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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

I totally dislike my daughter (long and ranty)

443 replies

ohthatsokthen · 12/07/2014 10:51

DD now 21. Backstory she has been problematic since 13. Started with truancy, smoking etc. Then absconded from school and was found unconscious on the school field with an empty bottle of vodka. We then discovered she was bulimic and self harming. Many trips to the Drs later we were referred to PCAHMS for counselling. There are no known issues in our family, me and her dad still together, he has been a fantastic dad and we have both tried our best to support and encourage her. In her words "you are epic parents and I had a lovely childhood, I don't know why I do these things". Signed off from PCAHMS as deemed "helped". Over the next few years she went to college and got a part time job. She was then sent home from work as she was drunk, this continued and escalated until she was drinking all day and being abusive. I met with her work who offered to help - her words "all teenagers drink", took her to the drs "my mum is imagining it all, I am fine". To cut a long story short, the drinking escalated and she became threatening and violent and I snapped (probably not the best thing to do) and threw her out. We had a number of police visits due to threats and her trying to kick the door in. Police told me I was a victim of dv. She found a room, we paid the rent and deposit for 6 months. She got thrown out from that room because she kicked off and started smashing the place up. At this point I cut contact as she was making me ill with the stress. She moved in with her boyfriend, and his junkie father and moved onto drugs (speed, crack), got raped by her drug dealer. I can't even talk about that. She moved into a nice room, to get away and we paid the deposit. All this time still drinking but miraculously because of her manager she clung on to her job. She was then given notice on her room as the ll was getting married so she went off on a rare one and her threw her out that night. In desperation, the next day I found her a bedsit albeit in a halfway house type place, paid the deposit and the rent. She is still there. 5 months ago she quit drinking, we were so proud of her. I told her that she needed to get help as she obviously has issues (she says she wants to feel incredible all the time and can't bear the mundane day to day life). It transpires that although she isn't drinking the drug use has escalated, to the point she owes dealers. She came round last night and was vile, screaming and shouting at me. Told me all of this was her fault, she hated her life, we should take her back home and she would stop. I forced her to take the bedsit, if I hadn't she wouldn't be doing drugs. She hates her job, nobody has offered her a promotion and she's been there 3 years. I was very calm and told her, nobody had done this to her but herself and I wasn't going to discuss it anymore as she never listened (we asked her to attend Narcotics anonymous and the drs - she won't because they tell her things she doesn't want to hear). She was hateful, vicious and mean. I have got to the point where I totally dislike her and my husband says he despises her and can't be in her company. Sometimes I wish she was dead so that we didn't have to live like this and she wasn't suffering anymore. dh retires next year and we are going to sell up and move away (plan was to buy a house with annexe for dd if she got clean but that is never going to happen). All we wanted for her was to be happy, and either do uni/travel/or a job she liked. Whilst we are not perfect parents (who is) we have always encouraged and supported her and tried to do what we think is best. I am now at the point where I think - I've done everything I can, you are an adult and its up to you. I think this stems from growing up with both parents as alcoholics. I know she is a tortured soul but I can't help someone who refuses to take responsibility and help herself. Sorry for the essay, rant over - just wanted to get it off my chest!!! Thanks if you managed to read to the end

OP posts:
ohthatsokthen · 13/07/2014 20:05

thank you winky the only hangover I am aware of/have been told of from my childhood is that I don't like to be around drunk people. I have been married for 24 years to a man who came from a wonderful close knit non-dysfunctional so I can't be that fucked up.

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ohthatsokthen · 13/07/2014 20:05

My dd has the potential be such a lovely girl - she just needs help with her demons (her words)

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ohthatsokthen · 13/07/2014 20:08

*family background doh!

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ashtrayheart · 13/07/2014 20:09

I will pm you, it's a long story! She has been sectioned a few times Sad

ohthatsokthen · 13/07/2014 20:10

Thanks ashtray

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areyoumymother · 13/07/2014 20:16

OP, I don't have experience of this but feel very deeply for you and your DD. It sounds like you have already made your mind up what you want to do so in a sense, I'm not sure why you are looking for more opinions. Having read the whole thread, I did at first think that you genuinely wanted to know how other posters felt about your decision to step away from your DD. But it seems that you feel anyone who doesn't agree with your decision simply doesn't understand. You're at peace with your decision and you've made it now. We have to respect that.

The only thing I would reflect back to you is your ambivalence about what's actually wrong with your DD. I've spent a lot of time with people who have severe psychiatric disorders. To be honest, it can look at times like there are demons involved! They can also seem incredibly selfish and self-destructive. Unlikeable. Often, there's a huge tendency to self-medicate and subsequently to become addicted to harmful substances. I've seen family members exhausted and very, very sad. When we see someone making stupid choices repeatedly, we can feel that everything they're going through is their 'fault' and therefore shouldn't be allowed to affect anyone else. As you've pointed out repeatedly, it's difficult to see the point of staying involved in the situation when the family member has rejected every form of help you can suggest. It goes without saying that you can't make choices for them, especially when over the age of 18.

