Dear Abby: When I gave a child a tablet, I didn’t intend to pay for the mom’s internet

DEAR ABBY My husband s daughter lives in another state When COVID hit and the schools closed down her youngest daughter didn t own a laptop or tablet and the school didn t provide one so she couldn t do her schoolwork Related Articles Dear Abby Someone is spreading a rumor about me and it might be my best friend Dear Abby I have a secret second home Do I need to come clean about it now Dear Abby It s like I m living in a movie but not in a good way Dear Abby I don t want this child at my house What do I tell her parents Dear Abby My husband s excuse is that he only ogles women who are prettier than me We offered to provide the child with a tablet and put it on our phone plan so she would have access if their Wi-Fi got bogged down or didn t work Fast-forward to nowadays That child is out of high school and no longer lives at home Her mom has possession of the tablet and uses it regularly I m still paying for the internet access what I ve paid in just monthly fees is plenty of times the value of the tablet The mom has a good job and could take over the plan On top of that she doesn t make much effort to keep in contact with her dad or me Months go by with no phone calls or texts and the last time I dialed her number I got a message that made it sound like she had blocked my number Phone calls from her dad go unanswered I want to shut down the line the tablet is connected to but I know when she figures it out she ll call raging that it was a gift However it was a gift to her daughter not to her Must I keep paying to keep peace or shut it down MIFFED STEPMOM DEAR STEPMOM I can see why you might be miffed Your husband s daughter is distant and not interested in fostering a relationship with her father or you Discuss this with your husband Because his daughter has a job and can afford to pay the monthly access fee there is no logical reason why you should be footing the bill DEAR ABBY I have been with my boyfriend for years Before me he was known for sleeping around He has never cheated on me that I am aware of but when we go to social gatherings or just out he flirts with other women If there is another woman in the room he keeps his eyes on her like I can t see it happening When he drinks it s times worse I ve notified him several times that it really bothered me he commented I was overreacting I m trying to let it go but it hurts my feelings deeply In his mind it s OK that we hang out with women he has been to bed with He says it s no big deal How do I learn to deal with all of this and be happy I just want the respect I deserve GIRLFRIEND OF MR POPULAR Related Articles Asking Eric My son s wife gets fancy meal kits and he has to cook for himself Harriette Cole The man I m dating made a proposal I didn t want to hear Miss Manners Aggressive customers want me to break the workplace rules Dear Abby Someone is spreading a rumor about me and it might be my best friend Asking Eric These old photos set me off and I revealed the truth about their sister DEAR GIRLFRIEND If you want the respect you deserve find a man who has various respect for women Clearly your boyfriend does not If he cared about your feelings he wouldn t ogle other women while the two of you are out together Doing so after you explained him how it affected you is rude and inconsiderate I know you have invested a lot of time in this person but he isn t going to change Unless you want to perhaps be married to a womanizer with a drinking obstacle end the romance now And once that s done ask your medical professional to test you for STDs Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren also known as Jeanne Phillips and was founded by her mother Pauline Phillips Contact Dear Abby at www DearAbby com or P O Box Los Angeles CA