Advice Column: Setting Boundaries with a Demanding, Aging Aunt
By
R. Eric Thomas
Summary
An advice column response to a reader struggling with an aging, self-centered aunt who makes unrealistic emotional demands. The letter writer has been the aunt's main support through her husband's illness and death, and her own health issues, but is now seeking guidance on how to set loving boundaries with someone who dominates conversations and disregards others' needs.
Source
bskyAdvice Column: Setting Boundaries with a Demanding, Aging Auntchicagotribune.comKey quotes
· 3 pulledHow can I lovingly set boundaries with an aging, widowed and childless aunt who is seeking more connection but whose long-standing self-centered behavior has exhausted much of the extended family?
She's sensitive, lonely and not very self-aware, yet expects frequent contact and priority attention.
In the last decade I've been her main support from the family, especially during her husband's long illness, after his death and during her more recent serious health issues.
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