Young relatives with bed bugs need aunt’s care, attention

summer visit this year. I heard that they have bedbugs. There is

they will be clean come visit time.

My brother is skirting my calls, so we have been only texting. What should I do? The kids will be devastated, but I don’t want them in my home this summer!

This is all kinds of terrible — and, wow, do I feel for those kids. Abuse and neglect can take many different forms. I feel for you, too, in having to deal with this dilemma.

I don’t agree, though, that turning the kids away is your only option, your financial strain notwithstanding.

Bedbugs bring a nightmare of treatment once they settle into a home, but on guests — as long as you follow protocols — they’re mostly a matter of laundry. (And bagging what can’t be washed.) It involves hassle, not cash, and for kids you love and who plainly need some care, you can do “hassle.”

Read up online or get specific instructions from an EPA regional office; see, “Regional bed bug contacts,” www.epa.gov/bedbugs. And Childhelp, 1-800-4-A-CHILD, to help you navigate the needs of these kids.

Dear Carolyn: My son and his girlfriend and my mother-in-law won’t stop asking, pleading and guilttripping me about bringing dogs on visits at my home. They have even chosen to miss out on family events because the dogs couldn’t come.

Our policy is no dogs, period. We have a dog, which is enough. He has lots of rules to follow. (He is kenneltrained; the furniture is off-limits.)

Even the friends who know our pet policy continue to hint around that they would like to bring their perfect dog. I’m at a loss.

I agree the persistence is mystifying. And irritating.

But you’ve handled the matter precisely the right way.

Hold your line. No apologies.