Writer wants to start civility movement
How to start?
-- Someone's Niece
Dear Niece: Thank you for prompting me to extol the virtues of the aunt/uncle relationship. My own experiences with my many aunts have inspired me to try to be a good and engaged aunt, too. And it is such a joy!
Your aunt and uncle are offering you many reasons to call: to thank them for the gifts they are sending. Then you can call at other times, to say, "I just used that pie plate you gave me, and it made me think of you. Do you have time to catch up?" or, "Christmas is coming and I just got out my decorations. I'm going to send you a picture of our tree..." On your calls, "gossip," share information about your life and ask them theirs' and other family members.
If they are active on Facebook, perhaps you can rev up your dormant account, only to keep in touch with them.
I hope you will also write to them. Postcards, notes and letters are great ways to forge tighter connections.
Dear Amy: Thank you for emphatically urging "Worried Wife" to keep her young children out of the home of a sex offender!
Just because this offender is their own grandfather doesn't make them any safer, in fact, it makes them more vulnerable.
-- Also Worried
Dear Also: Absolutely. This is a dangerous situation.
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(You can contact Amy Dickinson via email: askamy@amydickinson.com. Readers may send postal mail to Ask Amy, P.O. Box 194, Freeville, NY 13068. You can also follow her on Twitter @askingamy or "like" her on Facebook.)
