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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

"But We Took You To Stately Homes!" - Survivors of Dysfunctional Families

994 replies

DontstepontheMomeRaths · 26/04/2014 13:39

Thread opener here: webaunty.co.uk/mumsnet/
You may need to right-click and 'unblock' it after downloading it.

It's almost May 2014, and the Stately Home is still open to visitors.

Forerunning threads:
December 2007
March 2008
August 2008
February 2009
May 2009
January 2010
April 2010
August 2010
March 2011
November 2011
January 2012
November 2012
January 2013
March 2013
August 2013
December 2013
February 2014

Please check later posts in this thread for links & quotes. The main thing is: "they did do it to you" - and you can recover.

OP posts:
AnAirOfHope82 · 06/08/2014 14:10

Smudged have you had any counciling?

I recommened it as its good for working out your feeling and it could help with the relationship you form in the future as well.

You dont have to take it and stfu. You can say its wrong and talk to them. Communication works but only if the other person is interested in maintaining the relationship. No you cant change anyone but you can enforce boundries, tell them how you feel, what you need what you want and what you will and will not accept.

You count as a person and deserve respect.

Feel free to post here as much or little as you want :-)

Meerka · 06/08/2014 15:57

if it had been a friend or partner who treated me like that I would be advised to drop them, but as they are family it is much harder.

it is, yes, because we're conditioned not to drop family and because there's usually a lot of emotion involved.

But you can distance yourself gradually. Call them less often, don't return calls so much. If they demand you come to help again, arrange something else that you absolutely can't get out of. (or tell them you have something arranged).

GoodtoBetter · 06/08/2014 18:00

Argh, just scraped all along one side.of the car in the underground garage. I feel like such a dick, honestly I am just, fucking useless so much of the time. I don't know what's wrong with me.lately, I really don't.Sad

Hissy · 06/08/2014 19:33

Oh Good, :( poor you! It's only an accident though love, it happens.

This is not about 'you' it means nothing about 'you', it means you've a lot on your mind.

GoodtoBetter · 06/08/2014 19:51

Had just started feeling better about last week's work fiasco (still don't know the outcome of that, they'll e mail once the proofing is finished to tell me how much money they're refusing to pay and have another good bitch about the "quality" of my work) and then I go and do that. Just feel a bit crap, feel like I mess stuff up a lot. Two years ago I dropped the only keys down a drain and DH had to fish them outShock and last year when we came here I lost a set of house keys between the front door and the car, never to be seen again. Sigh. Now DM is whatsapping me about telling my uncle (her Dbro) that we moved out 18 mo ago, she didn't like deceiving him apparently. Hmm

GoodtoBetter · 06/08/2014 21:57

Didn't rise to it but goodness knows what bollocks shes been telling him.

DontstepontheMomeRaths · 06/08/2014 22:16

You deserve a big glass of wine tonight good.

Well done for not rising to it.

Sorry about the car.

OP posts:
Hissy · 07/08/2014 10:20

Ffs good block her on WhatsApp! You don't need that intrusion.

Wrt the translation, resend your quotation email, and remind them that proofing is an additional service, but the work that has been requested HAS been undertaken. Inform them that you will expect payment as per your terms.

GoodtoBetter · 07/08/2014 15:39

Thanks Hissy and Dont. I'll wait and see what happens wrt the translation. There's no way I'll get them to pay the full amount, but I don't even care actually, I'm just dreading them being all rude and superior and making me feel crap when they eventually do get in touch.
Replied to DM that nobody had been decieved and she didn't reply, so that seemed to shut.her.up. Am a bit annoyed at the thought of what bollocks she's been saying, but the uncle and aunt live on the other side of the world, if anything is ever said that needs correcting I'll say it, but other than that, so be it. She's acting like I'm the one who made her keeper a secret from her beloved brother, when it was her who.begged me not to tell family we'd moved. She clearly hasn't gone for the bright and breezy "they wanted more space and a place came up 5 mins away" option though and won't have told the truth obviously, which makes.me wonder if she's done a bit of character assassination.
Kids have had the squits on and off and now I seem to have it, along witg headache and backache. Makes me feel a bit better about the car weirdly though, being under the weather explains being such a dick. Went out for breakfast today and managed to drop a bottle of oil and smash it and then cut my finger picking it up.Shock
Being under the weather also explains feeling sow.down over the last few days. Need a good rest and get back in the swing....this is the third illness I've had in a month. Never been so ill so.often as the.last year. Need to chill out and.then make the most.of my reduction in hours from Sept. I'll get there, feel calmer today. Thanks for listening to me waffle through the ether. Smile

