((Nick Galifianakis for The Post))

Friend validates herself with other parents’ miseries

Carolyn Hax is away. The following first appeared June 3, 2012.

Dear Carolyn: My friend validates herself not with love and pride in the accomplishments of her son, but instead in pointing out the pain and failures of others, as in, “When I see what a mess their kid is in, I feel so much better about mine.”

I am finding it hard to ignore this version of schadenfreude. Should I?

— Schadenfreude

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