Severing ties with one’s parents is becoming a more common activity. Sadly, many people do this because of very valid reasons such as their parents are abusive. Even more sadly though is it seems the parents in these situations get so much more love & support than their children.
Abusive parents in these situations are often very loud with their feelings, anger, lies, justifications but not the truth. The closest they come to the truth is stating half truths, such as their child severing ties with them. They fail to share the reasons why their adult child severed ties, only that they did. That half truth combined with their lies & false accusations mean many people listen to them & support them, often blindly. They pity these poor people who are now getting older, & their own children won’t even help them out. How selfish & entitled their adult children are, they say.
These same devoted supporters offer not one iota of concern or care for the adult children in these situations. In a way that makes sense since they believe that the adult children in question are such horrid people as to abandon their own parents for no reason whatsoever. It makes you wonder if these people have any desire to know the truth about what really has happened.
I want to ask these devoted supporters some questions today.
Did it ever occur to you that there are other sides to this story beyond the side you heard from the abandoned parent? You have heard ONE side to this story only. Why is that acceptable to you?
Do you realize that abusive people create a false persona that they show to other people & only their victims see their abusive, evil side? It’s true. Look at well known serial killers. Ted Bundy was described as charming, Jeffrey Dahmer as quiet & John Wayne Gacy as a pillar of the community.
Did you ever take two seconds to question why any child, no matter their age, would abandon their parent? While it’s true, some people abandon people in their lives for no valid reason, they are in the vast minority. The majority of people have valid reasons for ending relationships, in particular those closest to them.
Did it ever occur to you that someone ending a relationship, in particular such a close one as the parent/child relationship, almost never does so on a whim? When people end relationships of any sort, thought goes into it. The closer the relationship, the more thought is going to go into ending that relationship. The adult child who goes no contact with a parent may have done so in a way that appears sudden, but rest assured, PLENTY of thought went into that action prior to following through with it. Sometimes what triggers no contact isn’t the worst act the abusive parent has done. Instead, it’s the straw that broke the camel’s back.
If the parent in this situation is so upset about their child “abandoning” them, why did they not treat that child better in the first place in the hopes of preventing this from happening one day?
Do you realize that no contact is different than the silent treatment? Someone who gives the silent treatment will speak to that person they swore never to speak to again, then stop speaking to them, then start speaking to them, & stop, & the cycle repeats. No contact is as its name states – no contact. When someone truly goes no contact, they block all access to someone & refuse to interact with them on a permanent basis. This is done to protect themselves. The silent treatment is so wishy washy because it is all about manipulation. It is done to punish someone, & when they have begged & pleaded enough, they will be allowed to return to the person’s life until their next transgression. If you look at the person’s behavior that has stopped speaking to their parent, you can tell the difference very easily. No contact is a healthy & even Godly option, unlike the silent treatment.
Where is your concern for real victims? Do you have any? It would do you well to spent less time trying to shame victims into returning to an abusive situation & more time showing them compassion & love.
