DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: Last fall I was in a really bad place mentally, emotionally, and physically. I won’t list everything that was going wrong for me, but it was enough that I could no longer see all the good stuff in my life. I tried to kill myself by swallowing a whole packet of allergy meds. My brother found me all messed up and got me to the hospital. I was admitted and ended up getting the help I needed.

In my parents’ religion, the one I grew up with, suicide is a sin. So instead of getting any help from them after my attempt they started treating me like a criminal. Thank God my brother and friends have stood with me, but it hurts like hell to feel like my mom and dad continue to judge me and blame me for the state I was in.

How do I convince them their support would mean a s##tload more than their judging does? --- COULD USE THE SUPPORT

DEAR COULD USE THE SUPPORT: Rather than being able to step into someone else’s shoes, it’s easier for some people, like your parents, to turn to beliefs they’ve held all their lives to try to deal with difficult events. It doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t care. They just don’t know how else to respond.

If you’re still receiving mental health services, which I’m guessing and hoping is most likely the case, it might be helpful to see if you can arrange a family counseling session with your provider so your parents would have a chance to ask questions or at least get some guidance and advice from a professional trained to handle situations like the one you’re all currently facing.

Be prepared for the possibility this one step won’t be enough to completely change their thinking, but at least you’d have an opportunity to open up with your parents about what you’ve been dealing with, the pain that caused you to take such a drastic step, and how their support of you could make a huge difference in your recovery.

DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: While both my mother and my mother-in-law questioned if it was the right thing for me to use cloth diapers instead of disposables for my son, my mother has come around, and has even gotten really good at using the cloth ones on the days she babysits.

My mother-in-law, on the other hand, refuses to use them and keeps buying and using disposables on the days she watches my son, which kind of pisses me off. She keeps saying the disposables are better for his skin, but I think she just doesn’t want to take the extra steps needed to use cloth diapers right, especially changing them more often than disposables have to be changed.

What do I say to get my mother-in-law to get onboard with the cloth diapers? --- WANT TO KEEP ALL CLOTH

DEAR WANT TO KEEP ALL CLOTH: I get your wanting to be consistent in the type of diapers used for your son, but I also don’t think it’s worth going to war with your mother-in-law over her using disposables, particularly if she’s footing the bill for them and they’re what she’s most comfortable using.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both types of diapers, and in recent years, more environmentally friendly disposables have been hitting the market. Perhaps a decent compromise would be for you to suggest one of these options to your mother-in-law, or for you to provide a supply of them yourself.

DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: My husband comes from a family of low-achievers. He is the exception, along with one of his cousins, for their generation. Both men have established their own businesses, built from scratch, and work very hard to keep these businesses healthy and growing.

We live in a nice, not huge house, but it’s nicer than anyone other than my husband and his cousin can afford.

All this means that the less ambitious and less successful members of both my husband’s and his cousin’s families are always going to them to borrow money, or ask for a job, or try to make them feel guilty if they don’t give them either. I hear my husband and his cousin talk about all this and it clearly upsets them, because they are both good guys, and don’t like to say no to people who ask for help.

Whenever they have helped out though it ALWAYS backfires, and they end up regretting it because it ends up costing them either in money or the good name of their companies.

It gets even better, because at a recent family get-together, I heard some of the people they tried to help, or their spouses, backbiting my husband and his cousin because, “They think they’re all that and never give a s##t about anyone but themselves.” I felt like I was slapped in the face.

When I told my husband about what I heard he was upset, but he said he has learned, and from now on it’s no more favors for his family.

I don’t believe him, although I do think he meant it when he said it. He is such a good guy that when someone comes asking again, he’ll do what he can for them.

Why should he do anything for people who are so mean, selfish, and ungrateful? --- HE’S TOO NICE

DEAR HE’S TOO NICE: It’s precisely because your husband is a good man, as you readily recognize, that he’s also such a soft touch.

Hopefully, he’ll learn from some of his miscalculations and begin to take greater care when he grants favors or loans, and in time he may indeed truly grow tired of always being the helping hand that gets bitten.