What do you do with family who don't reciprocate kindness?

[ManHater]

This weekend I had the kindness to let my 22 year old niece and her friends use my cottage for 2 days. What do you do with family who just take and take never give back.

[Anonymous]

Well, I am of the belief that if you do something nice for someone, you should do it without the expectation that you will be rewarded or compensated in return.

However, realistically, if they took your cottage and did not bother to say thank you, or that they appreciated what you did, you should recognize this as a one time event. If they ask to use your cottage again, tell them that you apologize, but you cannot do so- you aren't even required to give them a reason, although you can if you want.

If, during this time, you go to your cottage and find that is has, or is being damaged, you have every right to remove your niece and her friends from your property, and charge them for the cost of damages (however, after watching a lot of legal shows, I'm not sure how far you could go with this without a legal, written contract of some sort..).