Jeanne PhillipsDEAR ABBY: My daughter and her boyfriend have been together for four years. Despite being almost 30, he is very immature and constantly distracted by either his phone or his video games.
Abby, he travels with his PlayStation everywhere he goes. When he comes into our house, he sets up his console in the living room, puts on headphones and plays games all day and night. If the family asks to use the TV for a few hours, he will sit on the sofa and take a nap or pull out his phone and continue gaming.
I know nothing more about him than I did the first month I met him. He is rude, boorish, self-centered and has a criminal record (drugs). They live in another state, and for my daughter’s sake, I try to accommodate him. When I asked for them to “visit us, not our TV,” she became very defensive.
Is this the new norm? Must I provide a TV in their room for when they stay? When they went to visit his family who live near us, he took the system to their house for the three-hour visit.
How do I deal with this addiction? My daughter now wants to bring him along while we have our mother/daughter lunch and manicures. It’s like he’s 3 and has to tag along. He has no friends. When she goes out for a night with her girlfriends, we are expected to “baby-sit.” I’ve never encountered anything like this. Please advise me. – DONE MOTHERING IN PENNSYLVANIA