Mom vetoes grandma’s plan

Dear Abby: My parents have strong opinions. I don’t agree with them in areas such as how to raise or discipline my children. If I try to explain why, they mock me with their tone of voice. Then they get mad if I try to discuss it with them and won’t speak to me for a couple of weeks.

Currently, they are insisting that I am making a mountain out of a molehill because of the coronavirus. I stay at home with my children and run out only to buy food.

Abby, my parents are ignoring all the health recommendations. They still go out in public places where people are close to each other.

They now want to have all their grandkids over to play and are upset with me because I refuse. It has reached the point that I don’t answer my phone when I see Mom’s number because I know she’ll lecture me on how I am “tearing the family apart over this nonsense that we’ll just laugh about next year.” How do you get family members to respect your request for social distancing?

Dear Doing: Here’s how: Stick to your guns. Remind your mother that your children’s welfare is your sacred responsibility. It is your job to ensure their safety, and it’s no laughing matter. Tell her this is why you have chosen to follow the directions issued by the Centers for Disease Control. You wish she and your dad would be more careful about their own health, but you respect that they are adults making their own choices, and you expect that she will extend to you the same courtesy. Period!