AttilaTheMeerkat · 07/08/2014 16:52

GoodtoBetter

I've been on holiday and am still knackered from lack of sleep and I am sorry to read what has happened.

You will have no peace as long as you have your mother in any shape or form in your life. Its as simple as that. She will continue to mess you up if you do not cut her off.

Meerka · 07/08/2014 17:52

Hi attilla I wondered where you were, hope you had a good 'un :)

AnAirOfHope82 · 07/08/2014 19:22

I was about to write my mum hasnt phoned for a week now and it felt good. When the phone rang and dh answered without checking caller id and handed it to me.

She has her eyes tested and has burst blood vesels and refered to hospital. She is also waiting for gall stones removed and she cant understand why I have no money when dh is on esa and I get carers allowence and two small kids as people on benefits always have money Hmm That im depressed and need a brake. I should leave my family and stay with her for a week.

Im ill and cba with her so I just let her talked.

AnAirOfHope82 · 07/08/2014 19:34

She also went on about how she paid 180 for a new door handle and 500 for a new toilet and how she was going shopping tomoro and how much food cost that she spends 80 each week for the two of them (when she knows we struggle to feed the kids). How she had been looking after exbro lo and how messy he is and how I still sound rough and ill and o should have a break from the kids (no mention of the disabled adult I care for and cant leave!).

Why does she even both? I lost so much respect fpr her I dont even care about all the big digs she has at me now.

AnAirOfHope82 · 07/08/2014 19:35

I will have to talk to dh about checking the caller id everytime!

GoodtoBetter · 08/08/2014 21:33

You're probably right Attila. She started whatsapping me just now as I was putting the kids to bed. I responded briefly that we were all Ok except I have a stomach upset, that I was bathing the kids. Sent her a photo of kids at the beach and she responds "No message?" Told her, scroll back to see my msg then responded to what she'd been waffling about in her msg. She writes "If it's sucha bore to keep in touch, best not to bother". "messages have been very minimal". I told her I had responded but had been bathing kids and she writes back "all day, every day?" So, I'm not responding any more. I was going to let the kids speak to her tmrw, but I'm thinking she can fuck off now.
This is obviously cos she's spoken to my uncle and aunt and has probably done the whole victim routine about how we've abandoned her and no doubt a load of bollocks about DH. Now she's stewing in all that and creating this whole thing about me not keeping in touch. I spoke to her on Saturday and have exchanged whatsapp every other day or so.
She's mad, isn't she?

Meerka · 08/08/2014 21:41

Yes. And manipulative and actually, she's mean.

Guilt tripping is a nasty trick.

"if it's such a bore to keep in touch, best not to bother"

recommended answer: "Ok".

GoodtoBetter · 08/08/2014 21:48

No response to me saying I had a stomach upset. Glad to hear she's concerned and interested in my welfare.
Convo ended like this:
her "messages have been very minimal. fine. up to you"
me "because I was bathing the children"
her "all day every day?"
So I just stopped responding then.
Last year we came away for 2 weeks and she threw a wobbly about the fiesta that happens in the park behind her house mid-August. Was phoning me and crying and saying she was going mad through lack of sleep. She'll probably do that next week.
I wonder what on earth she said to my uncle.

