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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

Cutting off ties with a parent?

8 replies

FuzzInMyBrain · 26/12/2017 14:22

Having spent the past few days with my mother, I've started thinking about whether I should cut off ties with her. She has been controlling, rude, and generally unpleasant to be around, and can't even make an effort to behave around my in-laws.

My whole life she has been like this, but now I have a DS, I'm finding her constant criticism of me and my parenting unbearable. But I do have a codependent relationship with her and I'm my mother's only child, so cutting off contact will be difficult and I'm worried I'll be consumed by guilt.

Has anyone cut off ties with their parents? Have you any advice/words of wisdom for me?

OP posts:
hevonbu · 26/12/2017 14:24

It will hurt but will hurt you less than keeping up a relationship with someone who is controlling and unbearable.

LemonSqueezy0 · 26/12/2017 20:22

Could you increasingly cut down the time you spend with her, and mange it that way? You may feel less guilty and more able to see the benefits if you do it this way.

You must be your own mental health first, and you must protect DS -these two things are a priority.

hendricksyousay · 26/12/2017 20:37

We are NC with MIL , she is a narcissist nightmare . She actually had a strop ( she did this regularly ) and told us to feck off so we took her at her word over 4 years ago!!🤷‍♀️

sweetkitty · 26/12/2017 20:39

NC with my mother for 10 years. Best thing I did I no longer have to grin and bear it. When she started treating my DC the same I said no more. I miss having a proper mother/daughter relationship but I don't miss her.

Tinselistacky · 26/12/2017 20:39

Nc with dm for 17 years. Had to make contact regarding a legal matter and regrettably let her meet youngest dc. Lasted a year then back to nc.
Life is truly blissfull now.
No regrets.

Skittlesandbeer · 26/12/2017 21:22

There’s more than one way to address this situation. Seems to me most folk don’t go straight to ‘no contact’ from one day to the next. If there’s been a big blowup, then that really needs to be sorted out before a long-term policy is put in place. You really do need to think things through carefully, and not when they are around or you’re recovering from an intense period with them.

You could certainly read up on concepts/techniques for dealing with difficult family members- look for ‘out of the FOG’, Grey Rock, low contact and medium chill.

You might find (as I did) that cutting all ties is unlikely to be practical for you. For example, I wanted my DD to have the experience of a grandparent, albeit a supervised one. I also realised I was actually ok with helping my mum with ageing-related admin tasks, medical appointments and a few other things. I guess I have a strong sense of family duty, and don’t want to deal with heavy guilt in my life.

So once I got all that clear in my head, I created a (private) set of boundaries and tactics and started using them. It’s working very well, and after 9 months I hardly ever get off-track.

The danger is usually that I am tempted to ignore my own rules when she is being reasonable and seeking closeness. I have to remind myself that I’ve chosen to get off the roller-coaster, so even the fun bits of the relationship need to be off-limits. You don’t get to cherry-pick, but you do get better mental health overall.

Be aware that it’s unlikely you’ll get a good reaction when you start acting differently. It can get pretty ugly.

Also, it’s very unlikely that you’ll inspire your mum to look at her behaviour or make the changes that’d need to happen for your relationship to have a fresh start. We all carry that fragile little hope inside us, that they’ll see how much they’ve hurt us and their deep love for us will cause magical and sincere self-awareness. Don’t take it personally, it’d be like blaming the computer for only having one program uploaded.

Good luck with your journey, unfortunately you’re on a well-trodden path but in good company!

Paperdolly · 26/12/2017 21:27

If you'll be consumed with guilt you must have some feelings left for her. Before you cut off ties write as though it was a letter to her and put down all you need to get off your chest.

If you can then go and speak to her face to face about it saying calmly that you feel you have respected her by putting your cards on the table and now you would like the same respect back. Tell her only if she doesn't listen that your next plan is to cut all ties as you can't take anymore.

Good luck OPSmile

TheSquashyHatOfMrGnosspelius · 26/12/2017 21:32

Excellent well written post Skittles

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