Please send your questions for publication to prudence@slate.com.

Prudie,
Regarding the letter you got about the neighbor's barking dog, they should do what we did. We found out the phone number of the nitwit neighbor (city directories have this), then when we knew she had gone to work, called her house, and loaded her answering machine with calls that were nothing but barking. She moved very soon thereafter.

—Worked for Us

Dear Worked,
What a snarky and inventive guerrilla tactic. Prudie loved it! And how great that it worked.

—Prudie, approvingly

Dear Prudence,
Here's a rather odd situation, and I wonder if I'm overreacting. Upon delivering my 4-year-old to day care this morning, I noticed (wedged between the hamster cage and the play dough station) a REAL human skull and a REAL human thighbone. Upon closer examination it was evident that these were not lab specimens because they were actually dirty. Upon questioning the teacher, she confirmed that indeed they were dug up—a child's parent was a doctor and these were from his "private collection," and that yes, he had "dug them up" himself. The kind doctor had brought them in for "show and tell" and then had left them for the kids (4-year-olds) to play with. I was horrified. I can think of a number of medical, health, ethical, legal, and religious reasons why it's not a good idea to have 4-year-olds playing with human remains. I telephoned the director of the school and she, frankly, couldn't understand my concerns. Only after I called the police and the medical examiner's office did she reluctantly take them out of the kids' classroom. Am I the ONLY one who thinks that these are inappropriate toys? Please advise.

—Horrified

Dear Hor,
Prudie believes your letter about human bones as play toys for toddlers may be a first in the annals of the advice biz. No. 1, the teacher is, pardon the expression, a numbskull, and so is the school director. No. 2, doctors do not "dig up" carcasses as part of their medical duties. One wonders if the father/doctor who provided the human remains is either a grave robber, or nuts. Actually, the only way Prudie can imagine access to a "private collection" of dirty bones is if this guy lives on an archeological site. From the sound of the situation, Prudie would recommend, if at all possible, that you take your kid outta' there and find another day-care facility before the loony dad arrives with road kill.

—Prudie, huffily

Dear Prudence,
I feel that you might be able to give me some clear-cut advice on a problem that so far has baffled many of my friends and myself. A very good friend of ours (most of us have known her for almost 10 years) is living with a young man who is frequently verbally abusive to her guests and (more tellingly) to her. There have been times when she has had to fully support him because he has gotten fired for his behavior at work. During these times he expended no effort around the house. At one point, he did enter counseling and was somewhat better, but he decided to stop going and went off the medications that had been prescribed. Recently nine of us spent a very tense time in her living room while he screamed at her in the kitchen. Nobody knew what to do—it was impossible to ignore, but we couldn't think of how we could avoid escalating the situation. Our dilemma is this: We don't want to give the impression that we approve of his behavior by ignoring it, but we also don't want to abandon our friend. Any suggestions on what we can do next time?