How do you manage your relationship with your parents as you/they get older?

6 comments

1. My relationship with my dad is still the same as a child— distant, avoidant, and reserved. My dad is emotionally unavailable. My mom passed away eight years ago and I always had a better relationship with my mom. I miss having a parental relationship.

2. From a distance. My mom is manipulative and emotionally immature. She likes to use us to get attention. I only converse with her sparingly, otherwise, my business would be plastered all over Facebook. My dad lives nearby, but I keep him at arm’s length. He didn’t care about missing 40 years of my life. I’m not in a rush to be in his.

3. Manage how?
   As a teenager my mom, and I constantly fought. As a woman in my 40s my mom is my best friend, and I’m going to lose my shit when she passes. I don’t have much to do with my dad.

4. My parents have gotten distinctly more “fuck you, got mine” as they’ve aged so our relationship has worsened by a lot. I do not wish to speak to them anymore at this point.

5. It’s evolved in unexpected ways. I guess keeping my distance and keeping my expectations low.

6. What is there to manage?