DEAR ABBY: I have a colleague who's a drama queen. Perhaps I'm a little bit guilty, too, but "Sharon" talks excessively about her personal life. There's the boyfriend who doesn't support her and their 2-year-old child financially or emotionally, her mom who suffers from many medical conditions, and her neighbor whose daughter was murdered some months ago. Sharon's life seems to be a magnet for drama.

My colleagues and I have lent our ears and our shoulders to cry on. I have also tried to advise her (like you do) to no avail. I have now reached my limit. Is there a tactful way to deal with her? We work in proximity at least half the time, so total avoidance is not possible. -- INUNDATED IN HAWAII

DEAR INUNDATED: If Sharon asks you for advice, tell her you don't have any more to offer. And if she starts dumping on you, handle it by saying kindly, but firmly, that you need to work and don't have time to listen. If you say it often enough, Sharon will find someone else to listen. Trust me.

DEAR ABBY: My girlfriend and I live next to a married couple our age we have befriended. Unfortunately, the husband has been making unwanted advances toward my girlfriend. Being friendly with them both, we have kept it to ourselves so as not to hurt the wife. She's ill and has been in and out of the hospital.

The husband is approaching my girlfriend saying he needs "stress relief" because his wife is ill. We now feel something needs to be said to the wife, but we still have to live next door to them.

We're at a loss. What's the best way to handle this? -- HAD ENOUGH IN FLORIDA

DEAR HAD ENOUGH: The next time this man hits on your girlfriend, she should tell him bluntly that it's not her job to "relieve his stress." That is his responsibility. She should also tell him if it happens again she'll tell you AND his wife what he's up to.

As to being friendly with this couple in the future, FORGET IT. That bridge was burned the first time he stepped out of line.

DEAR ABBY: Do you have any advice for fathers who don't listen to you? Or fathers who are too protective and don't know how to let go? -- STARGIRL IN MICHIGAN

DEAR STARGIRL: My advice to fathers would be to form as close a relationship with their daughters as they can while the girls are little. Teenage girls whose fathers are involved in their lives tend to engage in sexual activity at later ages.

However, whether a father is "too protective" may be a question of perspective -- the father's or the daughter's. I have heard many adults say in retrospect how much they appreciate that their parents were strict. But I have rarely heard the contrary.

DEAR ABBY: I'm a twice-divorced woman who found my present husband late in life. I'm in my early 60s, and my husband is in his 70s. We married quickly because I didn't want to be alone in life and I thought I loved him.

My husband works while I stay at home because of a medical condition. Because I get bored, I spend some of my time communicating with and texting male friends from the past and one of my ex-husbands.

We have fun texting and sometimes it goes a little beyond that. I realize I am married and my ex is engaged, but how harmful can this be? I don't think I'm hurting anyone, and it helps the day go by.

Is this considered cheating? I don't think it is because my ex and I live in different states and the chances of us ever getting together again are slim to none. -- PASSING TIME

DEAR PASSING TIME: This isn't harmless fun; it's a threat to your marriage. Whether I consider it cheating is beside the point. Whether your husband and your ex's fiancee would consider it cheating is the question. If they got wind of your "pastime," I suspect both would be hurt, angry and feel violated. Not only that, you could lose Husband No. 3.

DEAR ABBY: My 2-year-old daughter has recently become boob-obsessed. The first thing she does in the morning is point at my chest and say, "Boobs!" If she hugs me, she tries to grab them. Sometimes I catch her staring at my chest in fascination. I scold her when she grabs at them, but it's disturbing.

I never taught her the word "boob" and feel annoyed that she probably learned it from our sitter. When I spoke to the sitter about it, she laughed and said it's perfectly normal and that a lot of kids are boob-obsessed. But it doesn't seem normal to me, and I'm creeped out.

I have started wearing sweatshirts to keep covered up. My little girl has also started grabbing my butt and lifting up my shirt, and I'm nervous about how she's acting around the sitter and other women in the family. Is this behavior normal? -- CREEPED OUT IN VALENCIA, CALIF.

DEAR CREEPED OUT: Children have been known to act out to get attention. If a parent acts shocked at something the child does or says, the child will repeat the action for its shock value. Because you are concerned that your daughter's behavior isn't normal, the person to discuss this with would be her pediatrician. The doctor can put your fears to rest or alert you if there is something to worry about.

Another thought: Ask your baby sitter to be more circumspect in the language she uses around your child if the word "boob" offends you, because children build their vocabularies repeating the words they hear.

DEAR ABBY: As the executive director of the Hearing Loss Association of America, may I suggest that "Mortified at the Dinner Table" (March 2), who wrote about her in-laws' poor hearing even with hearing aids, connect with one of our 200-plus local HLAA chapters at www.hearingloss.org? These member-led groups offer emotional support, camaraderie, communication strategies and techniques for living with hearing loss, both for people who have hearing loss as well as their families and friends. Most chapters also share information about assistive listening devices that link via a telecoil found in most modern hearing aids that could greatly enhance her in-laws' hearing around the dinner table.

"Mortified" might also want to accompany her in-laws to a hearing aid evaluation visit at an audiologist's office to learn more about their particular hearing difficulties. There is more to correcting hearing loss than buying hearing aids. Some users benefit from assistive listening devices or from listening training that can be done at home with a personal computer.

By joining HLAA, "Mortified" can receive Hearing Loss Magazine and get the latest information about hearing loss and how to live well with it. -- ANNA GILMORE HALL

DEAR MS. HALL: Thank you for your letter and the information you generously provided. Any reader with hearing loss should check out the HLAA website for a more detailed description of the services it provides. Read on:

DEAR ABBY: Many people who wear hearing aids find noisy environments problematic. As people age, their ability to understand can be difficult even with hearing aids. As a practicing audiologist, I recommend the following to my patients to help make communication easier.

(1) Test hearing annually so hearing aids can be reprogrammed to current hearing levels if necessary.

(2) Follow up with the audiologist for regular hearing aid maintenance and care.

(3) In restaurants, ask to be seated away from high noise level areas; preferential seating may help.

(4) Reserve confidential discussions for another time and location, which would make them easier for people with hearing loss to understand. -- AUDIOLOGIST IN PENNSYLVANIA

DEAR ABBY: My 91-year-old mother is hard of hearing. I take her out to dinner once a week.

I don't worry about what people around us are thinking. It doesn't matter what she wants to talk about. I'm just glad she's able to get out and converse with others. The conversations at tables near us are sometimes so obnoxious that I'm GLAD my mother can't hear them.

People are normally very courteous about helping me with her, and many have told me they wished their parents were still alive and able to have dinner with them. -- JUDY IN ARIZONA

DEAR ABBY: Your advice to "Mortified" was certainly not taking into account the other diners' feelings that this writer was so admirably describing! Everyone around that table paid for -- and deserves -- to have a pleasant dining experience too. This includes not being subjected to others' cellphone conversations, unruly children or excessively loud conversations regardless of their content. -- MARIANNE IN WASHINGTON