Dear Doris,
My wife continually badmouths my parents, who we hardly ever see and live 500 miles away. Needless to say, I don’t feel very close to my wife when she does this. How can I get her to stop?

A: Tell her you love her but you also love your folks. Each time she badmouths them, she chips away at your good feelings for her.

In other words, she’s killing your love for her by badmouthing your folks.