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

Dear Prudie,
Please help! I have an overbearing, controlling mother, who is also my employer. I have worked in our family-owned business for 15 years, so changing employment is really not an option. No matter how firmly I try to tell her I am old enough to make my own decisions, she either tries to force her way of doing things or continues with the unsolicited advice. By the way, I am 37 and the oldest of two girls. She treats my sister and me like we're imbeciles. She excuses all this by saying she is "helping us." Though I have made my mistakes, I have done a good job at the agency and don't want to go looking for a job unless it becomes a necessity. She is very smart and well-known and respected in our community—except for her tactless, uncaring personality. She forces her opinion on others, which has cost her more than a few friends and business associates.

—Deep Questions

Dear Deep,
This taffy-pull of a relationship sounds hellish—and every day, yet. When you say, "changing employment is not an option," where is it written that one must stay in a (dysfunctional) family business? Prudie would rather sling hash than be a 37-year-old child. You further say you're not interested in changing jobs "unless it becomes a necessity." Not to be Clintonesque about this, but what is the meaning of "necessity"? Some people would put mental health and career satisfaction before job security. There are psychologists and counselors, by the way, who deal only with family business problems. If your mother is willing, you might try that. It is also possible, depending on how the business is set up, to demand to be bought out. Although you don't mention the type of agency, if there's no way to arrange a more peaceful work environment Prudie suggests you take yourself to a competing agency. You will at least have the benefit of knowing the business, and not have Miss Congeniality breathing down your neck.

—Prudie, pragmatically

Dear Prudence,
I would like to say something to "Concerned Mom": The story you posted about your daughter is similar to something I went through—only I am the "loser" boyfriend. I used to be in trouble all the time—both with the law and my parents. I was arrested for burglary and smoked pot all the time, along with using other drugs. That was three years ago. Then I met an 18-year-old girl (I was 22 at the time) who turned things around. She didn't necessarily change my life, but having her in my life made me want to change. I shaped up, finished school, and now do professional computer animation and special effects. On the side I create Web pages, build computers, yada, yada. Maybe this guy is a loser, but just maybe your daughter has looked beyond the surface (which, I might add, not many people do) and found a person who, with a little encouragement, can clean up his act. That's my two cents' worth.

—RaiThioS

Dear Rai,
What a hopeful and interesting letter ... which is not to say that there aren't plenty of your unredeemed brethren out there. Thank you for the testament that anyone can change, and congratulations.

—Prudie, admiringly

Pru,
I have been married for 18 years and now find out my husband is having an affair on the Internet. He calls her once or twice a day on the phone (our phone bills are outrageous), and they e-mail all the time—and he admits he has feelings for her. He claims he still loves me, but is not in love with me. What should I do?