Dear Queenie,
My husband and I are quite well off and have everything we need or even want. All the same, our children – all grown up – keep giving us all sorts of presents on special occasions like birthdays and holidays, and most of the stuff they give us just ends up cluttering our cupboards and closets.
Queenie, how can we make them understand that we would rather just get a nice card and maybe a recent picture of them and/or our grandchildren?—Fed-up Mom
Dear Mom,
Tell them – gently, sweetly – what you have told me. And if they continue to shower you with unwanted “stuff”, you can always thank them for it and then donate it to a charitable organisation that will pass it on to someone who really needs it.
Dear Queenie,
When I was on a bus the other day we were caught in traffic and one of the other passengers started complaining – very loudly – about how long the trip was taking. I just put on my earphones and started listening to music.
Queenie, should I have pointed out that it wasn’t the driver’s fault and asked her politely to please shut up?—Another passenger
Dear Passenger,
It would have been good if you could have moved further away from that loud-mouthed fellow passenger. That not being possible, what you did was quite appropriate. It would not have been a good idea to speak to her, as it probably would just have gotten you involved in an argument with what appears to have been a rather unpleasant person.
Dear Queenie,
I just started high school and there is a girl I would like to get to know better but I don’t know how to go about it. Up to now all my friends have been boys like me, mostly ones I’ve known all my life because they are the children of my parents’ friends.
Queenie, how do I go about getting to know a girl?—Bashful boy
Dear Boy,
This is a common problem for children your age, both boys and girls.
If the girl is not already acquainted with you, smile and introduce yourself and ask a question about a class assignment or some activity in which she is involved, or simply pay her a compliment, perhaps about the way she looks or something you have seen her do. If you are with a group of other boys and girls, ask her if she would like to join you. Good luck!
Dear Queenie,
My husband likes to smell the underpants I have been wearing.
Queenie, why does he do this? Should I be worried about it?—Puzzled wife
Dear Wife,
The scent of a woman’s private parts apparently turns your husband on. This is not uncommon for men. As long as everything else about your sex life – and marriage as a whole – is normal and good, I do not think you have anything to worry about.
Dear Queenie,
When people write to you for help why do you almost always tell them to get professional counselling? What kind of help is that when all they want is a simple answer for their question?
Queenie, why don’t you just tell them what they want to know?—Faithful reader
Dear Faithful reader,
All too often – most of the time! – there is no simple answer for the questions I am asked. Solving such problems will require guidance of a professional nature – for example, legal, medical, psychological or financial, among other topics – that I am not qualified to give and/or cannot offer briefly in a newspaper column.
And I thank you for reading my column and for asking a question that I can answer briefly in this column.
