How can you tell someone to be responsible without hurting her?

Question

I have a friend who is totally not taking care of her parents. She's single and earning well, but keeps it to herself. Her parents are old, the other one is sick and doesn't have much money to support themselves. She is 32 and still lives with her parents, she just gives money if she is forced to, otherwise, she will always say, she doesn't have much money. She is acting like a spoiled brat who needs to be taken care of. Her mom still takes care of her things like washing clothes, preparing food, etc...

Answer 1

Tell her that you noticed how many problems that her parents have and tell her how lucky you feel to have your parents doing so well. Tell her that you noticed that she was not able to help her parents very much. Then tell her that you know that she must be having financial problems or you are sure she would be helping her parents more. Ask her if there is anything that you can do to help her out of her bind. Maybe this will make her realize how foolish she looks to others.

Answer 2

People hate to be corrected. It's part of our nature. It will probably hurt her no matter how you tell her. The question is, what is more important to you? Your friendship or the care of her elderly parents? Your situation totally sucks. You should do what you think is right. Good luck to you, I hope it goes well.

Answer 3

Short answer: I don't think you can. Imagine Cher's slap to Nic Cage . . "Snap out of it!" Sometimes a little hurt feelings is what's needed to get someone's attention.

So your decision is: Do you want to risk a friendship over something you think is morally unfair / reprehensible?

Tough call. I wish you all well.

Answer 4

Usually people hate to be corrected.

Give some movie DVDs which depicts the suffering of the old people.