Be gentle, honest about mothballs

Dear Annie: My mother-in-law is coming to stay with us for a weeklong visit. We get along OK for the most part. The problem is that she packs all of her belongings in mothballs – every last item. She keeps mothballs in her closets, her dresser drawers, her bathrooms and bedrooms. She even keeps a big box of them in the hallway of her home.

When Mom comes to visit, the stench of the mothballs gives me such a bad headache that I often have to make excuses to leave the house. The mothballs also have caused my daughters to have bad allergic reactions when their grandmother is around. The last time she was here, my baby got an eye infection from rubbing her eyes so much while Grandma was carrying her.

After her last visit, the linens, the bed and my sofa reeked for months, even after being cleaned. My husband will not say anything to her about this for fear of insulting her. His answer is to book her a room at a nearby hotel and ignore the issue. The smell doesn’t bother him as much because he grew up with it. But I worry about my children’s health. What should I do? – Daughter-in-Law in Hawaii

Dear Hawaii: No one should be overly exposed to the chemicals in mothballs, including Mom. Because she uses them so much, she has probably desensitized herself to the smell. It would be best to explain, lovingly and diplomatically, that a strong scent of mothballs clings to her clothing and is unhealthy not only for your children, but for her.