What we do have to remember is that it's not fair to judge or label someone who is suffering from a mental illness, especially when they're so young and are also dealing with the aftermath of rape. I have no problem with your admitting you don't like your DD and wish she was dead, but please acknowledge that this is your personal response to the impact that her mental illness has had upon your life. Likewise, when she's inconsistent - nice one day and nasty the next - please try to remember that she is ill. In a sense, she's more of a victim than you are. Her life has spiralled out of control, leaving her with nothing, not even her parents. She doesn't understand why she does these things so how can she understand how to stop doing them? She needs medication but she's cut off from that by insurmountable drug addiction. You know, there are many people living in the community who would be a huge danger to themselves and others if they didn't have access to their medication. It doesn't mean they aren't worthy of understanding and it would be unfair to define them by their unmedicated behaviours. You feel your DD has been nasty and cruel and looking at it objectively, she has. If she is mentally ill, as you believe, you need to cut her some slack there. Her behaviour comes across as cruel. It's no less deeply damaging but it may be helpful to remember.

If your DD was raped as a teenager, she may have 'stuck' at that age in many ways. Whatever the case, 21 is very, very young. Too young to be written off as 'just' a drug addict and too young to go without appropriate medication. Please, please push this further with a specialist psychiatrist.

areyoumymother · 13/07/2014 20:16

Sorry for the essay! I should say that I don't have experience of this as a parent.

ohthatsokthen · 13/07/2014 20:19

areyou thank you

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Sleepymummyneedsrest · 13/07/2014 20:27

I had hypnotherapy to free me from demonic interference and also negative attachments there is a practice called called cutting the chords that bind if she wanted to try a more spiritual route those options are available too.

ohthatsokthen · 13/07/2014 20:30

thank you sleepy that is helpful

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Paloma12 · 13/07/2014 20:56

I'm sorry, but you went NC with your parents at 18, and you don't think that would have affected your approach to being a mother in any way at all? You seem to see things as either "normal" and "functional" or defined by demons/disfunction. If you weren't willing to acknowledge that the issues you went through with your parents had any effect on you, I seriously wonder whether you've unwittingly been emotionally unavailable to your daughter.

ohthatsokthen · 13/07/2014 20:57

Oh FFS

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ohthatsokthen · 13/07/2014 21:01

Yes it did - I have tried to be everything my parents weren't ie supportive, encouraging, kind and wishing her every happiness. Are your lovely dc's tucked up safely in bed!

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Paloma12 · 13/07/2014 21:02

Yes, that seems to have been your attitude to her as well.

ohthatsokthen · 13/07/2014 21:03

Glad your dc's are safe and well. When they aren't come back and we will discuss

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Paloma12 · 13/07/2014 21:03

Yes they are, thanks.

ohthatsokthen · 13/07/2014 21:04

thought so - hope your judgy pants haven't given you a wedgie!

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Paloma12 · 13/07/2014 21:06

But I actually had issues similar to your daughter in my teens and early 20s. Managed to sort myself out, so could have tried to offer you some insight.

ohthatsokthen · 13/07/2014 21:06

That I would have been pleased to hear, but you didn't you jumped straight to judging mode

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pinkfrocks · 13/07/2014 21:08

I have the utmost sympathy for you but I don't know why you posted.
I suspect it was to get lots off your chest, but you don't seem to be asking for advice.

Why did you post?

However, I would hazard a guess that there are patterns that are in danger of being repeated: your parents were alcoholics, you cut all contact at 18. Your DD is an addict and possibly mentally ill - with what we aren't sure- and you now plan to walk away.

Why do you need move?
Why do you need make that final cut -off?

Why can you not stay living where you do but adapt your reactions to her?
I don't - honestly- understand why you want to move and hide from her.

ohthatsokthen · 13/07/2014 21:08

Being NC doesn't make you a bad person, its about protecting your own wellbeing and I didn't want dd exposed to the shit I went through. And this was with the full support of my dh who knows about my upbringing

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ohthatsokthen · 13/07/2014 21:09

pink I just wanted to vent. The final cut off is as a result of adapting our reactions for the last 8 years. Now we crave some peace.

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KneeQuestion · 13/07/2014 21:10

And yes, there are many who have 'normal' children out there, judging. They have the children who respond to rewards or punishment. Children who want to please their parents and do well. Children who don't rage at every single minor issue. Children who don't brazenly lie all day long

FTR I have 3 children, ranging in age from primary yr 6 to late teens.

Do not assume that my opinion comes from a position of a charmed life, or without having a clue what it is like to parent a child with problems. It really doesn't!

I feel for you, I do know how difficult it is to get support in this area, particularly with older children. I can see that you have been there, got the T shirt on that front, but there is a tone in what you say about your daughter that despite what she has been through, she must meet your expectations, that being in your life is conditional or you will remove her from you and your husbands life.

If she does have a mental health illness, then she won't necessarily have control over her actions when she is unwell. I couldn't turn my back on my child when they were ill, no matter how 'miserable' it made me or their father.

Good post areyoumymother

Paloma12 · 13/07/2014 21:12

Only because you have stubbornly refused to entertain any suggestion that you have any role in the dynamics in your family, in any generation. Look, I'm not saying you are any better or worse than anyone else! Family dynamics are weird. But just because behaviours look nice, supportive, "functional" etc, doesn't mean they necessarily are.
I agree, you can only move forward when she decides to stop drinking. All I am saying is that up your relationship will not recover simply as a result of that, in my humble opinion.

ohthatsokthen · 13/07/2014 21:13

No there are no expectations other than let us help you or don't accept the help. She is unwell but as an adult if she will not be willing to seek/accept help there is nothing more I can do. I am not prepared to ruin mine or my dh's life because of that. Its been 8 fucking years!

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