DEAR Jasminda,

Whenever my teenage daughter gets in the car, she always switches the music to her playlist which raises my anxiety levels.

I admit we have very different tastes in music.

What is the answer?

Mr Doug K.

Dear Doug,

I wish you could have given me a bit more information about your musical tastes.

I’m going to use a bit of artistic liberty.

If you are sensitive enough to write to an agony aunt, I’m guessing you like a bit of Creedence Clearwater Revival mixed in with some Fleetwood Mac and on your more sombre and reflective days, some Cat Stevens and Simon and Garfunkel interspersed with the Ten Percent Happier podcast.

And who could blame you.

Car travel can transport your mind and body.

There’s nothing quite like a road trip, even if you’re just taking your teenager to school because she missed the bus – again.

And yet you find yourself, not only stressed at her lack of time management, but suddenly being mentally thrashed by a playlist that includes Doja Cat and Cardi B with lines such as ‘pop that like Ginkgo biloba / That booty don’t need no more soda’ and you wonder why you forked out all that cash on English tuition.

In this instance, there are a few options.

You can either alternate – song for song – so only half the trip is the mental equivalent of being stuck in a lift and verbally assaulted by an angry stranger, or you can say that the driver is the DJ (which will work until your daughter is practicing for her driver’s licence).

The other alternative is headphones (on your daughter) or some time out from music so you can ask her questions that she doesn’t want to answer under the guise of parent-child bonding.

All in all, I’d say just avoid the situation and give her a bus timetable.

Carpe diem, Jasminda.