Moving on to point #6 in my Top 10 List for Parents of Adult Kids ...
Have healthy boundaries.
Let me first say a word about what boundaries are NOT.
Boundaries are NOT an excuse for choosing never to see your kids again; for cutting them out of your life.
Boundaries are NOT an excuse for cutting your parents out of your life forever without breathing a word to them about why.
These kinds of stories - of parents doing this to kids, and kids doing this to parents - are passive-aggressive forms of emotional abuse.
In coming posts, I will talk about what healthy boundaries are and what they might look like in families.
But I want to first say, unequivocally, that this kind of familial "ghosting" (google it) that some children and parents do to each other is - in almost every case - the height of childishness.
I've seen way too many devastated parents, and a few too many heartbroken children, to not get this off my chest.
Next post: What do I mean by "healthy boundaries?"
Until then, call your mom. 🙂