Dear Queenie,
My mother is a wonderful person and we all love her very much, but she does love to boss us around and she always wants everything done her way, even if we would prefer something different – not better or worse, just different.
Now she wants to go on a long vacation trip with us and we know it won’t even be before a day has gone by that she will make us crazy.
Queenie, how do we say “no,” that we love her but we don’t want to travel with her?—Annoyed daughter
Dear Daughter,
Some parents are so in the habit of telling their children what to do and how to do it that they do not – or cannot – stop once the children have grown up.
When she starts “bossing you around” tell her – as sweetly as you can manage – “Mom, I am all grown up now and I prefer to do it my way – and it is very annoying when you treat me like a child.” Hopefully, she will (eventually) get the message and learn to change her ways, at least a little bit.
