DEAR ALICE - SEPT 2026

DEAR ALICE

Advice from an Irish Mother

Dear Alice,

My wife is pushing back hard on my request that she remain indoors when I am not around. She was taking a yoga class up until recently, and I think she may have been unduly influenced by some of the women she met there. Suddenly, she wants to go out with her new “friends.” I have provided a beautiful home for her that has been newly decorated and is filled with custom furniture, an above ground pool, and every accoutrement she could possibly need. How can I get through to her that this is for her own safety?

Bill A – Omaha, Nebraska.

Dear Bill,

If you had to live in a cage for the rest of your life, would you rather the bars be horizontal or vertical? Stop acting like a prison warden, Bill. Keeping your wife locked up at home will not cure your fear. It only turns you into the bad guy in a life she will eventually want to leave. Love is not a hostage situation, and jealousy is such a bad look. Friends are a good thing. Without them, you carry 100 percent of her stress. Trust me, you do not want that job. For some strange reason, she chose you. Act like a man who deserves it. Do not punish her because you feel small. Get help before she leaves you for a proper man.

Alice Gibney - Dublin, Ireland