over a year has not helped’
‘I am on a voluntary board and I’m shocked at the politics and naked ambition of some people’
Tell Me About It: I cannot afford to lose my connections in this area, so should I keep to my principles or just suck it up?
‘At our engagement party, my partner’s sister announced she had gotten engaged too’
Tell Me About It: ‘I now have questions about the rest of his family and their casualness about how she usurped our day’
My friend is in a miserable relationship that she won’t leave
Tell Me About It: ‘He’s not kind to her and she has had to give up things she wanted, like marriage, because they are not what he wants’
‘My lover has told me of another relationship. I’m worried the stress might kill him’
Tell Me About It: ‘We have discussed living together in his country, and I have put my house up for sale’