Q: Hi Auntie, please can you give me some advice on how to handle this naar situation I’m in.
Over the past few months I’ve put on some extra vetjies. It’s not that I’m unhealthy, it’s just that I've got a new job and it’s crazy working hours so I don’t have time for exercise so much anymore.
The thing is that now my berk is making fun of me and calling me names. Sometimes he even does it in front of other people.
I’ve heard some people going on about the keto diet and that it helps you lose weight fast. What is this diet and can it help me get my figure back so that my boyfriend will smaak my lyf again and stop being so mean?
Please Auntie, help a girl out.
From Veronique.
A: Listen girl, let Auntie just tune you straight: You don’t have so much of a weight problem as you actually have a boyfriend problem.
Sies! What kind of real man makes fun of his girlfriend’s lyf? En dan nogal in front of other people! Hayibo… you deserve a better outjie than that!
So before you even begin thinking of diets en al daai goed, you have to give your berk a bekvol and tell him to stop with his “jokes”.
A real man supports his vrou, he doesn’t bring her down.
Now, about the keto diet – it's a low-carb, high-fat diet. Yes, it might help you shed some vetjies, but it’s no quick fix. Anyways, Auntie doesn’t believe in any of the fad diets.
Being healthy is not just about your diet, it’s a lifestyle. Eating well, exercising or just moving your body, getting enough rest, managing stress… all these things will have a much better result than just changing your food for a few weeks or months.
Because what happens after you are done with the “diet”. You go out and start vrieting gatsby every day, and before you know it you are back where you are now.
Maar Auntie sê weer: You don’t have to be a tandestokkie to be hot and healthy!
No matter if you’ve got some vetjies, as long as you are healthy! You have to feel comfortable in your body.
So before you start getting back “in shape”, go tell that berk of yours to shape up or ship out. You deserve a boyfriend who appreciates you, not one who makes you feel sleg about yourself.
Q: Hi Auntie, it’s Sheana here from Bontas. I finished Grade 11 last year and did nogal good in the exams.
I’m not emailing Auntie about school, because I’ve got that covered. Die ding is my mammie is ‘n pyn.
Over the holidays I was out with friends one day, and we went to the mall and there we met some other people and went to the beach with them.
I don’t really know the other mense but my friend does. Plus, it was just Muizenberg and our family goes there all the time.
Auntie, I never make trouble and I don’t catch on k**. Also, I even let my mammie know that we were going to the beach. But when I got home (just like 10 minutes late) she went bos about me cruising around with “strangers”.
What kine, Auntie? It’s not like I was suiping or doing drugs. Why does my mom not trust me?
A: My goodness, as if Auntie has not heard this one before! All the Voice parents out there can probably also relate.
A teenager who has an issue with her parents… a mom who gets kwaad when her daughter goes off with strangers… Auntie’s heard this a million times.
But that does not mean we shouldn’t address it again and again!
Sheana, we’re not making jokes or trying to make you feel small; it’s just that your tale is as common as a steak gatsby for lunch on payday.
You come across as a smart girl, so Auntie hopes you listen mooi and believe me when I say that it’s probably not that your mommy doesn’t trust you, it’s that she really really loves you!
For many years now your ma has been taking care of you and keeping you safe from the gevaarlike world out there. Because if there’s one thing we all know, it’s that there’s some nasty people out there, and that bad things can happen to good people like you!
Your mammie knows there will come a time when you need to spread your wings and take on the world on your own, but that doesn't mean she's ready to let go right now!
Look at it from her side: “going with some other friends to some other place” sounds like a recipe for a parent’s sleepless night, doesn’t it?
It doesn’t matter that you are still with friends and going to the beach you’ve been to before. There’s still too many unknowns, and any good parent will not be happy about this.
It’s not a lack of trust, it’s an abundance of love.
Oh, and let Auntie just give you a big thumbs up for keeping your mom in the loop. That's the way forward, my girl.
Listen Sheana, Auntie believes your ma trusts you; she’s just got that motherly worry vibe going.
Accept that her behaviour comes from a good place, and you just keep being honest and assure her you’re not on a skollie mission.
Do your best at school and show her you’re on the right path. Actions and words – give her a double dose.
** Talk to pear: SMS “Pearl” and your message to 33258, or email dearauntiepearl@gmail.com.