Dear LFTP: the father who showers every three weeks

• What can my friend do about her elderly father who barely bathes or changes clothes?

The reader reads a letter about a friend's aging father who bathes about every three weeks and changes clothes just as rarely, ignoring all pleading. The room first interrogates the letter's inconsistencies (twice a month vs every three weeks; five minutes is plenty), then splits the advice: if it's harming his health or he stinks, put it on the calendar, offer wet wipes or home care, and avoid shaming him into stubbornness; if he's fine, the problem belongs to the daughter, not the dad. The 'secular answer' notes fading olfactory sense with age and suggests a neurological check if the behavior is new - which the room finds largely in agreement with its own take.