Hissy · 08/08/2014 22:27

Block her. Tell her you're fed up with the app and cba to pay for it (cos it's only free for a year)

Then PM me your number and i'll WhatsApp you instead.

:)

Hissy · 08/08/2014 22:28

I agree with meerka

Next message saying not to bother? Semd back: "Right oh"

GoodtoBetter · 08/08/2014 22:30

She knows I have telegram too. I'll just ignore. But, she's not normal, is she? I think she expects me to ring everyday.

GoodtoBetter · 08/08/2014 22:30

Smile Hissy

DontstepontheMomeRaths · 08/08/2014 22:48

No she's not normal at all.

OP posts:
GoodtoBetter · 09/08/2014 09:19

And it's all so childish and stupid and pouty. And she's shooting herself in the foot cos I would have rung today to let the DC say hello but now feel
a) I don't want to
b) It's rewarding a tantrum and / or makes her think I'm scared into doing what she wants.

AttilaTheMeerkat · 09/08/2014 09:27

GoodtoBetter

This is precisely how the narcissistic mother behaves; she's trained you well to date. You will never have any peace as long as you keep letting her into ANY aspect of your life.

Your mistake here was to at all respond to her; she knows all too well how to push your buttons and get a rise out of you. She knows you are a willing audience. She could not give a fig about yourself, your children and your various problems.

She writes "If it's sucha bore to keep in touch, best not to bother".
The only correct response here was to write ok and leave it at that. Then block the woman.

Any contact from you at all gives her an "in" to do what she wants from and of you, she is highly manipulative and knows how to get at you.

AttilaTheMeerkat · 09/08/2014 09:32

Re narcissists and tantrums:-

"Given distance, or only transient and intermittent contact, you can get along with narcissists by treating them as infants: you give them whatever they want or need whenever they ask and do not expect any reciprocation at all, do not expect them to show the slightest interest in you or your life (or even in why you're bothering with them at all), do not expect them to be able to do anything that you need or want, do not expect them to apologize or make amends or show any consideration for your feelings, do not expect them to take ordinary responsibility in any way. But note: they are not infants; infants develop and mature and require this kind of care for only a brief period, after which they are on the road to autonomy and looking after themselves, whereas narcissists never outgrow their demands for dedicated attention to their infantile needs 168 hours a week. Adult narcissists can be as demanding of your time and energy as little babies but without the gratification of their growing or learning anything from what they suck from you. Babies love you back, but adult narcissists are like vampires: they will take all you can give while giving nothing back, then curse you for running dry and discard you as a waste of their precious time.

It is also essential that you keep emotional distance from narcissists. They're pretty good at maintaining a conventional persona in superficial associations with people who mean absolutely nothing to them, and they'll flatter the hell out of you if you have something they can use or if, for some reason, they perceive you as an authority figure. That is, as long as they think you don't count or they're afraid of you, they'll treat you well enough that you may mistake it for love. But, as soon as you try to get close to them, they'll say that you are too demanding and, if you ever say "I love you," they'll presume that you belong to them as a possession or an appendage, and treat you very very badly right away. The abrupt change from decent treatment to outright abuse is very shocking and bewildering, and it's so contrary to normal experience that I was plenty old before I realized that it was actually my expression of affection that triggered the narcissists' nasty reactions. Once they know you are emotionally attached to them, they expect to be able to use you like an appliance and shove you around like a piece of furniture. If you object, then they'll say that obviously you don't really love them or else you'd let them do whatever they want with you. If you should be so uppity as to express a mind and heart of your own, then they will cut you off just like that, sometimes trashing you and all your friends on the way out the door. The narcissist will treat you just like a broken toy or tool or an unruly body part: "If thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off" [Matt. 18:8]. This means you.

So, yes, it's possible to get along with narcissists, but it's probably not worth bothering with".

I do wonder if you will ever be able to break free of her or whether you find that whole prospect far too daunting to even contemplate. She does not just affect you, its your own family unit that she wants to get at as well to use your children as narc supply.