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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

help me understand the relationship with my mum please

4 replies

Erimentha · 04/03/2013 22:32

I have had a rocky relationship with my mum for as long as i can remember really. I never came up to her standards which wasn't helped by having a younger brother who was seemingly perfect. I admit i wasn't the easiest of children and as i have grown up i have had problems both physical and MH but i wasn't a bad child.

My husband thinks she is narcissistic and has done for many many years. I honestly don't know what i feel maybe it is me? I don't want to make a huge post so will try to give a brief background, few examples and do my best not to drip feed.

She has very set opinions, except to her they don't seem to be opinions but fact. Should i deviate from outside the prescribed limits initially get condescendingly told its just because of my MH i feel this way or have a certain opinion. It then moves on to being derogatory - being told i am stupid for doing or believing a certain thing. Should i continue the manipulation and blackmail begins.

She didn't approve of me getting married, and when i insisted i was going ahead she said she didn't want anything to do with it. When i then didn't involve her she had a massive argument with me.

When i told her i pg with DD1 her response was "is that it" then hung up on me. When i told her i was pg with DD2 she said "People like you (MH issues) shouldnt have children". When i mentioned we would like to ttc no3 she told me "I would be stupid to have another." She frequently tells me i can cope etc. I would like to stress that she has no idea what our day to day lives are like and so has no idea how i'm coping. She doesn't want to be involved and if she does want to do something it has to on her terms.

She doesn't agree with our schooling choices, basically nothing but the school she works at will be good enough. This has got to the point where she has been ringing me trying to blackmail me saying she cant steel and its having an effect on her health because she is so worried.

maybe i'm just oversensitive, i just feel so fed up of being treated like a stupid naughty little school girl who must be brought into line. She wouldn't dream of talking to her friends that way so i don't understand why its ok to talk to me that way.

So now i don't know if its worth confronting her about it (experience shows it will cause a massive row, for which i will eventually forced to apologise about everything for after which it will be brushed under the carpet and nothing will change) or to just carry on the way we are with me quietly seething and having my self esteem undermined.

There is a lot more to it than this but this is already really long and don't want to make it any longer. I would really just like some insight, is it just me and do i deserve it or is it her?

OP posts:
LineRunner · 04/03/2013 22:41

Hi OP.

No, you don't deserve this awful treatment. The difficulty is (and I've been there) deciding whether to try to manage and contain the behaviour of a parent like this, or whether to cut contact.

Lots of MNers have been through this - you are not alone.

Darkesteyes · 04/03/2013 22:48

OP my DM is like this EXTREMELY controlling and emotionally abusive. I had an affair after not being touched by my husband for years. and she said i was acting like a whore and crawled on the floor crying and screaming and begging me not to leave him saying "What will people think" she is petrified of what the neighbours think. Parents like this try to police your feelings your emotions your sexuality .....anything It is controlling and it is sick.

Erimentha · 07/03/2013 18:58

Thank you, I'm glad I'm not the only one who has this but sad at the same time as no one SHOULD have to go through it. I guess now I have to decide whether its worth calling her on it or not.

OP posts:
biryani · 07/03/2013 19:46

No, you''re not the only one. My mother was controlling and nasty - not as bad as yours, but I know where you''re coming from. At least you know what she's like and as an adult, can choose how to deal with it. Have you tried standing up to her? It may be more productive than cutting contact - she sounds a bully and may well back down.

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