parent of estranged adult children Community Group
To help parents come together and help each other with compassion and understanding towards adult children who choose to estrange from their parents. This can be an emotional rollercoaster, and the heartfelt grieve and pain can seem unbearable. Just putting your feelings down in print can ease the anxiety and worry that comes with this kind of issue.
Hello, I need suport and I am glad I found this sight when searching for answers to an impossible situation, I am so depressed and isolated, I have no one I feel I can talk to about it.
I have two daughters, after 39 years my oldest attacked me out of the blue. and cut off contact. I knew she was seeing a counselor, I had worked closely with her helping in her studies, as she completed her bachelors degree. All was well. Her youngest of 4, was almost two, when she graduated. I never got to go to the ceremony. I tried for years to reconnect. The youngest was getting divorced and the oldeset took her ex husbands side, not hers, so they had no relationship, and she talked trash and got upset when I told her about my trying to reconnect with her older sister. At one point with my oldest, we all got together as a family and I was thrilled to see my grandchildren after 10 years, and had lunch with her a 2-3 times, but alas it almost two years. With no contact after several months I called, said I missed her could we get together. She seemed very short with me and told me she was getting divorced. I was heartbroken for her, and after the phone call I cried. It was then that my younger daughter called. She knew I was crying and asked why. I told her I was upset at hearing about her sisters separation and divorce. She called my older daughter, using it as an excuse to be sarcastic to her sister. (My oldest's husband my youngest's ex husband work together and are close so it would not have been untold for long.) After my youngest threw me under the bus, the older daughter called me and said she'd never speak to me again, and was really angry at me and her sister. That was the last I have spoken to her in over two years.
I started working with my youngest daughter in her business before any of this and we had gotten along very well over our 14 years working together. We lost the oldest contact,but we had always had each other. In Jan 2018 over a year since my second break up with my oldest, My youngest and I bought a retail business together. Our relationship changed from boss- employee to partners. She had a difficult time with my now being "equal". She was still playing boss, but as a mother, I let her frustrations, taken out on me, go. I just let her do her thing.
In March she said she was going on vacation, and invited her sister. Her sister accepted. I was happy for them. They made up, but my real nightmare began. When she came home she treated me much worse and the verbal attaacks accelerated for about 5 months, when she calmed down, saying she was over stressed and had a heart health scare. She said she'd be better now with medications. She was, until this March when she went on vacation, again with her sister. I was attacked when she returned, worse than ever. Nothing I did was right she was even saying things her sister had said years before. It was apparent her sister had "poisoned the well" so to speak. It got so bad, so unbearable, and threatening, I finally told her I didnt feel wanted at the business and had no say as a partner, I did nothing to help, and did nothing to her satisfaction. I was leaving, resigning. Her public self wrote on Facebook about being "ready to fire someone who quit", then "thanked God for the quitting." Her private self called me the worse names ever and tore me apart with threats and insults no one should hear from their child as well as personal attacks about me as a parent and grandparent, assumptions, and anything she else she could tear me apart with to hurt me. I immediately broke off replying except to answer simple questions regarding business operation . Every day it was dialog like I'm done, go away, I'm blocking you, I hate you, swears you would cringe to hear, threats to punch me, break windows in my house and slamming my entire life. She shut off my business phone and blocked all contact with her, as well as my 3 underage grandchildren. The oldest is 22 and we are good. She continued email where she continued her angry drama mixed with business questions. She told me I could continue to work in the other business as it involved patients that she needed to keep out of the drama, so I'm on my patient schedules until they are no longer patients, but she threatens I should get another job and shes taking some of my paychecks from "her" business because I walked out of "our" retail business. I can't go back because of verbal abuse, In her eyes I am all alone at fault, she did nothing wrong, but the retail is struggling financially due to my being out and her not showing up more than 3 days a week, and I'm still on the lease. It's a mess she wont take any responsibility for.
Now I have two daughters who hate me and I feel stuck, and like a failure in my childrens eyes. I am broken, I never abused them, I'm being accussed of things they dont remember clearly (like I do) and assuming, from ther oldest's childhood. It seems the oldest had to educate her younger sister all about her so-called "miserable" childhood because clearly the youngest never thought negatively about it for 42 years. Sorry this is very long. I'm just falling apart here.