Thanks for listening to my call of the day podcast. You can hear my live radio program Monday through Friday from two to five PM Eastern time on serious XM triumph 11. Michelle. Welcome to the program.

Thank you, Dr. Laura. Thanks for your crew. I appreciate you taking my call. I welcome have been listening consistently for the past month. Thanks to a job change.

And I have a problem in that I'm a step mom. I've been married about a year, man with three children. He has full custody of him since their divorce for an amount five years ago.

And I how does he have full custody? What was mama doing that was so bad.

Well, towards the end, it's like she I don't know if she got overwhelmed or just was hard to be in a mom because they they got married very young in college and she was a stay at home mom for the most part.

And I don't I don't know. I think the marriage was suffering, but they were staying in it for the children.

And how old are the children today? Okay, there's a, well, she just turned, well, she turned 14. And then there's a 17 year old college student.

And then there's a 22 year old college grad. And they all live at home because with COVID and everything that 20 year old. She was so are the teenagers going nutty with this stay home stuff.

Well, there I mean, it's kind of weird. Everybody's like glued to their screens. And it's like the most silent house in the world.

If that many girls in it and it's silent, wow, that's a science fiction movie.

And I have all I had all sister. So I know what girls are like.

Well, I'm feeling I feel guilty, Dr. Lour almost because I also like, I mean, like that I'm not I know I'm not I'm not trying to be their mom, but I just don't feel a part of or I feel guilty because I wish their parents could have stuck it out at least like you talk about the youngest.

Well, that's not guilt. That's that's not guilt. That's sadness. Okay. Okay. You feel sad that their world got ripped apart and their mom acts like she doesn't care about them, which it's got to be very painful for the kids. I can't even imagine, you know.

And yeah, she became pretty abusive to them towards the end. Was she an alcoholic? Was she a drunk and addict? Do you have mental problems?

It looks like there was an under cover alcoholism thing.

It was it was hidden.

She was sort of a closet drunk. Got it.

Right. And the thing is it was the oldest daughter when it happened five years ago, she looked at her death and when are you going to do something?

Or like, are you going to help us?

And they were or his idea was to stick it out, you know, because of the children and they, well, the two oldest, they were, they came to him like, we can't take it.

Like, I don't know what you can do, but we can't take it anymore. Yeah. Yeah.

So I guess sadness is more appropriate.

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