Bea Lewis

Q: Why is it that when I visit my daughter and her family, I always help her with such chores as cleaning up the kitchen after our dinner, doing the dishes, etc. and she doesn’t lift a finger to help when she and her family come to visit me? It’s annoying and I don’t really know what to say to her.

A: At a recent talk I gave at Tuscany Bay community in Boynton Beach, a woman expressed a similar feeling about her daughter. Many of the women in the audience nodded in agreement. “I have the answer,’’ a woman in the back row commented. “When a child visits a parent, they are coming home. When a parent visits a child, they are a guest.‘’ This was a simple answer, yet so meaningful. Something to think about when you’re doing the dishes by yourself!