DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: After our company’s owner switched meds and had to go on a high fiber diet for health reasons, she started having a lot of flatulence.

I know it’s normal and we all pass gas, but this is incredible! Most of us, especially those nearer in age to her try to act like grown-ups and keep our reactions to ourselves. But the youngest members of our staff, especially the young men, have trouble controlling their reactions when our boss lets loose in a meeting or when moving around the building.

Our boss usually has a really good sense of humor, but it’s clear the reactions of the young men bother her. She has told a few of us “old timers” she is painfully aware of her issue and is trying different things to help make both her and everyone around her more comfortable.

As a senior staffer and one of the HR coordinators do you believe I have an obligation to speak with the younger employees to let them know their reaction is not acceptable? --- GAS HAPPENS

DEAR GAS HAPPENS: Undoubtedly there are learned studies on why the human race has long found flatulence funny.

The younger men in your office are simply following their human nature.

That doesn’t mean, though, that they can’t put some effort into controlling their reactions.

I believe you should exercise either of your roles as a more mature adult or HR representative and have a serious and very private word with those you feel are most likely to hurt the feelings of your boss.

It’s your opportunity to make it clear her GI issues are something she has to live with, and acting more like grown-ups would go a long way to avoid offending her and adding to her self-consciousness over something she can’t help.

DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: My family moved into a neighborhood transitioning from its original owners to a lot of young families, like mine. We happen to live next to one of the last of the original owners.

We have lived here now for almost six months, and except for seeing her getting her mail and coming and going from her driveway, we rarely catch a sight of her. She seems neither nice nor rude, but just kind of in her own world.

The one thing that’s really odd about her is how she spies on us, especially when we are in the backyard. Her bedroom looks out over our backyard, and more times than I can tell you we have seen her curtains move if we happen to look up to her house, as if she has just stepped away from the window.

Our teenage daughter finds it creepy. I think she is a little lonely, and although it strikes me as a touch weird, I think she is harmless.

Is it worth saying something to her about her peeking out at us, or just let the strange old lady do her thing? --- BEING WATCHED

DEAR BEING WATCHED: You haven’t mentioned if you or anyone in your family attempted to initiate direct contact with your neighbor in the six months you’ve lived next door to her.

If not, it seems to make more sense to me to reach out to her and offer a simple introduction, rather than open communications with accusations of spying on your family.

By breaking the ice, not only might you get a better feel for the kind of person she is, but you’ll have made a reasonable effort at neighborliness, possibly opening the door to more regular relations between the two households. That way the next time you see the moving curtain, you could toss a smile and a casual wave her way.

It’s amazing how effective a warm smile can be, especially to someone who may be, as you speculate, lonely.

DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: My mother was the biggest helicopter mom out of all my friends’ moms, and that is saying something!

I NEVER asked her to step in and fight my fights. Worse than that, her interference made problems for me where there weren’t even any.

To show how bad it was, a few years ago I ran into a retired teacher I had in elementary school. She told me she and the other teachers in the school used to feel sort of sorry for me because they knew from experience how such an “active, involved parent” can complicate life for some students.

I swore I would not ever do to my kids what my mother did to me and my brother, and I have kept that promise.

I made a gigantic mistake last week, though, when I mentioned to my mother that my daughter had gotten her first “warning” because she and some other girls were getting rough on the playground.

My mother started flipping out and saying it wasn’t my daughter’s fault if the staff wasn’t keeping an eye on things, and this is the kind of thing that starts trouble for a student because everyone will think my daughter’s a bully, and all this on-and-on-and-on stuff.

I told her flat out this is MY daughter we’re talking about, and it was none of her business.

She got pissy with me and said I wasn’t much of a mother if I didn’t stick up for my kids.

Her words hurt regardless of how wrong I know she is. But what has me more upset is she hinted she “would have to say something” to the principal, who happened to be a teacher at the same school when I went there.

How do I put a stick in my mother’s helicopter blades? --- DON’T NEED THE “HELP” OR THE HASSLE

DEAR DON’T NEED THE “HELP” OR THE HASSLE: It sounds like you already started strong by letting your mother know in no uncertain terms that you don’t need her assistance with your child’s school life.

Given her history with your own childhood, however, it’ll likely take more than one reminder to reinforce your demands that she back off.

Hopefully your mom won’t feel she can capitalize on her prior knowledge of the current principal. I’d advise that if you get a confirmation that her contacting the school herself is indeed in the works, it may not be a bad idea to give the school a heads-up that they’ll possibly be hearing from your mother. Any seasoned administrator will have a strategy or two onboard to handle helicopters of every generation.