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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

Relationship with mother

2 replies

Troubleddaughter · 19/11/2023 13:32

Would really appreciate some advice here.

My parents have come down to stay with me this weekend, for two nights for a special event. I’m going through a bit of personal turmoil atm. Have quit my (very good, very stressful) job and also been very physically unwell recently. I’m 30 so not a child but still need my parents every now and then!

From the day they arrived, they didn’t ask once how I actually was. Didn’t really engage at all or enquire about me.

my mum is incredibly defensive and not very self aware. I also think she struggles to relate to people.

today everything came to a head. I told my dad how I felt and he was great, offered support, said they loved me, all the right things. He knows what’s going on.

my mum on the other hand suddenly said to me, oh are you aware I’m planning to stay an extra night? I need to be in your city for longer. No asking, nothing, just telling me what she is doing. It all came spilling out, and I said that it was going to be very difficult to accommodate that as dh was back tonight and there was nowhere else to sleep. She did her standard trick of getting passive aggressive (it’s fine, I’ll ring hotels, I can tell you don’t want me) and then I really told her how I felt - said I hadn’t felt any support from the last few days, I was really struggling, that to be honest I didn’t feel like she was being much of a mother to me. I was sobbing.

she has now just left my flat and gone. They both have. They said lukewarm goodbyes but no physical hugs or proper responses. Just shouted through my bedroom door.

im so angry and upset. Am I asking for too much? Can anyone relate? I can’t see how there is any basis for a relationship there, especially with my mum. We used to go on holidays together, but when I really need her, she’s not there.

OP posts:
Aquamarine1029 · 19/11/2023 13:53

I'm so sorry, op. I have difficulties with my mother and I know how utterly exhausting it all is. And so inexplicable. My mother can be very defensive and passive-aggressive, too, and aside from maintaining emotional distance, I have not found a way through it. The times I have tried to discuss our relationship with her, the best way to describe her reaction is that she just flips out. "Oh, so it's all my fault, then", "I'm obviously a horrible mother", etc, etc, ad nauseum. I've never blamed her, and she is not a horrible mother, but there is just no talking to her.

I'm 50 now, and it was about 20 years ago when I last tried talking to her about something I was going through. It was pretty serious, totally unrelated to her. Her very first response was to say, "How do you think this makes ME feel!" Like I said, it's exhausting. Since then, I don't talk to her about anything of any consequence. It's just pointless.

I have an adult daughter and we are very, very close, and I think this has made my mother even worse, honestly. I think she is very jealous of our relationship and I frequently get passive-aggressive comment from her about it. "You never share things with me, I must be a bad mother, blah blah blah..." Again, exhausting and I just don't understand it.

I wish I had a solution for you, but I've never been able to find one for myself.

Pumpkinpie1 · 19/11/2023 22:04

what was the special event your parents were visiting you for OP?
Were they aware previously that you had left your job and were having problems?
Or did your news completely blindside them?
Yes , your mum could have handled things better. But some people need time to process information , parents aren’t perfect. You admit your mum isn’t very self aware - is she autistic?
I hope you start to feel better soon

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