Asking Eric: Father doesn’t know how to talk to daughter about mother’s infidelity, tell me about this news in (https://www.denverpost.com/2026/09/26/mother-infidelity-asking-eric/)

In the “Asking Eric” advice column, a reader writes about a decades-old dilemma regarding how he handled his ex-wife’s infidelity. Years ago, when his wife had an affair with a coworker (who later became the children’s stepfather half the time), the father chose to protect his young daughter’s relationship with her mother rather than burden her with the truth.

When the daughter was 12, she asked if the affair partner had been around during the marriage. Wanting to shield her, the father told her he would reveal the truth when she turned 16, which he eventually did. Decades later, the daughter and her mother maintain a cool, polite relationship, and the letter writer reflects on whether he handled the situation correctly.

Advice columnist R. Eric Thomas responds by noting that cheating spouses create a wide blast area of emotional damage, and in such difficult situations, there are often no good choices, only good intentions. He validates the father, explaining that his empathy and desire to protect his children came from a place of kindness in an unfair, tough position. Thomas encourages the reader to let go of regret, pointing out that if he were to do it over, he might have left it to the ex-wife to be proactive about framing what happened, but stressing that the father ultimately operated with good intentions and is not responsible for the current distant relationship between the mother and daughter.