Dear Prudence,
My mother is in her mid-60s and has become fixated on psychic readings. She has fallen into the clutches of this one woman whom she pays more than $300 a week, sometimes leaving her short for grocery money. I’ve tried explaining to her that it’s all horseshit—these people are con artists who ask questions in a general enough way that the answers could apply to nearly anyone, and they just tell people what they want to hear. She refuses to listen. My mom still has all her faculties, so I can’t go to adult protective services. My dad (whom she’s been divorced from since I was in grade school) says I should just stay out of it and let her learn the hard way. I don’t want to see her taken for every penny she doesn’t have. Any suggestions for getting through to her?