OUR POST this week is to ask you to help us help you better. We would like to know when you realised that your mother or father was ‘horrid.’ Was it, for example, a light bulb moment and if so how old were you at the time? Or did it dawn on you slowly? Was it seeing a warm, loving relationship between a friend and their parent that made you realise yours was very different? Or was it through therapy?
We would also like to know what was the unkindest thing your horrid parent said or did. Might it have been, for example, their endless criticism, that gradually wore you down and left a painful legacy. Did they put their own needs before yours which left you feeling unwanted and unloved?
Our website www.myhorridparent.com makes it clear that we do not include in our Horrid Parent list, parents who are strict as this type of parent can be well meaning and want their child to grow up with strong values. We also don’t include parents who physically or sexually abuse their child. This is a situation for the police.
Children understandably accept their mother and father because that is all they know. They also need to rely on them for the necessities of life. Teenagers and adults, however, see their parents for who they are, even if they feel unable to share their thoughts with friends because if you don’t have a horrid parent yourself it’s not easy to understand what your friend is going through.
Please use the website on our forum, email us directly al@myhorridparent.com or use Facebook for your comments. Feel free to be anonymous but we would like an idea of your age. We are focusing on the wide-range of behaviour and actions of a horrid mother or father. Thank you.