Daughter’s diary details leave mom in a dilemma

Advertisement

Advertise with us

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I just found out a secret our daughter has been keeping from me. The boy next door she has always claimed to hate — and he hated her, called her names like Bozo and Red Nose in her youth — has become her secret love. I read this in her diary. He is a very nice young man now and very polite to me. She must have fallen alsleep in her bedroom basement while writing in it. It was open on the floor and partly under the bed.

Read this article for free:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/10/2017 (3223 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I just found out a secret our daughter has been keeping from me. The boy next door she has always claimed to hate — and he hated her, called her names like Bozo and Red Nose in her youth — has become her secret love. I read this in her diary. He is a very nice young man now and very polite to me. She must have fallen alsleep in her bedroom basement while writing in it. It was open on the floor and partly under the bed.

I was picking up dirty laundry to wash off of her floor after she’d gone to school, and I picked the diary up and it was open to the page describing the two off them sneaking out of their basement bedroom windows and into each other’s arms this summer.

They have been having sex, although she, thank God, talks about being careful to always use condoms. I know better than to demand that they stop having sex — never happens once it starts. What should I do?

— Five Bell Alarm, Winnipeg

Dear Five Bell Alarm: Condoms aren’t enough protection, used alone. Your daughter needs to see a doctor ASAP, but not a friend of her mother’s who might try to lecture her. Women’s Health Clinic, 419 Graham Ave., (204-947-1517) sees girls/young women on their own, no need for a parent coming in. They also offer a teen drop-in every Thursday evening. Your role? You could drive her and pick her up, as it gets dark downtown at night, or she could go with a friend.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I was persuaded to act as my girlfriend’s submissive in bed and I used to like playing the role until it became more than a sex thing. Now she expects me to bow, carry things behind her and do all the housework. The sex play has bled way too far into reality. She wants a whole lifestyle out of this.

I love her, but I don’t admire her anymore. I see her as someone who has used an invitation to role playing as the way to get herself a cheap servant. What she doesn’t know is I am a switch. I have played both the submissive and the dominant role before. I greatly resent what is happening. What should I do? I am in imminent danger of…

— Falling Out of Love, Osborne Village

Dear Falling Out of Love: Call a meeting outside the house at a place where there’s enough music to cover a private situation. Then tell her you are a competent switch and can play both submissive and dominant roles, and are ready to change places with her. Mention that you never expected the submissive role to become a lifestyle. Ask that she now become your submissive in bed for a time to even up the power. She will hate this idea and that’s good. It puts you in a bargaining position.

Tell her you need a few experiments to settle on the new sexual scene, and from this day on, you are in an even-power situation in the house. Outside of bed is not a game and both of you do 50/50 of the chores and cooking. Then smile as if she should be good with this. And hold that line. This could be the beginning of the end if she’s still looking for a servant as well as a lover she controls, or it could be the way back to a happier new beginning and a balance of power.

Please send your questions and comments to lovecoach@hotmail.com or Miss Lonelyhearts c/o the Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6

Miss Lonelyhearts

Miss Lonelyhearts
Advice Columnist

Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.

Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

Puzzles Palace

1 minute read Monday, Jul. 27, 2026

To solve our puzzles, please subscribe with this special offer: |

Preserving past, pondering future of 142-year-old downtown church

Chris Kitching 6 minute read Preview

Preserving past, pondering future of 142-year-old downtown church

Chris Kitching 6 minute read Wednesday, Jul. 29, 2026

A 142-year-old church in downtown Winnipeg needs about $7.7 million for upgrades and related costs, while an ongoing heritage renewal project aims to create a blueprint for its future.

Potential options include selling Holy Trinity Anglican Church and leasing it back for a decades-long term, or building an apartment or office tower on an existing surface parking lot to generate revenue, officials said Wednesday.

“I think that is part of the negotiation and ensuring we have the right partners, but it is hard to put down on paper precisely every aspect of the future of a place of worship,” project manager Stephen Borys said of the potential duration of a sale and leaseback agreement to ensure the church still exists generations from now.

Similar agreements with 50- or 100-year leases exist elsewhere in Canada, he said, noting the option has been on the table for Holy Trinity for a year.

Read
Wednesday, Jul. 29, 2026

Woman, 58, fatally stabbed on Portage Avenue

1 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 2:07 PM CDT

City police have a suspect in custody after a daytime stabbing in downtown Winnipeg on Tuesday resulted in the death of a 58-year-old woman.

Officers responded to the 300 block of Portage Avenue after receiving a report about the incident around 2:45 p.m. Arriving officers found Helen Annie Spence suffering from severe and life-threatening injuries, the Winnipeg Police Service said in a news release Thursday.

Spence, a member of Grand Rapids First Nation who had been living in Winnipeg, was transported to the hospital in critical condition where she died of her injuries, the release said.

The suspect fled before officer arrived, but was later identified by investigators from the homicide unit, police said.

Drop bravado and cease silly summer spat

Maureen Scurfield 4 minute read Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: My neighbour mowed the words “dumb ass” into my lawn, which had grown way too long while I was staying at the lake in my new cabin — for four weeks.

I agree my long front lawn got annoying to look at on our residential street. So, I got home and got out of my car, and took pictures of what he did to my lawn — in front of some neighbours for witnesses.

Then I unpacked my stuff, and that night just before bed I finally mowed the lawn with my loud mower. I did it in my own sweet time and went to bed, still mad. I honestly thought my neighbour was mostly just jealous because he doesn’t have a cabin himself!

I’d finally cooled off by noon the next day, so I went out and bought the guy a 12-pack, and left the beer on his back steps, with a card saying, “You can relax now!”

Métis federation opens Louis Riel College campus

Tyler Searle 3 minute read Preview

Métis federation opens Louis Riel College campus

Tyler Searle 3 minute read Wednesday, Jul. 29, 2026

Thirteen years after establishing the Louis Riel College, the Manitoba Métis Federation opened the doors to the school’s first official campus on Wednesday — cutting the ribbon on what it hopes will become a thriving centre for Métis education in Winnipeg.

The campus, which occupies a handful of rooms on the ground floor of the MMF’s building at 200 Main St., primarily offers courses related to health care and Indigenous-focused early childhood education, but will expand its slate of training options, said JoAnne Remillard, the federation’s education minister.

“This new campus represents opportunity, education and a commitment to creating pathways for students to achieve their goals and build successful futures,” she said.

“Everyone is excited about this.”

Read
Wednesday, Jul. 29, 2026

Body of 11-year-old Calgary boy missing for two weeks found in water pipe

Dayne Patterson and Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

Body of 11-year-old Calgary boy missing for two weeks found in water pipe

Dayne Patterson and Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 6:24 AM CDT

CALGARY - An 11-year-old Calgary boy who disappeared two weeks ago has been found dead in a labyrinth of pipes under the city, police announced Wednesday.

Chief Katie McLellan said the boy, named Parker, was discovered in a small water pipe underneath Deerfoot Trail, the city's major north-south expressway.

"For nearly two weeks, so many people woke up hoping it would be the day Parker came home," McLellan told reporters.

"Instead, we are here sharing news that is heartbreaking for his family and for everyone who has been carrying that hope."

Read
Updated: Yesterday at 6:24 AM CDT