This person wants to help their friend.

Hello,

Your friend is lucky to have a friend like you who cares about her!

In your situation, unfortunately the actions that you can take are limited, but that does not mean that you cannot do anything.

One of the most important things that you can do in this situation is be there for her, which is something that you already have been doing! That is good and you guys should keep being there for her and keep on reassuring her that if she wants to share something, you guys are there for her.

Another thing that you can do is to try to include her in every activity that you guys are doing online. If she can’t go out very often to have fun, you guys can try to bring the fun to her. There are a lot of online activities that you can do together such as playing games and watching movies. I haven’t met a lot of my friends since March last year because of COVID-19 and we all have been keeping in touch with each other by playing games together.

She can also try to have a space for herself in her own house or she can try to have a time everyday just for herself in which she can focus all her attention on that thing so she can at least feel like she’s free from her father’s constant attention.

The things that I’m going to say next is not me siding with her father but there might be a reason behind his overprotectiveness. His behavior might be a result of his own upbringing and what he thought was the right thing to do. Understanding the reason behind his actions might make everything more bearable to your friend because that’s how I personally cope with some situations. Some people try to show their affection to us in weird ways and it might not be the best way and it might not even be good for us. However, maybe and hopefully by understanding their point of view, it might make everything a little bit better for your friend.

Lastly, don’t forget to remind her that she can always try to reach out to her school counselor or any of her trusted teachers at school if things ever got too tough and she needs an adult to know her situation.

I hope this helps and I wish you the best of luck.

Love,

The Advice Column Team

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