A listener emailed us this story about a middle-aged man falling in love with a family friend’s young daughter. As the story goes, “A college friend has long been an “uncle” to our two children. He has been there for school events, milestones, vacations, etc. Our daughter went away to college this year, to a town about 45 minutes from this friend’s house. He volunteered to look out for her, take her off campus for movies, send her mail, and drive her to and from our house for various events. The other day, our almost-50-year-old friend admitted that, for the past five months, he has been “falling in love” with our barely 19-year-old daughter. He says this is not OK and that he’s been trying to prevent the feelings, though he has not reduced his interactions with her.”
As for the parents, they explained, “He asked my husband and I not to tell her so their relationship wouldn’t become awkward. We’re floored. We told him we’d have to tell her, and he’d have to cease all contact with her. I feel intensely angry, betrayed, and suspicious. We haven’t told our daughter yet because we want to do it face-to-face after her finals have ended. What do we do going forward? How can we ever trust him again? Should we? Do we tell our son? Mutual friends?”
How would you go about this situation? The conversation lives on Facebook!
