Dear Queenie,
When my father comes to visit me and my husband he goes through everything in the house, including personal things, wherever he finds them, including our bedroom. If he finds anything he thinks needs fixing he goes to work on it, whether we ask him to or not.
We have asked him not to do this and to have some respect for our privacy, but he refuses to even try to understand and just keeps pointing out how much he does for us.
Queenie, we love him and want to have him in our lives, but this is just too much! What do you advise?—Invaded
Dear Invaded,
Your father apparently feels so much at home in your home that he forgets that you are no longer children he needs to check up on. You may have to go so far as to put a lock on the door of every room you do not want him to go into.
As for the repair work he does, pick out in advance some fix-it projects to keep him busy, and be grateful to him (and be sure to thank him!) for saving you the trouble and, possibly, the expense.
