DEAR ABBY: This is for "Lonesome Teen in Riverside, Mo." I, too, have a 12-year-old son and an 8-year-old daughter. Their father and I divorced, and he left owing thousands of dollars in child support. My children had not heard from him in more than a month. When he finally did call, I got on the phone and made my point clear: Money was not an issue. I did not care where he was, or what kind of life he was living. I told him he needed to call his children once a week and tell them he loved them. I even said he could call collect. I emphasized that if there was ever an emergency, we needed to know we could communicate.
He sends no presents for Christmas and misses their birthdays, but since our conversation, he calls our children once a week.
My point: Kids are not little forever. They do not care if their father (or mother) has money or a nice job. They just want to talk to them and hear them say, "I love you." -- BEEN THERE IN IOWA
DEAR BEEN THERE: That's true. You're a terrific mother for getting that message across to your former spouse. Other absent parents can learn from you.