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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To go nc with my mother

10 replies

Wotsitone · 14/06/2021 21:00

Long history of bad childhood. My Mother never put her children first only whatever abusive bf /husband she had at the time. Lots of physical/mental abuse including being left outside naked in the street at 9 years old as punishment, nearly being drowned in the bath at 13 and being kicked out to live on the streets at 14. Mother turned a corner (it seemed) when I became an adult and stopped drinking and abusing drugs but continued to put her children last after the needs of any man she was with. She got married a few years ago to a man who made it clear to her he didn’t want to have anything to do with her children so since then contact has been limited anyway. I have recently found out that she has been off work “sick” with fake depression as she wants to spend all her time with this guy for over four months but has been lying to me that she has been going to work because, according to the source I found out from she “doesn’t want me to ask her to look after my kids”. She usually visits my kids once every two weeks at my house by herself for a couple of hours after her work, eats dinner made by me then leaves. She has never asked us to go to hers or looked after my kids.

OP posts:
GertietheGherkin · 14/06/2021 21:04

Well it doesn't look like anything of value would be lost from your life her not being in it.
It looks like she's planning on being an equally crap GM as she was a Mother. Don't let her screw your kids lives up like she did yours. Leave her to her men, and you just focus on your kids.

Holly60 · 14/06/2021 21:06

Do your children have other grandparents who would be a more permanent and reliable fixture in their lives?

Wotsitone · 14/06/2021 21:20

Unfortunately their other grandparents live abroad and don’t speak English although they make an effort to FaceTime the kids and often send them gifts

OP posts:
Nofruitta · 14/06/2021 21:22

Bin her. Don’t bestow her shit on your dc.

Skiptheheartsandflowers · 14/06/2021 21:28

I wouldn't want someone like that looking after my kids. They're better off with no grandparents around.

vincettenoir · 14/06/2021 21:28

Sorry to hear what you went through as a child. I agree it doesn’t sound like she adds much to your life. But after the very bad things she has already done this new revelation about the latest lie doesn’t seem particularly significant. If it suits you and your children to see her once a fortnight maybe just continue with it because it might be unsettling for them to lose that. You can always keep it open to review and stop seeing her in the future if you think that’s best. But it’s obviously up to you and what your limits are.

Wotsitone · 14/06/2021 21:50

My kids (7 and 9) have told me that they feel uncomfortable around her. She obviously favours my eldest and spends her time here trying to find out anything I might have “done wrong” to my kids. For example she threatened to call social services on me because my daughter told her I had given her medication she didn’t need (it was ovex for worms because her sibling had them so we all had to take it). She definitely doesn’t add anything good to my life but I guess I worry that my kids won’t have any grandparents around and also find it hard to reconcile with myself that my own mother doesn’t care about me

OP posts:
mistermagpie · 14/06/2021 21:57

I've been NC with my mother for years, probably over less than you've listed here if I'm being honest. It's very freeing and I have been 100% happier in the years since we have not been in touch.

Newestname001 · 15/06/2021 05:04

@Wotsitone

My kids (7 and 9) have told me that they feel uncomfortable around her. She obviously favours my eldest and spends her time here trying to find out anything I might have “done wrong” to my kids. For example she threatened to call social services on me because my daughter told her I had given her medication she didn’t need

OP, I think your own history with your mother as a child is enough to go NC with her. I'm not sure I'd ever forgive a parent leaving me naked in the street - there's really no reason anyone should do that. And it wasn't her only act of poor parental judgement was it?

However your comments above - especially your young children telling you your mother makes them "uncomfortable" should be enough to remove her from their lives completely. She still sounds like a really toxic person and, therefore, someone they should be protected from. Better they have no grandparents in their lives at all, than be subjected to someone willing to bring negativity to them.

I hope you find the strength to cut her off. 🌹

billy1966 · 15/06/2021 08:03

She makes your children uncomfortable, do you really need to ask?

She adds nothing to your life.

Move on.

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