Dear Annie: Me and my brother own our parents’ house, which is the one we grew up in. They put it in our names a while ago with a provision they be allowed to live there for the rest of their lives. Recently, my brother, his wife and their two children moved in with my parents. They plan to live there for a few years, until their kids are old enough to start going to school, then move to a town nearby with better schools.

This isn’t a situation where they had to move in with my parents. They are financially secure and are planning to rent out their current home. Recently, a friend of ours who is aware of this half-jokingly told me that I should be collecting rent from them. This started me thinking. Should I ask for any type of monthly payment from them? — Wondering Sister

Dear Wondering Sister: Family is family. If you’re wondering if you should be collecting rent, I’m wondering what you would like the future of your relationship with your brother to look like. If you want it to be peaceful and happy, do not ask him for rent. If anyone should be collecting rent, it is your parents, but that’s totally at their discretion.

Two young children not in school can be exhausting for parents. Having your parents around to help out, or to just see their young grandchildren, could be great for all of them. It takes a village to raise a family, and if your brother wants help from his village, let him. The more you focus on your own life and the less you focus on his, the happier you will be.

Dear Annie: I live in an apartment building retirement community in Arizona. The staff has made us feel quite safe by setting guidelines for social distancing.

We have an outstanding activities director who plans events that keep social distancing but break the boredom. She arranged for the department heads to prepare a “circus,” and they went through the halls ringing doorbells.

They all dressed in clown costumes, and the marketing director wore her son’s tuxedo and was the ringmaster. They hooted and hollered and danced through the halls, swinging Hula-Hoops and dragging a wagon full of stuffed animals.

The event was a big hit and cheered us up. — Circus Show

Dear Circus Show: Yours is a very uplifting story. Your activities director had a creative idea. Send her a big thank you.