Mother of a problem

Vanessa doesn’t know what to do with her troubled child.

Vanessa is at her wits end with her daughter Karmen. Weekdays SABC2 (*192) 18:00

Hillside businesswoman Vanessa (Ingrid Paulus) has been struggling to keep her head above water in the new year. Her four-year-old daughter Karmen (Gabriella Linton) is acting out after her kidnap ordeal that saw the girl go missing for nine months in 2017, only being reunited with her mom and dad Xander (Theodore Jantjies) in mid-November. Vanessa doesn’t know what to do with her once-mild-mannered daughter who has turned into a mini tyrant and temper-tantrum-throwing brat. On top of that, Vanessa is struggling with Xander, who has been distant with her for months. She is desperate to get her life back, explains Ingrid, “But Karmen just wants to go ‘home’ to Hettie (Karin van der Laag) and her son Tjattas (Rikus Strauss), the mother and son who looked after her when she was abandoned in the informal settlement after being kidnapped.” Hettie is desperate to be reunited with Karmen.

MASKING THE DRAMA

Karmen is throwing tantrums again on Wednesday 3 January because she wants the tiger mask that Tjattas gave her and it’s nowhere to be found. “She is out of control and cries non-stop,” says Ingrid. “Vanessa can’t get her to calm down and she doesn’t understand why her daughter is so upset over a mask and why it is affecting her so much.” Vanessa doesn’t know her daughter anymore – they are two strangers rather than blood. “At this stage, it feels like that there is nothing Vanessa can do to mend the motherdaughter relationship,” adds Ingrid.

S.O.S.

Vanessa’s work at her event company Bruynwaves is suffering on Thursday