DEAR ABBY: As my parents have aged, my father has been misremembering things or making wrong assumptions. It has increasingly gotten on my mom\u2019s nerves (she has also become more impatient and snappy lately), and she has been yelling at him in response. Sometimes, he responds back, but usually he doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
My sister snapped at them, saying she is tired of their bickering, so they don\u2019t do that around her as often anymore. But anytime I have gotten upset about it or tried to suggest to them how to resolve things, Mom gets upset with me. My mental health isn\u2019t the best right now, so continuing to do that doesn\u2019t seem like a good idea, but I\u2019m at a loss about what to do. Any thoughts? \u2014 UNCERTAIN IN IOWA<\/p>\n
DEAR UNCERTAIN: Before this situation grows worse, please understand that it may be necessary for both of your parents to have physical and neurological examinations. If you can arrange for that, PLEASE do. The changes you describe in your father may be signs of dementia, and your mother may be stressed to the point that she can no longer deal with him without losing it.<\/p>\n
DEAR ABBY: My 13-year-old son was getting off the school bus. His friend was in front of him. My son thought it would be funny to take his friend\u2019s water bottle out of his backpack and drop it on the pavement. A few days later, my son got sent to the principal\u2019s office, not because he was in trouble but because the parents had called the school to complain about their son\u2019s scuffed water bottle and wanted it replaced. They asked for $23.<\/p>\n
I wrote a check and was tempted to add a snarky comment, but I didn\u2019t. Yes, my son should keep his hands to himself, but the water bottle is still functional. My son apologized. Am I living my life wrong, or is it OK that they just invoiced me like that? \u2014 UNSURE IN ILLINOIS<\/p>\n
DEAR UNSURE: Your son may have been trying to be funny when he damaged another student\u2019s property, but the boy\u2019s parents didn\u2019t see the humor in it. The bottle wasn\u2019t the disposable kind, and the parents were not out of line to expect to be reimbursed for your son damaging it. Perhaps HE can reimburse YOU.<\/p>\n
DEAR ABBY: Our family is already picking out items they want after my wife and I pass. They bring the subject up at every gathering. They have even started marking the items they want. My wife and I are 67 and 68. We are healthy and don\u2019t plan on dying for a while. This is starting to upset us both. How to shut them up is my question. \u2014 ANNOYED IN TEXAS<\/p>\n
DEAR ANNOYED: Your family gatherings remind me of a pack of slavering wolves surrounding their potential prey. Here\u2019s how to shut them up: At the next gathering, tell your kin that if they keep this up, when you and your wife depart this earthly plane, ALL of your possessions will be going to charity.<\/p>\n
Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.<\/p>\n
For an excellent guide to becoming a better conversationalist and a more sociable person, order \u201cHow to Be Popular.\u201d Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $8 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby, Popularity Booklet, P.O. Box 446, Kings Mills, OH 45034-0446. (Shipping and handling are included in the price.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DEAR ABBY: As my parents have aged, my father has been misremembering things or making wrong assumptions. It…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[97,259,260],"class_list":{"0":"post-344976","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-mental-health","10":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}