This provocative behaviour sounds like a cry for help. You need to talk about boundaries – and keep asking if anything is bothering him

• Every week Annalisa Barbieri addresses a problem sent in by a reader

Over the past few months, I have observed changes in my son’s behaviour. He is 15 and his father and I separated when he was nine. He keeps appearing naked in front of me “accidentally”. I feel a little uncomfortable seeing my son naked but I understand at his age it’s purely because of the hormones.

His father lives abroad but never calls or comes to visit. So I am the one teaching him hygiene. That has done nothing so far as he leaves his “stained” clothes for me to clean and his room smells off anytime I enter it. He goes three to four days without changing clothes.