I was happy to see my mom again. For those few hours I was happy to chat and laugh with her. Oh, don’t forget, I have my limits when talking to her. It’s not the same as talking to my grandma. Then, everything changed when my friend Mpumi came.

I don’t know whether to call it hate or jealousy because every time she walks in, my mom forgets about me and she listens to every problem she has and gives her advice and helps her out, something she doesn’t do for me.

Mpumi can talk to her about whatever she likes. She has told my mom about her first boyfriend; her first kiss; how many guys she has dated and the guy she first had sex with. She even asks for advice. My mom always listens and advises her without shouting or judging her situation like she does to me.

So, Friday night she totally forgot about me and listened to Mpumi as she told her about her ex- boyfriend who wants her back. You should have seen how my mom was listening to her so attentively and telling her what and what not to do and laughing about it. I know mom sees her as her daughter, and I don’t have a problem with that. But to me it seems like she has become mom’s favourite daughter.

Now let me demonstrate how she gets with me when talking about those things. Ever since I was a child, I would find a way to talk to her. I would even lie about the person but still she wouldn’t listen. Instead, she would shout and tell me to stop whatever I was talking about or ask me what was the person doing for them to get involved in that situation.

Maybe that’s why I am shy and always bottling up my problems because I feel like everyone will shut me down. Then she says when I start dating I must tell her. How can I tell her when she doesn’t even listen to my simple problems? Then she wonders and asks why I don’t talk to her about boys.

My mom has this tendency of deleting my pictures when I’m with someone she doesn’t like (my friends). There are two friends of mine that she doesn’t like. She told me to dump them and told me to take back the T-shirt that I gave to one of them.

You need to see how she talks to Zoleka, she’s so understanding to her it’s like they are best friends. Mommy told me that she wants to be my best friend, but how she be my best friend if she can’t even be my simple friend? That’s why I like my grandma more than my mom, although I love them both…

Tell us: What do you think of her relationship with her mom? Can you relate?