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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

What do I do in this situation?

3 replies

milkyway512 · 25/10/2022 00:40

I’m 22 and I’ve got a problem with my father and grandmother.

My parents have been separated for a long long time, since I was 3, and my mum remarried my stepdad and has been happy since. However, there was a time where I decided I didn’t want to see my dad anymore , this lasted for about 6 years. Me and my dad started seeing each other again when I was 16.

there has been a bit of a bust up since my dad started becoming really clingy and fearing abandonment, which then turned into anger at my mother and I. It started on a car ride home where I was quiet and didn’t say anything, this was because I was hungover and a bit anxious so I kept to myself. He then messaged me afterwards asking if I was okay as I didn’t say a word on the way home. I told him I was fine and not to worry.

a couple of weeks go by, and I get a message saying ‘darling, I feel like I’m losing you🥺’ which really annoyed me. I assured him he wasn’t losing me. I think I even remember messaging him about having covid so I did message him.

we then meet up and there was an awkward silence, and then he said he has felt a shift in our relationship. I said everything was fine, but this led on to him being really horrible about my mother and blaming her for all my mental health issues that I’d had recently. He also was a bit condescending to me at times.

it felt like overall a very pressuring interaction, and when I went back to my grandmothers on my mothers side I felt shaken up and a bit shocked. My grandmother noticed and asked me what was wrong and she was extremely angry at my father.

i just feel like this is my fault, as I don’t want to see him anymore but I feel like I’m making a big deal out or nothing and I’m just hurting him unnecessarily. I really don’t like his intensity and how I have to reassure him
I’m not going to leave him. And the tension between my parents is just getting too much. I would talk to him but I also feel if I let him back into my life again, something else would happen and it would start again.

my grandmother has been messaging me telling me how much I have hurt them and the family.

i don’t want to hurt anyone. What do I do?

OP posts:
KettrickenSmiled · 25/10/2022 02:42

i don’t want to hurt anyone. What do I do?

You read up on 'parentification' & realise that it is not your job to reassure your dad, deal with his abandonment issues, or compensate him for his failed marriage.

You tell him - next time he has a go about your mother - to STFU & not to dare say a word against her to you.
You tell him - next time he whinges on about "losing you" or "shifts in the relationship" to stop being a self absorbed twat & try being a parent. If he then gets condescending again you could thrown in how creepy his words are coming across as - you are his daughter, not his g/f FFS.

You can spend some time looking up narcissistic traits & accept that your paternal GM is his Flying Monkey. That should help remove the sting from some of her nonsense. If it doesn't help enough - you could liberate yourself by telling her to stop being a nasty bitch & you will not tolerate her harrassment.

In short, you need to stop worrying about hurting people who are causing you quite a lot of hurt, pressuring you, manipulating you (dad) & gaslighting you (paternal GM). If hearing the facts about their behaviour hurts them, they have a clear choice - stop the behaviours, or prepare to hear more hard facts.

i just feel like this is my fault,
It isn't.

as I don’t want to see him anymore
Of course you don't. You are not mean to feel this way.

but I feel like I’m making a big deal out or nothing
You're not. He's been a disgrace.

and I’m just hurting him unnecessarily.
You are not HURTING HIM. He is HURTING YOU. Removing yourself from a source of pain is sanity. Insisting that your own child constantly reassures you & using her as an emotional punchbag (his spite & lies about your mother) is insane. You are allowed to remove yourself from that insanity.

I really don’t like his intensity and how I have to reassure him
Neither do I, It creeped me the fuck out just reading about it.

I’m not going to leave him.
Again - you are not his g/f. You are not your mother. You do not owe this man - father or not - your constant fealty. Stop looking at this through his perspective. Young women who have 'normal' dads don't need to worry about those dad's abandonment issues. It is desperately unfair of your dad to have conditioned you to do this.

When you are ready to see him again, have a few stock phrases at the ready. Things like "dad this is getting more intense than I want to deal with" & "dad you are overwhelming me with your emotions".

If he refuses to hear that & uses your entirely reaonable request to dial it down as another chance to bang on at you about how you need to show him even more affection & reassurance, you would be well within your rights to say "dad, you are doing it again, You make every meeting all about yourself & your feelings & what you think I ought to be doing in order to facilitate them. This is unfair & beyond what I can tolerate so I need to leave, & I will speak to you when you've had a chance to reflect & calm down."
And do it. Literally get up, pick up your bag, & get the fuck out of there.
You need to show him that his manipulations cause you to withdraw, & that if he wants to spend time with you, he needs to stop being so selfish.

I'm so sorry he & your GM put you through that OP.
You are NOT a bad person for wanting to avoid him, reduce contact, or even stop altogether. He's clearly been awful forever if you couldn't bear to see him between the ages of 10 & 16. That's not your fault - it's his.

KettrickenSmiled · 25/10/2022 02:45

my grandmother has been messaging me telling me how much I have hurt them and the family.

"Nice try grandma. You need to remember he was so demanding when I was a kid that I couldn't see him at all from when I was 10 til I was 16. Now he's started his emotional blackmail again alongside slagging off my mum. I don't need lectures from you about who is hurting who in this family."

Cantthinkofanewnameatm · 25/10/2022 02:49

@KettrickenSmiled has explained it all so well, I’ll just add you sound like the most sensible person in your family, OP. They’re supposed to be the adults in this.
Your gm and DF are behaving very poorly. Limit contact — on your terms. Maybe they’ll learn from you how real grown ups are supposed to behave.

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